WO2021124130A1

WO2021124130A1 - Method and system for appointment scheduling

Info

Publication number: WO2021124130A1
Application number: PCT/IB2020/062002
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arun Pundlik Mane
Original assignee: Arun Pundlik Mane
Priority date: 2019-12-16
Filing date: 2020-12-16
Publication date: 2021-06-24

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for scheduling an appointment. A set of data packets that pertain to attributes of the appointment are received by an appointment scheduling engine. The attributes pertain to a preferred time-slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity. The received attributes of the entity are compared with a preconfigured data set that comprises entries related to the entities, scheduled time-slot of the appointments for the entity, and a predefined time period of the appointment. Based on the comparison the appointment is scheduled for the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset. Further, the appointment is scheduled for the entity when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of appointment scheduling. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for scheduling appointments requests received from both online mode and walk-in mode.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

[0003] For scheduling appointments, an entity (also referred to as user) may use a variety of different modes such as by directly walking into to avail a service or by booking an online appointment. For example, the entity may schedule the appointment online or by directly walking into to request the appointment with a supplier of services, e.g., doctor, beautician, mechanic, attorney or provider of services. Based on the supplier's availability and schedule, the requested appointment may be accepted or, alternatively, when the appointment time is unavailable, a different time may be suggested.

[0004] The suppliers which offer the services to the entities on the appointment basis may encounter inefficiencies when the entity fails to arrive for his or her appointment at a scheduled time or while determining which type of appointment needs to be prioritized for a prospective schedule. Additional challenges such as related to if the entity, for example, arrives late and interferes with the later-scheduled appointments for other entities, or if the entity may, for example, not arrive at all, results in wasted resources and time. Furthermore, once the entity arrives at a facility for the service, the entity may encounter difficulties in checking in for the appointment. For example, there may be a long line at a check-in site. The long line may compound a situation where, for example, when the entity arrives at the facility late for the appointment, and then needs to wait excessively long in order to check-in for the appointment for which he or she is already late.

[0005] There is therefore, a need in the art for method and system that facilitates scheduling and optimizing the appointments in real-time. OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

[0006] The present disclosure relates to the field of appointment scheduling. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for scheduling appointments requests received from both online mode and walk-in mode.

[0007] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide an improved online and walk-in appointment booking and scheduling system and computer-implemented method relating to the same.

[0008] It is an object of the present disclosure to facilitate determining a time required by an entity to attend a scheduled appointment (i.e. reach in front of a queue related to attend the scheduled appointment).

[0009] It is an object of the present disclosure to facilitate determining a timestamp for which an entity needs to wait before attending the scheduled appointment.

[0010] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a count of the entities present in a queue before an entity with respective scheduled appointments.

SUMMARY

[0011] The present disclosure relates to the field of appointment scheduling. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for scheduling appointments requests received from both online mode and walk-in mode.

[0012] An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for scheduling of an appointment, said method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors of an appointment scheduling engine for scheduling the appointment, a set of data packets from a computing device, and where the set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time- slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity; comparing, by the one or more processors, the one or more attributes of the entity with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time-slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment; and responsive to the comparison, scheduling, by the one or more processors, the appointment of the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.

[0013] In an embodiment, the one or more entities are ranked in an ascending order of the preferred time-slot within the predetermined time period. [0014] In an embodiment, the method comprises receiving the set of data packets from an entity computing device for scheduling the appointment.

[0015] In an embodiment, the unique identifier associated with the entity is configured to track status of the entity during a course of the appointment.

[0016] In an embodiment, the status of the entity is tracked during the course of appointment and recorded as appointment duration data.

[0017] In an embodiment, any or a combination of the preferred time-slot, an entity information, an appointment type, a previous appointment data, an appointment request date, and an appointment priority is saved as entity data associated with the entity.

[0018] In an embodiment, based on a change in the preferred time- slot of the entity the scheduled appointment is rescheduled within the predefined time period.

[0019] In an embodiment, the rescheduled appointment comprises cancellation or change in the preferred time- slot for the appointment.

[0020] In an embodiment, the method facilitates a first entity and a second entity to exchange their appointment.

[0021] Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for scheduling of an appointment, said system comprising: an appointment scheduling engine for scheduling the appointment, one or more processors of the scheduling engine, communicatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing one or more instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors upon execution of the one or more instructions causes the system to: receive a set of data packets from a computing device, and where the set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time-slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity; compare the one or more attributes of the entity with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time-slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment; and responsive to the comparison, schedule, by the one or more processors, the appointment of the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0023] The diagrams are for illustration only, which thus is not a limitation of the present disclosure, and wherein:

[0024] FIGs. 1 indicates a network implementation of an appointment scheduling system that facilitates scheduling and adjusting appointments for a service provider from amongst online and walk-in entities in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary functional components of the appointment scheduling system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a method for scheduling an appointment from an online entity and a walk-in entity in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computer system to implement the proposed system in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details.

[0029] Embodiments of the present invention include various steps, which will be described below. The steps may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a general-purpose or special- purpose processor programmed with the instructions to perform the steps. Alternatively, steps may be performed by a combination of hardware, software, firmware and/or by human operators.

[0030] Embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a computer program product, which may include a machine-readable storage medium tangibly embodying thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, fixed (hard) drives, magnetic tape, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor memories, such as ROMs, PROMs, random access memories (RAMs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), erasable PROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable PROMs (EEPROMs), flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions (e.g., computer programming code, such as software or firmware).

[0031] Various methods described herein may be practiced by combining one or more machine-readable storage media containing the code according to the present invention with appropriate standard computer hardware to execute the code contained therein. An apparatus for practicing various embodiments of the present invention may involve one or more computers (or one or more processors within a single computer) and storage systems containing or having network access to computer program(s) coded in accordance with various methods described herein, and the method steps of the invention could be accomplished by modules, routines, subroutines, or subparts of a computer program product. [0032] If the specification states a component or feature “may”, “can”, “could”, or

“might” be included or have a characteristic, that particular component or feature is not required to be included or have the characteristic.

[0033] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0034] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. These embodiments are provided so that this invention will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, all statements herein reciting embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future (i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure).

[0035] While embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these embodiments only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions, and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as described in the claim. [0036] The present disclosure relates to the field of appointment scheduling. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for scheduling appointments requests received from both online mode and walk-in mode.

[0037] An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for scheduling of an appointment, said method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors of an appointment scheduling engine for scheduling the appointment, a set of data packets from a computing device, and where the set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time- slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity; comparing, by the one or more processors, the one or more attributes of the entity with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time-slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment; and responsive to the comparison, scheduling, by the one or more processors, the appointment of the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.

[0038] In an embodiment, the one or more entities are ranked in an ascending order of the preferred time-slot within the predetermined time period.

[0039] In an embodiment, the method comprises receiving the set of data packets from an entity computing device for scheduling the appointment.

[0040] In an embodiment, the unique identifier associated with the entity is configured to track status of the entity during a course of the appointment.

[0041] In an embodiment, the status of the entity is tracked during the course of appointment and recorded as appointment duration data.

[0042] In an embodiment, any or a combination of the preferred time-slot, an entity information, an appointment type, a previous appointment data, an appointment request date, and an appointment priority is saved as entity data associated with the entity.

[0043] In an embodiment, based on a change in the preferred time- slot of the entity the scheduled appointment is rescheduled within the predefined time period.

[0044] In an embodiment, the rescheduled appointment comprises cancellation or change in the preferred time- slot for the appointment.

[0045] In an embodiment, the method facilitates a first entity and a second entity to exchange their appointment.

[0046] Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for scheduling of an appointment, said system comprising: an appointment scheduling engine for scheduling the appointment, one or more processors of the scheduling engine, communicatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing one or more instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors upon execution of the one or more instructions causes the system to: receive a set of data packets from a computing device, and where the set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time-slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity; compare the one or more attributes of the entity with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time-slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment; and responsive to the comparison, schedule, by the one or more processors, the appointment of the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period. [0047] FIGs. 1 indicates a network implementation 100 of an appointment scheduling system that facilitates scheduling and adjusting appointments for a service provider from amongst online and walk-in entities in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0048] In an aspect, the appointment scheduling system 102 (also referred to as the system 102, hereinafter) is disclosed and is configured with a plurality of entities 108 that can communicate with the system using one or more operatively coupled devices 106. The system 102 can facilitate issuing instructions via the computing devices for booking appointments for availing service from the service provider. The system 102 implemented in any computing device can be configured/operatively connected with a server 110. As illustrated, the system 102 can be communicatively coupled with one or more entity devices 106-1, 106-2,.., 106-N (individually referred to as the entity device 106 and collectively referred to as the entity devices 106, hereinafter) through a network 104. The one or more entity devices 106 are connected to the living subjects/ users /entities 108-1, 108-2,..., 108N (individually referred to as the entity 108 and collectively referred to as the entities 108, hereinafter). Furthermore, the entities here can be such as patients, participants, service availing consumers and so forth. The appointments as mentioned here can be maintained in the form of a queue.

[0049] In an embodiment, the system 102 can be implemented using any or a combination of hardware components and software components such as a cloud, a server, a computing system, a computing device, a network device and the like. Further, the system 102 can interact with any of the entity devices 106 through a website or an application that can reside in the entity devices 106. In an implementation, the system 102 can be accessed by website or application that can be configured with any operating system, including but not limited to, Android™, iOS™, and the like. Examples of the computing devices 106 can include, but are not limited to, a computing device associated with industrial equipment or an industrial equipment based asset, a smart camera, a smart phone, a portable computer, a personal digital assistant, a handheld device and the like.

[0050] The system 102 can facilitate the entities to book the appointments with the one or more service providers such that the entities can book the appointments either via an online mode using their mobile devices or can book the appointment by walking in into the service provider premises. The system facilitates providing weight to the one or more entities scheduling the appointments and can send an alert notification to the respective entities regarding a wait time before the entity gets to attend his/her appointment. The system can facilitate providing a quick view of the queue for the appointments, so as to enable the entity to determine and view the number of appointments that are scheduled before the enquiring entity. Also, a time period for how long the entity needs to wait for him/her to attend the scheduled appointment is determined and displayed.

[0051] Further, the network 104 can be a wireless network, a wired network or a combination thereof that can be implemented as one of the different types of networks, such as Intranet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Internet, and the like. Further, the network 104 can either be a dedicated network or a shared network. The shared network can represent an association of the different types of networks that can use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and the like. [0052] FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary functional components 200 of the appointment scheduling system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0053] In an aspect, the system 102 may comprise one or more processor(s) 202. The one or more processor(s) 202 may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that manipulate data based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the one or more processor(s) 202 are configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory 204 of the system 102. The memory 204 may store one or more computer-readable instructions or routines, which may be fetched and executed to create or share the data units over a network service. The memory 204 may comprise any non-transitory storage device including, for example, volatile memory such as RAM, or non-volatile memory such as EPROM, flash memory, and the like.

[0054] The system 102 may also comprise an interface(s) 206. The interface(s) 206 may comprise a variety of interfaces, for example, interfaces for data input and output devices, referred to as EO devices, storage devices, and the like. The interface(s) 206 may facilitate communication of the system 102 with various devices coupled to the system 102 such as an input unit and an output unit. The interface(s) 206 may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the system 102. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, processing engine(s) 208 and database 210.

[0055] The processing engine(s) 208 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the processing engine(s) 208. In examples described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the processing engine(s) 208may be processor-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the processing engine(s) 208 may comprise a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine -readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing engine(s) 208. In such examples, the system 102 may comprise the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine -readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to the system 102 and the processing resource. In other examples, the processing engine(s) 208may be implemented by electronic circuitry.

[0056] The database 210 may comprise data that is either stored or generated as a result of functionalities implemented by any of the components of the processing engine(s) 208.

[0057] In an exemplary embodiment, the processing engine(s) 208 may comprise an appointment scheduling and estimation unit 212, an appointment optimization unit 214, and other units(s) 216.

[0058] It would be appreciated that units being described are only exemplary units and any other unit or sub-unit may be included as part of the system 102. These units too may be merged or divided into super- units or sub-units as may be configured. Appointment Scheduling And Estimation Unit 212

[0059] In an embodiment, an appointment scheduling and estimation unit 212 can facilitate scheduling an appointment for the entity with one or more service providers. The system facilitates the entities to book the appointment using their respective computing devices or by walking into the service provider’s premises. The system facilitates maintaining a balance between the appointments received from the entities that are have booked their appointment either through the online mode or those that have walked in. Each of the entities can be provided a weight based on the type and mode of appointment. The appointment can be classified based on such as the type of service requested and/or the requirements of the entity from the service provider.

[0060] In an embodiment, an appointment scheduling and estimation unit 212 can determine an estimated waiting time for the entity based on information related to service type requested and requirements of the entity. For example, the system can determine the waiting time based on service information, historical entity appointment data manually entered waiting time estimate by service staff, etc. Historical entity appointment data may include, for example, information about the typical duration of the appointments for an individual entity, the typical duration of the appointments for the particular condition or service, etc. Based on the determined information, the system can determine an estimated waiting time for the entity. In an embodiment, the system can calculate the waiting time for the entity by applying known statistical analysis to historical waiting time information for the entities in practice, or similar practices, taking into account conditions to be treated and procedures to be performed on each of the entity. In an embodiment, the system continuously, or at specified intervals, re-computes the estimated waiting times for the entities as the appointments can be cancelled or rescheduled.

[0061] In an embodiment, the system can receive appointment information from the appointment scheduling and estimation unit 212 and determine a potential spot for the entity. Additionally, the system can receive a notification when the entity cancels the appointment and thus the appointment spot becomes available. The system can then relay availability information to determine an appropriate spot for the entity. In an embodiment, the system can look at appointment calendars of one or more other service providers that can attend the entity. The system can take into account the geographical proximity of the entity to various practices in determining potential appointment slots.

[0062] In an embodiment, when the system 102 determines that there is a need to reschedule, the system 102 communicates with the entities having a scheduled appointment or waiting for a next appointment. In response to the communication, the system can generate a notification for the entity. The notification can be sent to the entity. Further, in an embodiment, the entity can have a mobile device, and the entity can receive a push notification regarding the appointment. In case when the service provider is behind a schedule the system can offer the entity an alternate time and opportunity to accept a new time or a suggestion to wait under currently delayed appointment time. As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art not only can the system help reschedule when the service provider is running behind schedule, the system can also help reschedule when the entity cancels. For example, in embodiments, the notification can be done using different types of communication processes (e.g., telephone, email, facsimile, text messages, short message service (SMS) messages, multimedia message service (MMS) messages, messages via access point network gateway associated with long term evolution (LTE) networks, etc.).

[0063] In an embodiment, the system may receive information that the entity has cancelled the appointment and a new spot for the appointment has become available. To avoid empty service provider time, the system can determine the one or more entities that may be candidates for filling the spot. In choosing which of the entities to offer the spot, the system 102 may look for, such as, for example, whether the entity has been responsive to notifications and willing to reschedule in the past, an urgency of the appointment's purpose, the entity’s patient preference for the appointment time, the entity's home or work address, etc. In an embodiment, the system 102 can perform a probability analysis of the entity information to determine which of the entities are most likely to benefit from rescheduling the appointment to a specified time. The system instructs the appointment scheduling and estimation unit 212 to offer the spot to one or more selected entities. In an embodiment, the spot is taken by the first entity to accept the rescheduling offer. Further, in an embodiment, the system 102 may charge a commission or subscription fee for its services, including referrals based on rescheduling. The service providers can benefit from this service because they may be able to fill in the spots opened due to last-minute cancellations.

[0064] In embodiments, the appointment scheduling and estimation unit 212 can receive preference information for the entities to determine whether the requested appointment times meet the entities’ and/or the service provider’s preference. For example, if the system receives a request from the entity for an appointment on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. with Dr. S, the system can determine that Dr. S does not work on Saturdays. The system can then communicate with the entities to send a message to the entity that Dr. S is not available for appointments on Saturdays. Appointment Optimization Unit 214

[0065] In an embodiment, the system assigns appropriate weights to the entities applying for the appointments, such that the weights are assigned based on when the entity arrives for an appointment. When the entity applies online for the appointment, he/she is given a higher weight and/or when the entity walks in for the appointment the entity is given a higher weight. Based on a comparison of the weights, one of the entities can be given preference over the other for booking of the appointment.

[0066] In an embodiment, the appointment optimization unit 214 can coordinate swapping of the appointments between the entities and/or the service providers. In embodiments, the appointment optimization unit 214 can send notifications e.g., from one entity to another entity requesting an appointment swap. For example, A may have scheduled a 10:00 a.m. appointment with Dr. S on Monday; but, A wants to change the appointment to 2:00 p.m. with Dr. S on Monday. An entity B, though, has an appointment with Dr. S at 2:00 p.m., on Monday. The system may determine based on preference information of the entities, that B is interested in swapping the appointments. Thus, the system can send a notification to B that A is requesting an appointment swap. If B accepts the system can implement and process a swap of appointments between B and A. In an embodiment, the system can facilitate swapping respective calendars of A and B.

[0067] In yet another embodiment, the system may include or be used in communication with a router, server, switch, or the like, for appropriately allowing access thereto for listing schedules for the appointments and/or facilitates searching and selecting the appointment schedules by the one or more entities. In addition, the system 102 may comprise, for instance, a display, a driver, or other mechanisms for presenting text, graphics, audio, or the like to confirm an entity's interactions with the system 102. The system can include one or more processing portions that are capable of executing embodiments for determining a remaining amount of slots available for the appointments according to the present invention. [0068] In another embodiment, the system can determine an available slot for the appointment upon being provided with the preferred schedule(s) or other parameters, appropriate rules or other functionality that are provided for determining the slot availability, wherein the slot availability may be investigated under, for example, when the service provider has cancelled an earlier appointment or the entity who has booked an appointment earlier has cancelled the appointment. One skilled in the art will appreciate, however, that other systems and methods may provide the necessary seat availability information. [0069] In an embodiment, the system ensures adjusting the appointments in the queue in such a form that a balance is maintained amongst the entities booking the appointments online or by booking the appointments by walking to the service provider.

[0070] In an exemplary embodiment, the appointments or bookings being arranged in the form of a queue can facilitate reduced waiting times for the users or the ones waiting in the queue. Further, based on different appointment times being assigned to the users the placement of the users can be adjusted accordingly on the ones in the queue being leaving the queue on cancellation of the appointments, and delaying the appoitnemnets times of the ones in the queue upon an emergency case being added in the queue. Furthermore, upon the emergency case being added the one or more users with appointments in the queue get an updated timing of the appointments.

[0071] In an exemplary embodiment, the method and the system can be incorporated and used for small business enterprises, local market sellers or service providers, e.g. barbers, grocery shops. As can be understood by one skilled in the art the method and system can fcailiate reduced waiting times for the users in the queue.

[0072] Further, in an appointment a sensor can be placed on appropriate locations for determining the length of the queue and alaraming or informing the users in the queue or seeking an appointment about the queue length and hence waiting times accordingly. Baed on the determined waiting time an appointment can be granted or denied to the user seeking for the appointment with the service provider.

[0073] Furthermore, when the appointment to be scheduled is for the next day, the system can determine a set of pre fixed appointments and arrange the requested appointment accordingly, such that the user need not wait long in the queue for attending the appointment. [0074] In an exemplary embodiment, the method and the system can determine location that is related to for typical time-based stops based on, for example, time of day, location, route, other scheduled events on the patient’s calendar, etc. and record this information. For example, the location of the patient may be determined when the patient leaves home at 7:00 am, he/she typically stops to drop his/her children off at school. The system may observe that the patient spends about 10 minutes and stopped at the school on certain occasions. As such, the system may deduce that the patient is likely dropping his/her children off at school on the way in to the office and, as such, may deduce that the patient is likely to take a route from the patient’s home, past the children's school, and on to the office and that the patient will spend 10 minutes stopped along the way to the office if the patient leaves home at around 7:00 am. In another situation, the method and system may observe that if the appointment participant leaves home at around 8:00 am, he/she typically stops at a coffee shop to pick up coffee. The system and method may observe that the patient spends 15 minutes at a coffee shop before resuming his/her drive to the office. As such, the system and method may deduce that if the patient leaves his/her home at around 8:00 am, he/she is likely to choose a route from the patient’s home, past the coffee shop, and on to the office and that the patient will likely spend 15 minutes stopped at the coffee shop on the way to the office. The system and method can observe when and where the patient typically stops, e.g., to use a restroom, or for breakfast, or for dry cleaners, etc. and record this and other information in a predictive patient’s profile for later use.

[0075] In an exemplary embodiment, the method and the system can automatically check-in a patient for a service. The system may automatically determine, for example, when the patient is within a certain distance of the provider's location by, for example, a GPS or other location component on the consumer's wireless device. In addition, for example, the system may facilitate a user to select a button and/or enter in the patient's location using the mobile application to notify the system that the patient has arrived at a provider. The system may send a check-in notification to a doctor’s system so that a receptionist is notified that the patient has arrived and is checked-in for the service. The system may also transmit any relevant health information the system may have stored for the patient to the doctor’s computer system when the patient arrives for the service. Additionally, a doctor may manually check-in a patient on the doctor’s computer system when the patient arrives for their appointment.

[0076] In an exemplary embodiment, the method and the system can determine real time tardiness risk factors such as related to weather conditions at location of the doctor, the location of the patient, or the location of the patient's home address may be determined, for example, with the aid of various devices and techniques known if the art for the determination of weather conditions. In embodiments, the doctor may perform an operation wherein the doctor’s computer system receives weather information regarding a location of interest (e.g. the location of a patient or of a doctor), and uses the information as part of a determination of a tardiness risk value.

[0077] In embodiments, the system and method can determine timeliness of arrival for appointments of patients for the other patients in a time frame, where the patient is immediately preceding the other patient, for example, if conditions near the doctor are such that multiple other patients have been delayed for an appointment (e.g. due to bad weather, slow traffic, etc. around the health service center), the patient may also have an increased likelihood of tardiness.

[0078] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram 300 illustrating a method for scheduling an appointment from an online entity and a walk-in entity in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0079] In an embodiment, at block 302 a one or more processors of an appointment scheduling engine receives a set of data packets from a computing device for scheduling the appointment. The set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time- slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity. At block 304, the one or more attributes of the entity are compared with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time-slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment. Responsive to the comparison, at block 306 the appointment of the entity is scheduled by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.

[0080] Advantageously, the system facilitates keeping track of the entities’ appointment’s place in the queue. Indeed, the system can be useful for small to medium-sized businesses that can benefit from analytics provided by the system. Furthermore, the system addresses numerous problems with current systems. For example, from the entity perspective, they can make efficient use of their time, and not have to wait in queues. The system can schedule the appointment using one of his/her smart devices or by simply walking into the service provider. The system facilitates the entity to immediately receive alerts during the rescheduling of the appointments and suggest when the entity can return to the queue. The system can facilitate the service provider to have access to an easy to use, inexpensive method of improving their customer satisfaction, and to optimize the use of their appointment scheduling. The service providers can now optimize their staff selection and have access to analytical information of their clients/entities, especially based on historical business trends. Additionally, the system enables the entities to have access to their current status of appointment schedule while simultaneously determining estimated wait time and reminder notifications.

[0081] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computer system 400 to implement the proposed system in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. [0082] As shown in FIG. 4, computer system can include an external storage device

410, a bus 420, a main memory 430, a read only memory 440, a mass storage device 450, communication port 460, and a processor 470. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that computer system may include more than one processor and communication ports. Examples of processor 470 include, but are not limited to, an Intel® Itanium® or Itanium 2 processor(s), or AMD® Opteron® or Athlon MP® processor(s), Motorola® lines of processors, FortiSOC™ system on a chip processors or other future processors. Processor 470 may include various modules associated with embodiments of the present invention. Communication port 460 can be any of an RS-232 port for use with a modem based dialup connection, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a Gigabit or 10 Gigabit port using copper or fiber, a serial port, a parallel port, or other existing or future ports. Communication port 460 may be chosen depending on a network, such a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or any network to which computer system connects.

[0083] Memory 430 can be Random Access Memory (RAM), or any other dynamic storage device commonly known in the art. Read only memory 440 can be any static storage device(s) e.g., but not limited to, a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) chips for storing static information e.g., start-up or BIOS instructions for processor 470. Mass storage 450 may be any current or future mass storage solution, which can be used to store information and/or instructions. Exemplary mass storage solutions include, but are not limited to, Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disk drives or solid-state drives (internal or external, e.g., having Universal Serial Bus (USB) and/or Firewire interfaces), e.g. those available from Seagate (e.g., the Seagate Barracuda 7102 family) or Hitachi (e.g., the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000), one or more optical discs, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage, e.g. an array of disks (e.g., SATA arrays), available from various vendors including Dot Hill Systems Corp., LaCie, Nexsan Technologies, Inc. and Enhance Technology, Inc.

[0084] Bus 420 communicatively couples processor(s) 470 with the other memory, storage and communication blocks. Bus 420 can be, e.g. a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) / PCI Extended (PCI-X) bus, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), USB or the like, for connecting expansion cards, drives and other subsystems as well as other buses, such a front side bus (FSB), which connects processor 470 to software system.

[0085] Optionally, operator and administrative interfaces, e.g. a display, keyboard, and a cursor control device, may also be coupled to bus 420 to support direct operator interaction with computer system. Other operator and administrative interfaces can be provided through network connections connected through communication port 460. External storage device 410 can be any kind of external hard-drives, floppy drives, IOMEGA® Zip Drives, Compact Disc - Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disc - Re-Writable (CD- RW), Digital Video Disk - Read Only Memory (DVD-ROM). Components described above are meant only to exemplify various possibilities. In no way should the aforementioned exemplary computer system limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0086] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented entirely hardware, entirely software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or combining software and hardware implementation that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” “component,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

[0087] Thus, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the diagrams, schematics, illustrations, and the like represent conceptual views or processes illustrating systems and methods embodying this invention. The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing associated software. Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptual only. Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular technique being selectable by the entity implementing this invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art further understand that the exemplary hardware, software, processes, methods, and/or operating systems described herein are for illustrative purposes and, thus, are not intended to be limited to any particular named.

[0088] As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term "coupled to" is intended to include both direct coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements). Therefore, the terms "coupled to" and "coupled with" are used synonymously. Within the context of this document terms "coupled to" and "coupled with" are also used euphemistically to mean “communicatively coupled with” over a network, where two or more devices are able to exchange data with each other over the network, possibly via one or more intermediary device.

[0089] It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C .... and N, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from the group, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.

[0090] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

[0091] The present disclosure provides an improved online and walk-in appointment booking and scheduling system and computer-implemented method relating to the same. [0092] The present disclosure provides a system and method to facilitate determining a time required by an entity to attend a scheduled appointment (i.e. reach in front of a queue related to attend the scheduled appointment).

[0093] The present disclosure provides a system and method that facilitates the entities to select and book the appointments both via an online mode and also by directly walking-in to the service provider.

[0094] The present disclosure provides a system and method to facilitate determining a timestamp for which an entity needs to wait before attending the scheduled appointment. [0095] The present disclosure provides a system and method that facilitates managing the appointments in a queue structure for effective management.

[0096] The present disclosure provides a system and method to provide a count of the entities present in a queue before an entity with respective scheduled appointments. [0097] The present disclosure provides a system and method that facilitates managing the time and resources of a set of entities effectively.

[0098] The present disclosure provides a system and method that facilitates allowing the entities to request appointments and enter into existing appointments through a single system and/or portal with any of the service providers.

[0099] The present disclosure provides a system and method that facilitates allowing the entities to purchase or swap appointments with other entities, e.g., with or without a fee or within an auction market setting.

[00100] The present disclosure provides a system and method that facilitates allowing the entities to fulfill their scheduling requests and suppliers to fulfill their resource and revenue requirements in a synergistic capability.

Claims

I Claim:

1. A method for scheduling of an appointment, said method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors of an appointment scheduling engine for scheduling the appointment, a set of data packets from a computing device, and where the set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time- slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity; comparing, by the one or more processors, the one or more attributes of the entity with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time-slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment; and responsive to the comparison, scheduling, by the one or more processors, the appointment of the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more entities are ranked in an ascending order of the preferred time- slot within the predetermined time period.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises receiving the set of data packets from an entity computing device for scheduling the appointment.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unique identifier associated with the entity is configured to track status of the entity during a course of the appointment.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the status of the entity is tracked during the course of appointment and recorded as appointment duration data.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein any or a combination of the preferred time-slot, an entity information, an appointment type, a previous appointment data, an appointment request date, and an appointment priority is saved as entity data associated with the entity.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein based on a change in the preferred time- slot of the entity the scheduled appointment is rescheduled within the predefined time period.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rescheduled appointment comprises cancellation or change in the preferred time- slot for the appointment.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method facilitates a first entity and a second entity to exchange their appointment.

10. A system for scheduling of an appointment, said system comprising: an appointment scheduling engine for scheduling the appointment, one or more processors of the scheduling engine, communicatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing one or more instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors upon execution of the one or more instructions causes the system to: receive a set of data packets from a computing device, and where the set of data packets pertain to one or more attributes of the appointment of an entity, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a preferred time-slot for the appointment and a unique identifier associated with the entity; compare the one or more attributes of the entity with a preconfigured dataset comprising one or more entries of one or more entities, associated scheduled time- slot of the appointments, and a predefined time period of the appointment; and responsive to the comparison, schedule, by the one or more processors, the appointment of the entity by optimizing entries of the dataset, where the appointment is scheduled when the preferred time-slot is available within the predetermined time period.