Meeting Scheduler[1]
Specification
The meeting scheduler system will
assist the operator in scheduling meetings. Potential meetings are
arranged in calendar periods, each period representing a fixed length
of time by a meeting "initiator". Participants of the
meeting give information based on their personal agenda. This
information is either in the form of:
- A set of calendar periods on which they cannot
attend a meeting
- A set of calendar periods on which they would
prefer to attend a meeting
If a participant's preference is not
supplied in a calendar period, it is assumed that the participant does
not mind whether or not a meeting is scheduled in this period. The
reason for a participant giving this information is to be able to
schedule a meeting as convenient as possible to all participants.
A pair defines the proposed meeting
date, (calendar period, and time range). The time range is the range
of calendar periods after the set meeting date, beyond this range,
scheduling a meeting would be useless to the organisation.
The ideal meeting is one in
which the proposed meeting date belongs to:
- The stated date range.
- None of the excluded calendar periods.
- As many preferred calendar periods as possible.
Conflicts will occur when no such
meeting date is possible within the time range. Strong
conflicts are those where no dates can be found within the time range
and outside all excluded calendar periods. Weak conflicts are
those when possible dates can be found in the time range and outside
all excluded calendar periods but no date can be found at the
intersection of all preferred calendar periods.
Van Lamsweerde's original document proposes conflict
resolution in several ways:
- The initiator extends the time range.
- Some participants remove some dates from their
excluded calendar periods
- Some participants withdraw from the meeting
- Some participants add new dates to the preferred
calendar periods
[1]Software
Agents: A General Guide to Agent-Oriented Project Development
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