Systems and methods for detecting and correlating schedule-related information in an electronic document to generate a calender schedule indicator

1. A method for automatically detecting schedule-related information in an electronic document, the method comprising:

receiving, via communication circuitry, an electronic document containing a first document object and a second document object defined under a structural document object model;

via control circuitry:

identifying a first text string indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object and a second text string indicative of second schedule-related information within the second document object;

identifying a first type of the first schedule-related information from the first text string;

identifying a second type of the second schedule-related information from the second text string;

adding the first schedule-related information and information relating to the first document object to a first position in a hierarchical structure and the second schedule-related information and information relating to the second document object at a second position in the hierarchical structure,

wherein a relative position between the first position and the second position in the hierarchical structure is indicative of a relationship between the first document object and the second document object in the document;

determining whether the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type, and determining whether the third position is closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure;

in response to determining that the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type and to determining that the third position is closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure:

identifying the third schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information as relating to a same calendar event; and

generating a schedule indicator by combining the third schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information in compliance with a calendar schedule format; and

in response to determining that the hierarchical structure contains no third position indicative of schedule-related information of the first type or determining that the third position is not closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure:

identifying the first schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information as relating to the same event;

generating a schedule indicator by combining the first schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information in compliance with a calendar schedule format; and

providing the generated schedule indicator for display at a display device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying a first text string indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object comprises: determining a first type of the first document object;

identifying one or more data formats for the first schedule-related information corresponding to the first type of the first document object;

determining whether the first text string is compliant with at least one of the one or more data formats; and

in response to determining that the first text string is compliant with the at least one of the one or more data formats, identifying that the first text string is indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the identifying the first type of first schedule-related information from the first text string comprises:

parsing the first text string based on the at least one data format that the first text string is compliant with to determine one or more calendar elements contained in the first text string; and

associating a schedule-information type with each of the one or more calendar elements based on the at least one data format.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying a first text string indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object comprises:

determining textual content corresponding to the first document object; performing a query within the textual content based on a plurality of previously stored terms relating to a calendar schedule;

in response to the query, detecting the first text string within the first document object contains a first previously stored term relating to first schedule-related information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adding the first schedule-related information and information relating to the first document object to a first position in a hierarchical structure and the second schedule-related information and information relating to the second document object to a second position in a hierarchical structure comprises:

generating a first node corresponding to the first schedule-related information and a second node corresponding to the second schedule-related information;

adding the first node to the hierarchical structure at the first position representing the first type of first schedule-related information and the second node to the hierarchical structure at the second position representing the second type of second schedule-related information; and

annotating the first node with information relating to the first document object and a first location of the first document object within the electronic document, and the second node with information relating to the second document object and a second location of the second document object within the electronic document.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining whether the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type:

locating a third node at a first level where the first node is located in the hierarchical structure;

in response to locating the third node at the first level where the first node is located in the hierarchical structure, retrieving, from the third node, a third location within the electronic document where the third schedule-related information appears; and

determining whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location comprises:

determining that the third location is within a third document object; and applying a set of pre-defined rules to determine whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location based on the first document object, the second document object and the third document object.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location by comparing a first count of characters between the first location and the second location and a second count of characters between the third location and the second location.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

in response to determining that the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type and the third position is closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure,

determining a context of the first document object and second document object based on at least partial content of the first document object and the second document object; and

identifying whether the first schedule-related information and second schedule-related information are related to a same event based on the context.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining metadata associated with the electronic document;

extracting time information from the metadata;

translating the time information to fourth schedule-related information having a fourth type; and

adding the fourth schedule-related information to the hierarchical structure.

11. A system for automatically detecting schedule-related information in an electronic document, the system comprising: communication circuitry; and control circuitry configured to:

receive, via the communication circuitry an electronic document containing a first document object and a second document object defined under a structural document object model;

identify a first text string indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object and a second text string indicative of second schedule-related information within the second document object;

identify a first type of the first schedule-related information from the first text string; identify a second type of the second schedule-related information from the second text string;

add the first schedule-related information and information relating to the first document object to a first position in a hierarchical structure and the second schedule-related information and information relating to the second document object at a second position in the hierarchical structure,

wherein a relative position between the first position and the second position in the hierarchical structure is indicative of a relationship between the first document object and the second document object in the document;

determine whether the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type, and determining whether the third position is closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure;

in response to determining that the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type and to determining that the third position is closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure:

identify the third schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information as relating to a same calendar event; and

generate a schedule indicator by combining the third schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information in compliance with a calendar schedule format; and

in response to determining that the hierarchical structure contains no third position indicative of schedule-related information of the first type or determining that the third position is not closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure:

identify the first schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information as relating to the same event;

generate a schedule indicator by combining the first schedule-related information and the second schedule-related information in compliance with a calendar schedule format; and

providing the generated schedule indicator for display at a display device.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when identifying a first text string indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object, is configured to:

determine a first type of the first document object;

identify one or more data formats for the first schedule-related information corresponding to the first type of the first document object;

determine whether the first text string is compliant with at least one of the one or more data formats; and

in response to determining that the first text string is compliant with the at least one of the one or more data formats, identify that the first text string is indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry, when identifying the first type of first schedule-related information from the first text string, is configured to:

parse the first text string based on the at least one data format that the first text string is compliant with to determine one or more calendar elements contained in the first text string; and

associate a schedule-information type with each of the one or more calendar elements based on the at least one data format.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when identifying a first text string indicative of first schedule-related information within the first document object, is configured to:

determine textual content corresponding to the first document object;

perform a query within the textual content based on a plurality of previously stored terms relating to a calendar schedule;

in response to the query, detect the first text string within the first document object contains a first previously stored term relating to first schedule-related information.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when adding the first schedule-related information and information relating to the first document object to a first position in a hierarchical structure and the second schedule-related information and information relating to the second document object to a second position in a hierarchical structure, is configured to:

generate a first node corresponding to the first schedule-related information and a second node corresponding to the second schedule-related information;

add the first node to the hierarchical structure at the first position representing the first type of first schedule-related information and the second node to the hierarchical structure at the second position representing the second type of second schedule-related information; and annotate the first node with information relating to the first document object and a first location of the first document object within the electronic document, and the second node with information relating to the second document object and a second location of the second document object within the electronic document.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining whether the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type, is configured to:

locate a third node at a first level where the first node is located in the hierarchical structure;

in response to locating the third node at the first level where the first node is located in the hierarchical structure, retrieve, from the third node, a third location within the electronic document where the third schedule-related information appears; and

determine whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location, is configured to:

determine that the third location is within a third document object; and apply a set of pre-defined rules to determine whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location based on the first document object, the second document object and the third document object.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine whether the third location is closer to the second location than the first location by comparing a first count of characters between the first location and the second location and a second count of characters between the third location and the second location.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

in response to determining that the hierarchical structure contains a third position indicative of third schedule-related information of the first type and the third position is closer to the second position than the first position in the hierarchical structure,

determine a context of the first document object and second document object based on at least partial content of the first document object and the second document object; and

identify whether the first schedule-related information and second schedule-related information are related to a same event based on the context.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine metadata associated with the electronic document; extract time information from the metadata;

translate the time information to fourth schedule-related information having a fourth type; and

add the fourth schedule-related information to the hierarchical structure.