Appointment scheduling using time segmented solution propositions

摘要

A system and a method are described for scheduling appointments for e.g. patients in medical institutions for performing a procedure such as an examination, according to operational constraints and availability preference criteria. A problem arises when a user of the system gets only one or more available time slots for the appointment, having the duration of the procedure, instead of all possible solutions for a complete time window. A solution is to provide time segments, having a duration longer than or equal to the time slot, and giving the patient the option to select a start time within one of these time segments. The method may be used in a computer or server system e.g. for scheduling examinations of patients in a radiology department or for documentation purposes of these examinations.