A notification of blocked schedule time slots is sent by the filler application to other applications when a schedule has one or more time slots open up ("un-blocked") and become available for use. Typically, the blocked period of time on a schedule is simply allowed to expire, because the blocked amount of time is generally used for non-appointment activities. This transaction can be used either to discontinue the blocked status on the schedule, or to reverse a previous block made in error. For the purposes of this transaction, discontinuing a block currently in progress (the blocked period has started, but not yet completed) and canceling a blocked period in the future are not significantly different. Therefore, a separate discontinue block transaction is not necessary. If this transaction is received prior to the inception of a blocked period, then the entire block period is simply canceled according to the data provided in the transaction. If the transaction is received after the blocked period has begun, but prior to the end of the blocked period, then the blocked period is discontinued according to the data provided in the transactions. Applications may decide how to handle transactions that attempt to open a blocked period that has both started and ended in the past; however, these transactions can generally be ignored.
For example, if an exam room has been blocked for several hours because of maintenance activities or contamination, and if the work has been completed ahead of schedule, a user may open those several hours on the exam rooms schedule. When such a situation occurs, the filler application may use this transaction to notify other applications that the room is available.