System and methods for synchronizing datasets using...

Details System and methods for synchronizing datasets using... System and methods for synchronizing datasets using...

1999-07-03

2002-06-04

Alam, Hosain T. (Department: 2172)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06401104

ABSTRACT:

RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is related to the following commonly-owned U.S. patent applications, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, including any appendices or attachments thereof, for all purposes:
Ser. No. 09/311,781, filed May 13, 1999 and entitled System and Methods For Synchronizing Datasets in a Non-FIFO or Otherwise Difficult Communication Environment; (None-patent)
Ser. No. 09/208,815, filed Dec. 8, 1998 and entitled System and Methods for Robust Synchronization of Datasets; (none-patent)
Ser. No. 09/136,215, filed Aug. 18, 1998 and entitled System and Methods for Synchronization Two or More Datasets; (U.S. Pat. No.; 6,295,541)
Ser. No. 09/136,212, filed Aug. 18, 1998 and entitled Data Processing Environment With Methods Providing Contemporaneous Synchronization of Two or More Clients; (U.S. Pat. No.; 6,275,831)
Ser. No. 09/020,047, filed Feb. 6, 1998, and entitled Methods for Mapping Data Fields From One Data Set to Another in a Data Processing Environment; (U.S. Pat. No.; 6,215,131)
Ser. No. 08/923,612, filed Sep. 4, 1997 and entitled System and Methods for Synchronizing Information Among Disparate Datasets; and (none-patent)
Ser. No. 08/693,677, filed Aug. 12, 1996 and entitled Scheduling System With Methods for Peer-To-Peer Scheduling of Remote Users. (U.S. Pat. No.; 6,016,478)
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to synchronization of data—that is, the process of taking two or more separate collections of data (“datasets”) and applying changes to one or more of the datasets to make the datasets identical or equivalent. The present invention is particularly relevant to synchronization involving a dataset that may separately synchronize with multiple other datasets at various times, especially if the other datasets may also synchronize with one another.
With each passing day, there is ever increasing need for synchronization solutions for connected information devices. Here, information devices include, for example, general- or special-purpose computers of all types and sizes, Internet or intranet access devices, cellular phones, pagers, and other handheld devices including, for example, the StarTAC® clipOn Organizer, REX PRO™ organizer, Palm organizer, Microsoft “Windows CE” devices, and the like.
(StarTAC is a registered trademark of Motorola, Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill. REX and REX PRO are trademarks of Franklin Electronic Publishers of Burlington, N.J. The StarTAC® clipOn Organizer and REX™ and REX PRO™ organizers include licensed technology from Starfish Software, Inc. (“Starfish”), the present assignee. Palm organizers are produced by Palm Computing, Inc., a subsidiary of 3Com Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif. The Windows CE device operating system and other Microsoft software are produced by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.).
As the use of information devices is ever growing, users often have their data in more than one device, or in more than one software application. Consider, for instance, a user who has his or her appointments and contacts on a desktop personal computer (PC) at work and also has appointments or contacts on a notebook computer at home and on a battery-powered, handheld device for use in the field. The user is free to alter the information on any one of these devices independently of the other devices. What the user wants is the information in each device to remain synchronized with corresponding information in other devices in a convenient, transparent manner. Further, some devices are connected at least occasionally to a server computer (for example, an Internet server) that stores information for the user. The user would of course like the information on the server computer to participate in synchronization, so that the information on the server computer also remains synchronized.
An early approach to maintaining consistency between datasets was simply to import or copy one dataset on top of another. That simple approach, one which overwrites a target dataset without any attempt at reconciling any differences, is inadequate for all but the simplest of applications. Expectedly, more sophisticated synchronization techniques were developed. In particular, techniques were developed for attempting to reproduce in each dataset the changes made in other dataset(s) since a previous synchronization and resolving any conflicts involving such changes, automatically or with user assistance. Some earlier examples of such synchronization techniques were limited to “point-to-point” synchronization, in which exactly two datasets are synchronized. Later, certain “multi-point” synchronization techniques were developed by Starfish that are capable of synchronizing arbitrarily many datasets using a single synchronization system or in response to a single interaction with a user.
At first, as a typical user first began to accumulate more than two datasets that needed synchronization, he or she typically found that a hub-and-spoke configuration of his or her datasets was sufficient.
FIG. 1
illustrates an example
100
of such a hub-and-spoke synchronization configuration for a hub dataset
105
and satellite datasets
110
,
115
,
120
. According to the configuration
100
, the hub dataset
105
participates in every synchronization and serves as a central repository of data from all datasets, as known from all synchronizations to date. Any one of the satellite datasets
110
,
115
,
120
(e.g., synchronization clients) may or may not participate in any particular synchronization, depending for example on availability, user preference, or the capabilities of the synchronization system being used (e.g., point-to-point or multi-point). In the example configuration
100
, the hub dataset
105
and the satellite datasets
110
,
115
,
120
reside, for example, on a PC
140
, a first handheld device
145
(e.g., a Palm organizer), an Internet server
150
, and a second handheld device
155
(e.g., a StarTAC® clipOn Organizer), respectively. Synchronization paths
125
,
130
,
135
(e.g., serial cables (e.g., RS-232), infrared connections, the Internet, or the like) connect the datasets as indicated.
A configuration, such as the configuration
100
, that has a single, permanently-designated hub dataset is useful for synchronizing the user's datasets, as long as the hub dataset is always available when synchronization is desired. However, as the user accumulates ever more datasets and uses them in ever more contexts, the user increasingly wishes to deviate from such a configuration. In particular, the user wishes to synchronize datasets with one another without requiring that a single permanently-designated hub dataset be available to participate in every synchronization. By wanting to deviate from a rigid hub-and-spoke configuration of the user's datasets, the user introduces additional complexity to the synchronization task. If not understood or handled properly, the additional complexity can cause inefficiencies or even corruption of the user's data.
Consider, for example, a user who formerly used the single permanently-designated hub dataset
105
in all synchronizations as a reference dataset. This user now wishes to occasionally synchronize the formerly permanently-designated satellite datasets
110
,
115
directly with one another without participation of the formerly permanently-designated hub dataset
105
. In effect, the user wishes to create a circular, or looping, synchronization relationship among the three datasets
105
,
110
,
115
. In this looping relationship, the direct synchronization between the former satellite datasets
110
,
115
cannot take advantage

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