Synchronization adapter for synchronizing application data

• US 10,417,256 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2017
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Suthar, Paresh, Ozzie, Jack, Lees, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US15/448,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20170177693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1794 Details of file format conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication

Abstract

A synchronization adapter is coupled to the application that does not support synchronization and generates the necessary synchronization metadata for all data in the application that is to be synchronized. The synchronization adapter then combines the metadata to the actual data to be synchronized to form a synchronization feed. The synchronization feed is stored in an internal cache (or data store) which is internal to the application, or an external cache (or data store), which is external to the application, or it can be stored in both caches. The synchronization adapter also intermittently determines whether the application data has changed, thus warranting a change in its metadata, or whether a synchronization operation is warranted to synchronization operation is warranted to synchronize the data with data in another application. In either case, the synchronization adapter makes the changes to the data, or performs a synchronization operation.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, configure the computing system to;

receive, by a synchronization adapter, an indication of a data item in an application to be synchronized with a synchronization endpoint, wherein the synchronization adapter is separate from the application and the synchronization endpoint is remote from the computing system;

generate, by the synchronization adapter, synchronization metadata for the data item; and

perform, by the synchronization adapter, a synchronization operation using the synchronization metadata, wherein the synchronization operation synchronizes the data item in the application with a data item associated with the synchronization endpoint.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the synchronization operation is not supported by the application.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the application is executed on the computing system local to the synchronization adapter.

4. The computing system of claim 3, wherein the synchronization adapter is external to the application.

5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

provide a synchronization service configured to control the synchronization adapter to perform the synchronization operation using the synchronization metadata.

6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the synchronization endpoint comprises a server configured to communicate with the computing system over a communication network.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

detect an event trigger corresponding to an event in the computing system; and

perform the synchronization operation in response to the detected event trigger.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the event comprises a user input received in association with a user interface rendered by the computing system.

9. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

based on the event, identify a plurality of application data items in the computing system to be synchronized with one or more synchronization endpoints;

group the plurality of application data items into a synchronization group; and

process the synchronization group by performing synchronization operations to synchronize the grouped application data items with the one or more synchronization endpoints.

10. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the event comprises a detected change in the data item in the application.

11. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

perform, by the synchronization adapter, the synchronization operation based on a time-based parameter.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

intermittently perform, by the synchronization adapter, the synchronization operation.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

perform, by the synchronization adapter, the synchronization operation based on a determination related to an amount of time that has passed since a previous synchronization operation was performed.

14. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

detect a change in the data item associated with the synchronization endpoint; and

in response to the detected change, use the synchronization adapter to synchronize the data item in the application with the data item associated with the synchronization endpoint.

15. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

identify a filter criterion; and

apply the filter criterion to application data to identify the data item in the application to be synchronized with the synchronization endpoint.

16. A method performed by a computing system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a synchronization adapter, an indication of a data item in an application to be synchronized with a synchronization endpoint, wherein the synchronization adapter is separate from the application and the synchronization endpoint is remote from the computing system;

generating, by the synchronization adapter, synchronization metadata for the data item; and

performing, by the synchronization adapter, a synchronization operation using the synchronization metadata, wherein the synchronization operation synchronizes the data item in the application with a data item associated with the synchronization endpoint.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the synchronization operation is not supported by the application.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the application is executed on the computing system local to the synchronization adapter.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the synchronization adapter is external to the application.

20. The method of claim 16, and further comprising:

providing a synchronization service configured to control the synchronization adapter to perform the synchronization operation using the synchronization metadata.