Methods and systems for session synchronization and sharing of applications between different user systems of a user

• US 10,567,505 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2018
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Karani, Vijay, Sapru, Kongposh
• Primary Examiner(s): Recek, Jason D
• Application Number:
  US15/874,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20190222643A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for implementing session synchronization to synchronize applications at different user systems (e.g., mobile device, laptop, desktop, tablet) of a particular user. As will be explained in greater detail below, this platform level solution that can maintain session information received any number of different user systems of the particular user and share this collective session information with each of the other user systems as session-synchronization information that can be used, at any user system of that user, to ensure that when that user switches from using one user system to another user system that that applications at the “new” user system being switched to are synchronized with any other applications that were most recently in use at all of the other user systems of that user.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a cloud-based application platform comprising a server system that is configured to serve a plurality of different types of cloud-based applications provided over the cloud-based application platform to each of a plurality of user systems each being associated with a particular user, wherein each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications are generated based on data that is accessed from storage, and then served to the user systems, wherein the server system comprises;

memory comprising processor-executable instructions encoded on a non-transient processor-readable media, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configurable to execute the processor-executable instructions of a session manager module that, when executed, is configurable to;

receive session information from a session management module at each of the plurality of user systems that, when executed, is configurable to provide information about use of one or more applications at each of the plurality of user systems, wherein session information provided from each user system comprises;

an activity status that indicates;

which applications are in use at that particular user system, and user interaction with each application at that user system;

maintain the session information received from each of the user systems as collective session information;

maintain an activity log for each user system of the particular user, wherein each activity log comprises;

a list of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at that user system that are currently being used or that have recently been used, and user interaction information for each cloud-based application of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications;

maintain context mapping information for each user system that maps the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at that user system to other ones of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at other user systems, wherein the context mapping information for each user system comprises;

an identifier for the user system;

an application type and name for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications that has been in use at one of the other user systems within a time threshold; and

an application link to a corresponding application of that user system for each of the plurality of different types of cloudbased applications; and

communicate, to each of the plurality of user systems, session-synchronization information,

wherein the session-synchronization information allows for current usage of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at each of the user systems to be synchronized with usage of the plurality of different types of corresponding applications at other user systems when the particular user switches from using one of the plurality of user systems to using another one of the plurality of user systems, and wherein each application link is used by that user system, when that user system becomes currently active and a session context is switched to that user system, to access a corresponding application.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the session-synchronization information comprises:

at least some of the collective session information.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the session-synchronization information is used by a particular user system to synchronize applications at that particular user system with other corresponding applications that were in use at one or more of the other user systems when that particular user system becomes active.

4. The system according to claim 1, when an indication is received that a first user system is to become active, wherein the session-synchronization information is used at the first user system to synchronize applications at the first user system with corresponding applications at other user systems that were most recently interacting with the corresponding application.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein session information provided from each user system further comprises:

an identifier that identifies that particular user system; and

wherein the activity status further indicates whether that particular user system is currently in use or active.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein session information provided from each user system further comprises:

updates about location of that user system with respect other user systems that are associated with the particular user;

available power or battery state of that user system; and

network connectivity of that user system.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the session manager module, when executed, is further configurable to:

determine which ones of the plurality of user systems are currently active;

monitor for the occurrence of one or more different types of trigger events;

communicate, to each of the plurality of user systems, the session-synchronization information when the session manager module determines that a trigger event has occurred, to force session synchronization at each of the plurality of user systems;

automatically switch session context from one of the plurality of user systems to the another one of the plurality of user systems when the particular user switches from using that one of the plurality of user systems to using the another one of the plurality of user systems, such that corresponding applications at the another one of the plurality of user systems are synchronized with one or more applications at the one of the plurality of user systems that the session context is being switched from.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the one or more different types of trigger events comprise one or more of:

receiving an indication that an application at one of the plurality of user systems has become active;

receiving an indication that an application at one of the plurality of user systems will become active due to occurrence of a condition; and

receiving an indication that an application at one of the plurality of user systems should become active due to occurrence of another condition.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the one or more different types of trigger events comprise one or more of:

usage-based trigger events; and

automatic switch-over trigger events.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the usage-based trigger events comprise one or more of:

receiving an indication that an application has been launched at one of the plurality of user systems was previously inactive and has become active; and

receiving an indication that there has been user interaction with an application that was previously launched at one of the plurality of user systems and has become active after a time period has passed since previous user interaction.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the automatic switch-over trigger events comprise one or more of:

calendar-based trigger events;

location-based trigger events;

power-based trigger events; and

network connectivity-based trigger events.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the

user interaction information for each application of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications includes at least information that describes a most recent interaction with the application.

13. The system according to claim 1,

wherein the context mapping information for a particular user system is used to map the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications that are in use at other user systems to the plurality of different types of corresponding applications used at that user system.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the context mapping information for each user system further comprises:

user interaction information for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications that has been in use at one of the other user systems within the time threshold; and

wherein each application link is to a corresponding application of that user system for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications has been in use at one of the other user systems within the time threshold prior to session context being switched.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein each application link is used by the user system to access the corresponding application when the session context is switched to that user system, wherein the corresponding application is accessed in accordance with a most recent user interaction at one of the other user systems.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the corresponding application is not the same application that was in use at the one of the other user systems prior to the session context being switched to that user system.

17. A cloud-based application platform comprising a server system that is configured to serve a plurality of different types of cloud-based applications provided over the cloud-based application platform to each of a plurality of user systems each being associated with a particular user, wherein each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications are generated based on data that is accessed from storage, and then served to the user systems, wherein the server system comprises:

memory comprising processor-executable instructions encoded on a non-transient processor-readable media, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configurable to execute the processor-executable instructions of a session manager module, that when executed, is configurable to;

receive session information from a session management module at each of the plurality of user systems that, when executed, provides information about use of one or more applications at each of the plurality of user systems, wherein session information provided from each user system;

indicates which applications are in use at that particular user system; and

indicates user interaction with each application at that user system;

maintain the session information received from each of the user systems as collective session information;

maintain an activity log for each user system of the particular user, wherein each activity log comprises;

a list of the plurality of different types of cloudbased applications at that user system that are currently being used or that have recently been used, and user interaction information for each cloud-based application of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications;

maintain context mapping information for each user system that maps the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at that user system to other ones of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at other user systems, wherein the context mapping information for each user system comprises;

an identifier for the user system;

an application type and name for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications that has been in use at one of the other user systems within a time threshold; and

an application link to a corresponding application of that user system for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications; and

communicate, to each of the plurality of user systems, session-synchronization information, wherein the session-synchronization information comprises;

at least some of the collective session information that allows for current usage of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at each of the user systems to be synchronized with usage of the plurality of different types of corresponding applications at other user systems when the particular user switches from using one of the plurality of user systems to using another one of the plurality of user systems, wherein each application link is used by that user system, when that user system becomes currently active and a session context is switched to that user system, to access a corresponding application.

18. The server system according to claim 17, wherein session information provided from each user system further comprises:

an identifier that identifies that particular user system; and

an activity status that indicates whether that particular user system is currently in use or active.

19. The server system according to claim 17, wherein the session manager module, when executed, is further configurable to:

determine which ones of the plurality of user systems are currently active;

monitor for the occurrence of one or more different types of trigger events;

communicate, to each of the plurality of user systems, the session-synchronization information when the session manager module determines that a trigger event has occurred, to force session synchronization at each of the plurality of user systems;

automatically switch session context from one of the plurality of user systems to the another one of the plurality of user systems when the particular user switches from using that one of the plurality of user systems to using the another one of the plurality of user systems, such that corresponding applications at the another one of the plurality of user systems are synchronized with one or more applications at the one of the plurality of user systems that the session context is being switched from.

20. A user system associated with a particular user, comprising:

memory comprising processor-executable instructions encoded on a non-transient processor-readable media, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configurable to execute the processor-executable instructions of a session management module, that when executed, is configurable;

monitor a plurality of different types of cloud-based applications provided over a cloud-based application platform to the user system and each of a plurality of other user systems each being associated with the particular user, wherein each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications are generated based on data that is accessed from storage, and then served to the user system and the other user systems;

generate session information about use of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications, wherein session information;

indicates which of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications are in use at the user system; and

indicates user interaction with each of plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at the user system;

receive session-synchronization information that provides information about use of a plurality of different types of corresponding applications at each of a plurality of other user systems associated with the particular user,

maintain an activity log for each user system of the particular user, wherein each activity log comprises;

a list of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at that user system that are currently being used or that have recently been used, and user interaction information for each cloud-based application of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications; and

maintain context mapping information for each user system that maps the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at that user system to other ones of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at other user systems, wherein the context mapping information for each user system comprises;

an identifier for the user system;

an application type and name for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications that has been in use at one of the other user systems within a time threshold; and

an application link to a corresponding application of that user system for each of the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications;

wherein the session-synchronization information allows for current usage of the the plurality of different types of cloud-based applications at the user system to be synchronized with usage of the plurality of different types of corresponding applications at each of the plurality of other user systems when the particular user switches from using one of the plurality of user systems to using another user system, and wherein each application link is used by that user system, when that user system becomes currently active and a session context is switched to that user system, to access a corresponding application.