Attribute and application synchronization in distributed network environment

• US 20020046286A1
• Filed: 12/13/2000
• Published: 04/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Novient, Inc. (MYOB Group Pty Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Novient, Inc. (MYOB Group Pty Ltd.)
• Inventors: Greene, Michael L., Caldwell, R. Russell, Merrill, Michael C., Wells, Roy G., Clayton, Arnshea
• Application Number:
  US09/738,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20020046286A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2322 using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A disclosed method includes mapping data identifying at least one first application module to respective message type data, and storing the message type data in association with the data identifying the first application module in a first database accessible to a first server. The method includes mapping universal resource locator for internetwork access to at least one second server, to respective message type data. The first method further includes storing the message type data in association with a respective universal resource locator in the first database, mapping second attribute data to first attribute data, and storing the second attribute data in association with the first attribute data in the first database. Similar steps can be used to prepare the second server and database for operation. Using the first client device a user can generate message type data transmitted from the first client device to the first server that determines whether the received message type data is associated with a first application module. If so, the first server runs the first application module using optional attribute data. The first server also determines whether the received message type data is associated with universal resource locator. If so, the universal resource locator is used to transmit the message type data from the first server over the internetwork to the second server. The second server determines whether the message type data is mapped to a second application module in the second database. If so, the second server runs a second application module corresponding to the message type data.

Claims

8. A method comprising the steps of:

a) mapping data identifying at least one first application module to respective message type data;

b) mapping the data identifying at least one second application module to respective message type data;

c) generating message type data at a client device;

d) transmitting at least message type data from the client device to a first server;

e) receiving the message type data transmitted in the step (d) at the first server;

f) determining at the first server the application program module designated to be run, based on the message type data received in said step (e);

if the message type data is determined in said step (f) to be associated with a first application program module,

g) running the first application program module on the first server; and

h) determining whether the message type data is associated with a universal resource locator (URL);

if the message type data is determined in said step (h) to be associated with the URL,

i) transmitting at least the message type data from the first server to the second server over an internetwork;

j) receiving the message type data at the second server; and

k) running the second application program module on the second server, based on the message type data received in said step (0).

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

l) mapping the second attribute data to the first attribute data;

m) storing the second attribute data in association with the first attribute data in the first database;

n) mapping the first attribute data to the second attribute data; and

o) storing the first attribute data in association with the second attribute data in the second server.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said step (c) includes generating predetermined user-specified first attribute data from the client device to the first server, the first server using the first attribute data in the first application program module in the performance of said step (g).

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the second attribute data and first attribute data are mapped in at least one of said steps (l) and (n) through string matching.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the second attribute data and the first attribute data are assigned numeric values as to relative similarity based on execution of a search engine and string matching that compares the character word values to determine first attribute data within a predetermined value from the second attribute data.

13. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the message type data is transmitted said steps (d) and (i) as an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

14. A method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising the step of:

l) generating a message including the message type data generated in said step (c), for transmission in said step (d), the message generated to include header and data sections, the header section including the destination data designating a predetermined network address of the second server, message type data, first user data, and return trip data, the data section content based on the message type data.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the user generates attribute data in addition to the message type data in the step (c), the message type data in the step (c) designating a search request, and the data section of the message includes attribute data for performance of the search request.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the attribute data indicates at least one of worker data identification data and worker availability data, and the result data indicates corresponding worker data identification data and worker availability data resulting from searching a first database with the first server based on the search parameter data.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the attribute data includes predetermined user-specified attribute data, and wherein the running of the application program module in said step (g) generates result data based on the user-specified attribute data, the method further comprising the step of:

m) transmitting the result data from the first server to the client device; and

n) generating a display on the client device, based on the result data.

18. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the message type data transmitted in said step (g) designates a search, and the performance of said step (g) generates result data, the method further comprising the step of:

m) generating a response message having header and data sections, the header section including network address data designating the first server, message type data, first user data, and return trip data, the data section including the result data; and

n) transmitting the response message from the second server to the first server.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

o) logging the message received at the second server in the step (i) with time stamp data;

p) receiving the result data transmitted from the second server in the step (m) at the first server;

q) logging the result data received in the step (o) with return time data;

r) comparing the time stamp data with the return time data; and

s) determining at the first server whether the result data is valid, based on the comparison of the step (q).

20. A method as claimed in claim in claim 17, wherein the response message is generated in said step (m) to be encrypted based on a public key for the first server stored in association with the network address of the first server in the second database, and wherein the encrypted response message is transmitted in the step (n), the method further comprising the step of:

o) decrypting the response message at the first server based on predetermined private key data prestored in association with the public key data.

21. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the generating is performed in said step (k) to encrypt the message using a public key prestored in the first database in association with the destination address of the second server, and wherein the message is received in the step (i), the method further comprising the step of:

m) reading from the second database private key data prestored in association with the network address data for the first server; and

n) decrypting the message from the first server at the second server, based on the private key data.

22. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the attribute data includes predetermined user-specified attribute data, and wherein the running of the application program module in said step (k) generates result data based on the user-specified attribute data, the method further comprising the step of:

l) transmitting the result data from the second server to the first server;

m) transmitting the result data from the first server to the client device; and

n) generating a display on the client device based on the result data.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the attribute data includes at least one of worker data identification data and worker availability data, and the result data indicates corresponding worker data identification data and worker availability data resulting from searching the second database with the second server based on the attribute data.

24. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the attribute data includes predetermined user-specified search parameter data, and wherein the running of the application program module in said step (k) generates result data based on the user-specified attribute data, the method further comprising the step of:

l) transmitting the result data from the second server to the first server;

m) transmitting the result data from the first server to the client device; and

n) generating a display on the client device based on the result data.

25. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the attribute data includes at least one of worker data identification data and worker availability data, and the result data indicates corresponding worker data identification data and worker availability data resulting from searching the second database with the second server based on the attribute data.

26. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the universal resource locator is transmitted to the second server via the first server, and wherein the second server generates result data based on the performance of said step (k), the method further comprising the steps of:

l) transmitting the result data from the second server to the first server using the universal resource locator; and

m) transmitting the result data from the first server to the client device using the universal resource locator.

27. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein said step (c) is performed using a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) POST request.

28. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first application module is a servlet application program module.

33. A method comprising the step of:

a) inputting a command indicating a message type and first attribute(s) at a client device;

b) generating a signal indicating message type and first attribute(s) at a client device;

c) transmitting the signal indicating the message type and first attribute(s) from the client device to a first server;

d) receiving the signal indicating the message type and first attribute(s) at the first server;

e) executing a first application corresponding to the message type at the first server using the first attribute(s);

f) generating a signal including the message type and first attributes at the first server;

g) transmitting the signal including the message type and first attribute(s) from the first server to a second server;

h) receiving the signal including the message type and first attributes at the second server;

i) determining a second application corresponding to the message type;

j) determining second attribute(s) mapped to the first attribute(s); and

k) executing the second application with the second attribute(s).

34. A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the execution of the step (d) results in generation of result data, further comprising the step of:

l) generating a signal including the result data at the first server;

m) transmitting the result data from the first server to the client device;

n) receiving the result data at the client device; and

o) generating a display based on the result data.

35. A method as claimed in claim 33, further comprising the steps of:

p) encrypting the result data at the first server before performing step (1); and

q) decrypting the result data at the client device before performing the step (o).

36. A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the execution of the step (e) results in generation of result data, further comprising the step of:

l) generating a signal including the result data at the second server;

m) transmitting the result data from the second server to the first server;

n) receiving the result data at the first server;

o) transmitting the result data from the first server to the client device;

p) receiving the result data at the client device;

q) generating a display based on the result data.

37. A method as claimed in claim 36, further comprising the steps of:

r) encrypting the result data at the second server before performing step (1); and

s) decrypting the result data at the client device before performing the step (q).

38. A method as claimed in claim 33, further comprising the steps of:

r) encrypting the message type and first attribute(s) at the client device before performing step (c); and

s) decrypting the message type and first attribute(s) at the first server before performing step (e).

40. A method as claimed in claim 39 wherein steps (a)-(d) are performed for an account.

39. A method comprising the steps of:

a) receiving message type and first attribute data;

b) determining second attribute data based on the first attribute data;

c) determining an application based on the based on the message type data; and

d) executing the application based on the second attribute data.

41. A method comprising the steps of:

a) indexing a fromlist and tolist of attribute(s);

b) selecting an attribute(s) from the tolist;

c) searching the fromlist of attribute(s) with the selected attribute from the tolist;

d) determining whether an exact match of the selected attribute from the tolist is present in the fromlist of attributes;

if the determination in step (d) establishes that the selected attribute from the tolist is present in the fromlist of attributes,

e) storing the attribute from the tolist in association with the attribute from the fromlist;

if the determination in step (d) establishes that the selected attribute from the tolist is not present in the fromlist,

f) truncating the character string of the attribute from the tolist;

g) searching the fromlist of attributes with the truncated tolist attribute string;

h) determining whether a partial match of the selected attribute from the tolist matches an attribute from the fromlist;

if the determination in step (h) establishes the partial match of the selected attribute from the tolist partially matches an attribute from the fromlist,

i) storing the attribute from the tolist in association with the attribute from the fromlist;

if the determination in step (h) establishes the partial match of the selected attribute from the tolist does not partially match an attribute from the fromlist,

j) determining whether greater than a predetermined number of character words remain in the string of the attribute from the tolist, and

if the determination in step (j) determines that greater than the predetermined number of character words remain in the string of the attribute from the fromlist,

k) repeating step (f) and subsequent steps.

42. A method as claimed in claim 41 the method further comprising:

if the determination in step (j) determines that greater than the predetermined number of character words do not remain in the string of the attribute from the fromlist,

k) searching the fromlist of attribute(s) with the selected attribute from the to list for common character words;

l) determining whether a minimum number of words of an attribute from the fromlist match the attribute from the tolist;

if the determining in step (1) establishes that the minimum number of words of the attribute from the from list match the attribute form the tolist,

m) storing the attribute form the tolist in association with the attribute from the fromlist.

43. A method as claimed in claim 41 the method further comprising:

if the determination in step (j) determines that greater than the predetermined number of character words do not remain in the string of the attribute from the fromlist,

k) searching the fromlist of attribute(s) with the selected attribute from the to list for common character words;

l) determining whether a minimum proportion of words of an attribute from the fromlist match the attribute from the tolist;

if the determining in step (l) establishes that the minimum proportion of words of the attribute from the from list match the attribute form the tolist,

m) storing the attribute form the tolist in association with the attribute from the fromlist.

44. A method as claimed in claim 41 wherein an expert is used in the method, the method further comprising the step of:

l) reviewing matches of attributes from the fromlist and tolist by the expert;

m) determining whether the attributes form the fromlist and tolist match; and

if step (m) determines that the attributes from the fromlist and tolist do not match,

n) determining whether the fromlist has any attribute(s) corresponding to the attribute from the tolist;

if the determination in step (n) establishes that an attribute(s) in the fromlist matches the attribute from the tolist,

o) storing the attribute from the tolist in association with the attribute(s) from the fromlist.

46. A method as claimed in claim 45 wherein the steps (a)-(e) are performed at a first site, the method further comprising the steps of:

f) transmitting the first attribute from the first site to a second site;

at the second site,

g) storing the first attribute;

h) indexing the first attribute and a second attribute(s);

i) finding match(es) if any between the first and second attribute(s); and

j) storing the second attribute(s) in corresponding with the first attribute.

48. A method as claimed in claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

if the first attribute is present in the first database,

h) determining whether the first attribute or attribute group has changed;

if the determination in step (h) indicates that the first attribute or attribute group has changed,

i) deleting the previous first attribute and all dependent match(es) with the second attribute(s) from the first database.

49. A method as claimed in claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

j) determining whether the attribute description has changed; and

if the determination in step (j) indicates that the attribute description has changed,

k) updating description of the first attribute.

50. A method as claimed in claim 47 wherein steps (a)-(g) are performed at a first site, the method further comprising the steps of:

h) transmitting the first attribute to a second site;

at the second site,

i) receiving the first attribute;

j) checking a second database for the first attribute;

k) determining whether the first attribute is present in the second database;

if the first attribute is not present in the second database,

l) storing the first attribute;

m) indexing the first attribute and second attribute(s) stored in the second database;

n) finding match(es) if any between the first and second attributes;

o) storing any match(es) of the first and second attributes if found in step (n) in the second database.

51. A method as claimed in claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

if the first attribute is present in the second database,

p) determining whether the first attribute or attribute group has changed;

if the determination in step (p) indicates that the first attribute or attribute group has changed,

q) deleting the previous first attribute and all dependent match(es) with the second attribute(s) from the second database.

52. A method as claimed in claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

j) determining whether the attribute description has changed; and

if the determination in step (j) indicates that the attribute description has changed,

k) updating description of the first attribute in the second database.

53. A method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the first and second attribute(s) pertain to an attribute group.

54. A method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the first and second attribute(s) pertain to an account.

45. A method comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a first attribute;

b) storing the first attribute;

c) indexing the first attribute and a second attribute(s);

d) finding match(es) if any between the first and second attributes;

e) storing match(es) between the first and second attributes.

47. A method comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a first attribute;

b) checking a first database for a first attribute;

c) determining whether the first attribute is present in the first database;

if the first attribute is not present in the first database,

d) storing the first attribute;

e) indexing the first attribute and second attribute(s) stored in the first database;

f) finding match(es) if any between the first and second attributes;

g) storing any match(es) of the first and second attributes if found in step (f).

55. A method comprising the steps of:

at a first site,

a) deleting an attribute record from a first database;

b) deleting associated attribute match(es) from the first database;

c) generating a request to delete the attribute record;

d) transmitting the request to delete the attribute record from the first site to a second site;

at the second site,

e) receiving the request to delete the attribute record;

f) deleting the attribute record from a second database;

g) deleting associated match(es) with the attribute record from the second database.

56. A method as claimed in claim 55 wherein the attribute record pertains to an attribute group.

57. A method as claimed in claim 55 wherein the attribute record pertains to an account.

59. A method as claimed in claim 58 wherein step (a) includes substeps of:

a1) receiving first attribute(s);

a2) deleting previous first attribute(s);

a3) deleting all match(es) of second attributes from the first attribute(s);

a4) indexing the received first attribute(s) and second attribute(s) stored in a first database;

a5) finding match(es) of the first attribute(s) to the second attribute(s); and

a6) storing the match(es) of the first and second attribute(s) in the first database.

60. A method as claimed in claim 59, wherein the first attribute(s) are transmitted from the first site to the second site in step (b), the step (c) comprising the substeps of:

c1) receiving first attribute(s);

c2) deleting previous first attribute(s) from a second database;

c3) deleting dependent match(es) of the first and second attribute(s) from a second database;

c3) indexing the received first attribute(s) and second attribute(s) stored in the second database;

c4) finding match(es) of the first attribute(s) to the second attribute(s); and

c5) storing the match(es) of the first and second attribute(s) in the second database.

61. A method as claimed in claim 58 wherein steps (a)-(c) are performed for an attribute group.

62. A method as claimed in claim 58 wherein step (a)-(c) are performed for an account.

58. A method comprising the steps of:

a) synchronizing first and second attributes at a first site;

b) transmitting a request to synchronize attributes from the first site to a second site;

c) synchronizing first and second attributes at a second site.

63. A machine-readable medium having a program for performing the following steps:

a) mapping data identifying at least one first application module to respective message type data;

b) storing the message type data in association with the data identifying the first application module in a first database accessible to a first server;

c) mapping a universal resource locator (URL) of a second server to respective message type data;

d) storing the message type data in association with respective universal resource locator in the first database;

e) mapping second attribute data to first attribute data; and

f) storing the second attribute data in association with the first attribute data in the first database, the first database accessible to the first server.

64. A signal comprising first tags indicating a message type, and second tags within the first tags indicating attribute(s).

1. A method comprising the steps of:

a) mapping data identifying at least one first application module to respective message type data;

b) storing the message type data in association with the data identifying the first application module in a first database accessible to a first server;

c) mapping a universal resource locator (URL) of a second server to respective message type data;

d) storing the message type data in association with respective universal resource locator in the first database;

e) mapping second attribute data to first attribute data; and

f) storing the second attribute data in association with the first attribute data in the first database, the first database accessible to the first server.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

g) mapping the data identifying at least one second application module to respective message type data;

h) storing the message type data in association with the data identifying the second application module in the second database;

i) mapping a universal resource locator for the first server in association with respective message type data;

j) storing the message type data in association with respective universal resource locator in the second database;

k) mapping first attribute data to second attribute data; and

l) storing the first attribute data in association with the second attribute data in the second database.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the step of:

m) generating message type data at a first client device;

n) transmitting the message type data from the first client device to the first server;

o) receiving the message type data transmitted in the step (n) at the first server;

p) determining whether the message type data received in the step (o) is associated with a first application module;

q) running the first application module if the step (p) determines that the message type data is associated with the first application module;

r) determining whether the message type data received in the step (o) is associated with a universal resource locator;

s) transmitting over an internetwork the message type data from the first server to the second server using the universal resource locator, if the step (r) determines that the message type data is associated with the universal resource locator;

t) receiving the message type data at the second server;

u) determining whether the message type data is mapped to a second application module in the second database;

v) reading the second application module from the second database if the step (u) determines that the message type data is mapped to the second application module; and

w) running the second application module on the second server.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein attribute data is generated at the client device in the step (m) in association with the message type data, the attribute data is transmitted from the client device to the first server in the step (n), the attribute data is received at the first server in the step (o), and is transmitted from the first server to the second server in the step (s), the method further comprising the steps of:

x) reading second attribute data mapped to the first attribute data received in the step (s) from the second database for use by the second application module running in the step (w).

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the running of the second application module in the step (w) generates result data, further comprising the step of:

y) transmitting the result data from the second server to the first server over the internetwork;

z) receiving the result data at the first server;

aa) transmitting the result data from the first server to the first client device;

ab) receiving the result data at the first client device; and

ac) generating a display on the first client device, based on the result data received in the step (ab).

6. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second application module performs a search of the second database for worker data type designated by the attribute data.

7. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first application module performs a search of the first database for worker data type designated by the attribute data.

29. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step (e) is performed with first and second attribute(s) are different character words that identify the same thing.

30. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step (e) is performed with first and second attribute(s) that are different character words that define the same thing in different languages between the site of the client device and first server, and the site of the second server.

31. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step (e) is performed with first and second attribute(s) that are different character words that define the same thing due to different word usage conventions in the same language of a site of the client device and first server, as compared to a site of the second server.

32. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step (e) is performed with first and second attribute(s) that mean different things but are sufficiently similar to be deemed matching.

65. A signal as claimed in claim 64 wherein the first tags are <

AttributeElement> and

<

/AttributeElement>

tags to delineate the attribute(s).

66. A signal as claimed in claim 64 wherein the signal includes third tags within the second tags indicating the name of the attribute, and fourth tags indicating the description of the attribute(s).

67. A signal as claimed in claim 66 wherein the third tags are <

name> and

<

/name>

tags that delineate the name of the attribute(s).

68. A signal as claimed in claim 66 wherein the fourth tags are <

description> and

<

/description>

tags.

69. A signal as claimed in claim 64 wherein the first tags are <

AttributeSyncInsert> and

<

/AttributeSyncInsert>

tags indicating an attribute insert application to be executed by a server receiving the signal.

69-1. A signal as claimed in claim 64 wherein the first tags are <

AttributeSyncDelete> and

<

/AttributeSyncDelete>

tags indicating an attribute delete application to be executed by a server receiving the signal.

69-2. A signal as claimed in claim 64 wherein the first tags are <

AttributeSyncUpdate> and

<

/AttributeSyncUpdate>

tags indicating an attribute update application to be executed by a server receiving the signal.

69-3. A signal as claimed in claim 64 wherein the first tags are <

AttributeSyncAll> and

<

/AttributeSyncAll>

tags indicating a synchronize-all-attributes application to be executed by a server receiving the signal.

70. A system coupled via a network and operable by a first user, the system comprising:

a first site having at least one first client device, a first server, and a first database storage unit, the first client device operable by a first user to input a message type and first attribute(s), the first server coupled to receive the message type and first attribute(s) from the first client device, the first server executing a first application using the first attribute(s) based on the message type, the first server determining whether a request to execute a second application is to be generated based on the message type, the first server transmitting the message type and first attribute(s) to the second server via the network if the first server determines that the message type indicates the second application should be executed; and

a second site having a second server and a second database storage unit, the second server coupled to receive the message type from the first server, the second server determining second attribute(s) corresponding to the first attribute(s), the second server executing a second application based on the message type and second attributes.

71. A system as claimed in claim 70 wherein the second site includes a second client device operable by a second user, the second user inputting a message type and second attribute(s), the second client device transmitting the message type and second attribute(s) to the second server, the second server executing the second application based on the message type using the second attribute(s).

72. A system as claimed in claim 70 wherein the second server determines whether the first application should be executed based on the message type, the second server transmitting the message type and second attribute(s) to the first server if the second server determines that the message type indicates that the first application is to be executed, the first server receiving the message type and second attribute(s) if transmitted by the second server, the first server determining first attribute(s) corresponding to the second attribute(s), the first server executing the first application based on the determined first attribute(s).