System and methods for asynchronous synchronization

• US 20030130984A1
• Filed: 11/15/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Good Technology Corporation (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Mendez, Daniel J., Ardulov, Yuri, Joshi, Rajiv, Quinlan, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• 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: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Aspects of the invention provide for information to be synchronized in an asynchronous manner among two or more computing devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by determining whether a modification has been made to first device data of the first computing device; and

transferring, to a routing system, a modification indicator indicating the modification, if the modification is determined to have been made,

wherein the modification is capable of being received by a second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second computing device in response to an asynchronously triggering second device trigger.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device is selected from a group including a personal computer, a PDA, a PIM and a cell phone.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first triggering event comprises a modification to the first device data.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the modification indicator comprises a synchronization message.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization message comprises modified data corresponding to the modification.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization message comprises at least one of a first version indicator indicating a first computing device version of the first device data and a second version indicator indicating a second computing device version of the second device data.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the routing system comprises a storage device accessible by the first computing device and the second computing device.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the storage device comprises a first queue for receiving first device modification indicators from the first computing device and transferring the first device modification indicators to the second device, and a second queue for receiving second device modification indicators from the second computing device and transferring the second device modification indicators to the first device.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the routing system comprises a network server to which the first computing device and the second computing device are coupleable via a network.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the second triggering event is selected from a group including a second device power on and a periodically initiated second device trigger.

11-1. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by determining whether a modification has been made to first device data of the first computing device; and

transferring, to a routing system, a modification indicator indicating the modification, if the modification is determined to have been made,

wherein the modification is capable of being received by a second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second device in response to an asynchronously triggering second device trigger.

12. A synchronization system, comprising:

means for receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

means for responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by determining whether a modification has been made to first device data of the first computing device; and

means for transferring, to a routing system, a modification indicator indicating the modification, if the modification is determined to have been made,

wherein the modification is capable of being received by a second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second device in response to an asynchronously triggering second device trigger.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by connecting to a routing system, if the first computing device is disconnected from the routing system;

receiving, by the first computing device from the routing system, a modification indicator indicating a modification to second device data of a second computing device that was transferred to the routing system in response to an asynchronously triggering second device trigger of the second computing device; and

synchronizing, by the first computing device, the second device data of the second computing device with corresponding first device data of the first computing device.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device is selected from a group including a personal computer, a PDA, a PIM and a cell phone.

15. A method according to claim 13, wherein the first triggering event selected from a group including a first computing device power on and a periodically initiated first device trigger.

16. A method according to claim 13, wherein the modification indicator comprises a synchronization message.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the synchronization message comprises modified data corresponding to the modification.

18. A method according to claim 16, wherein the synchronization message comprises at least one of a first version indicator indicating a first computing device version of the first device data and a second version indicator indicating a second computing device version of the second device data.

19. A method according to claim 13, wherein the routing system comprises a storage device accessible by the first computing device and the second computing device.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the storage device comprises a first queue for receiving first device modification indicators from the first computing device and transferring the first device modification indicators to the second device, and a second queue for receiving second device modification indicators from the second computing device and transferring the second device modification indicators to the first device.

21. A method according to claim 13, wherein the routing system comprises a network server to which the first computing device and the second computing device are coupleable via a network.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

23. A method according to claim 13, wherein the second triggering event comprises a modification to the second device data.

24. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

means for responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by connecting to a routing system, if the first computing device is disconnected from the routing system;

means for receiving, by the first computing device from the routing system, a modification indicator indicating a modification to second device data of a second computing device that was transferred to the routing system in response to an asynchronously triggering second device trigger of the second computing device; and

synchronizing, by the first computing device, the second device data of the second computing device with corresponding first device data of the first computing device.

25. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by connecting to a routing system, if the first computing device is disconnected from the routing system;

receiving, by the first computing device from the routing system, a modification indicator indicating a modification to second device data of a second computing device that was transferred to the routing system in response to an asynchronously triggering second device trigger of the second computing device; and

synchronizing, by the first computing device, the second device data of the second computing device with corresponding first device data of the first computing device.

26. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a first user device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first user device, by determining whether a modification has been made to a data element of the first computing device, and if so, transferring to a routing system a modification indicator indicating the modification;

receiving, by a second computing device, a second triggering event that is time-independent of the first triggering event; and

responding to the second triggering event, by the second computing device, by receiving the modification indicator from the routing system and synchronizing the modification with data stored on the second user device.

27. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a routing system from a first computing device that is operating in response to a first device trigger, a modification indicator indicating a modification to first device data of the first computing device;

storing, by the routing system, the modification indicator;

receiving, by the routing system from a second computing device that is operating in response to a second device trigger triggering asynchronously with respect to the first device trigger, a transfer request from the second computing device; and

responding to the transfer request, by the routing system, by transfering to the second computing device the modification indicator,

wherein the modification is capable of being received by the second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second computing device.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device is selected from a group including a personal computer, a PDA, a PIM and a cell phone.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein the first triggering event comprises a modification to the first device data.

30. A method according to claim 27, wherein the modification indicator comprises a synchronization message.

31. A method according to claim 30, wherein the synchronization message comprises modified data corresponding to the modification.

32. A method according to claim 30, wherein the synchronization message comprises at least one of a first version indicator indicating a first computing device version of the first device data and a second version indicator indicating a second computing device version of the second device data.

33. A method according to claim 27, wherein the routing system comprises a storage device accessible by the first computing device and the second computing device.

34. A method according to claim 33, wherein the storage device comprises a first queue for receiving first device modification indicators from the first computing device and transferring the first device modification indicators to the second device, and a second queue for receiving second device modification indicators from the second computing device and transferring the second device modification indicators to the first device.

35. A method according to claim 27, wherein the routing system comprises a network server to which the first computing device and the second computing device are coupleable via a network.

36. A method according to claim 35, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

37. A method according to claim 27, wherein the second triggering event is selected from a group including a second device power on and a periodically initiated second device trigger.

38. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, by a routing system from a first computing device that is operating in response to a first device trigger, a modification indicator indicating a modification to first device data of the first computing device;

means for storing, by the routing system, the modification indicator;

means for receiving, by the routing system from a second computing device that is operating in response to a second device trigger triggering asynchronously with respect to the first device trigger, a transfer request from the second computing device; and

means for responding to the transfer request, by the routing system, by transfering to the second computing device the modification indicator,

wherein the modification is capable of being received by the second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second computing device.

39. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving, by a routing system from a first computing device that is operating in response to a first device trigger, a modification indicator indicating a modification to first device data of the first computing device;

storing, by the routing system, the modification indicator;

receiving, by the routing system from a second computing device that is operating in response to a second device trigger triggering asynchronously with respect to the first device trigger, a transfer request from the second computing device; and

responding to the transfer request, by the routing system, by transfering to the second computing device the modification indicator,

wherein the modification is capable of being received by the second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second computing device.