Data gateway

• US 20070109592A1
• Filed: 11/15/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Venkatachary, Tendjoukian, Meher, Yang, Lie, Parvathaneni, Bhaskar
• Granted Patent: US 8,065,680 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5033 considering data affinity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer

Abstract

Method and apparatus for updating user data from multiple data sources in a data gateway are disclosed. The data gateway includes a persistent job table for centrally storing jobs to be processed by the plurality of servers, a server table for centrally storing statuses of activities of the plurality of servers, and a job engine for processing job requests from the multiple data sources using the persistent job table and the server table. The data gateway includes a server farm having a plurality of servers, and where both the persistent job table and the server table reside outside the plurality of servers. The data gateway further includes a virtual Internet Protocol load balancer for dynamically mapping of jobs to be processed to particular servers according to user identifiers.

Claims

1. A data gateway for updating user data from multiple data sources, wherein the data gateway includes a server farm having a plurality of servers, comprising:

a persistent job table for centrally storing jobs to be processed by the plurality of servers, wherein a job comprises an update of a change of user data, and wherein the persistent job table resides outside the plurality of servers;

a server table for centrally storing statuses of activities of the plurality of servers, wherein the server table resides outside the plurality of servers; and

a job engine for processing job requests from the multiple data sources using the persistent job table and the server table.

2. The data gateway of claim 1, wherein the persistent job table comprises:

user identifier information for identifying a user'"'"'s entries in the persistent job table;

data source type information for specifying types of data source account;

job type information for specifying gateway data synchronization jobs; and

server information for specifying a gateway server currently owning a particular job.

3. The data gateway of claim 2, wherein the data source type information comprises at least an element selected from the group consisting of mail, send mail, calendar, address book, task, and photo.

4. The data gateway of claim 1, wherein the persistent job table further comprises:

a retry count for indicating number of times the data gateway has tried processing a job;

a due time for specifying the next time the job is due for processing; and

a reschedule flag indicating the data gateway has received another notification for the job that is currently being processed.

5. The data gateway of claim 1, wherein the server table comprises:

a list of servers and their corresponding schedule timestamps.

6. The data gateway of claim 1, wherein the job engine comprises:

a job scheduler for scheduling job requests for updating user data;

a storage queue for storing jobs to be processed;

a job dispatcher for obtaining a lock for a job to be processed; and

a job handler for processing the job according to the lock and a data source type of the job.

7. The data gateway of claim 1, wherein the job engine further comprises:

a timer for periodically triggering job requests; and

a change notification handler for sending job requests from registered backend data sources and from user devices.

8. The data gateway of claim 1 further comprising:

a content router application interface for interfacing with a backend database; and

a data source application interface for interfacing with the multiple data sources, wherein the multiple data sources include IMAP, POP, WebDAV, and Exchange.

9. The data gateway of claim 8, wherein the content router application interface comprises:

a record exchange application interface for exchanging new mail and PIM information with a backend database;

a settings exchange application interface for exchanging folder list and meta-data information with the backend database; and

a command exchange application interface for exchanging file attachments with the backend database.

10. The data gateway of claim 8, wherein the data source application interface comprises:

an IMAP adaptor for communicating with at least an IMAP server;

an MSN adaptor for communicating with at least an MSN server;

a POP adaptor for communicating with at least a POP server; and

an Exchange adaptor for communicating with at least an Exchange server.

11. The data gateway of claim 1 further comprises:

a virtual Internet Protocol load balancer for dynamically mapping of jobs to be processed to particular servers according to user identifiers.

12. A method for updating user data from multiple data sources in a data gateway, wherein the data gateway includes a server farm having a plurality of servers, comprising:

receiving a job request at the data gateway;

fetching jobs due for processing from a persistent job table, wherein the persistent job table stores jobs to be processed by the plurality of servers, and wherein the persistent job table resides outside the plurality of servers;

sending the jobs to a storage queue;

rescheduling the jobs in the persistent job table for processing at a future time;

dispatching a job to be processed from the storage queue to a job handler; and

processing the job by the job handler according to a data source type of the job.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a status from the job handler; and

removing the job from the persistent job table in response to the job being a one-time job and the status indicating the job has been completed.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a status from the job handler; and

rescheduling the job in the persistent job table in response to the job being a recurring job and the status indicating the job has been completed.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a status from the job handler; and

processing the job at a future time in response to the status indicating a busy-lock taken.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a status from the job handler;

rescheduling the job with a delay in the persistent job table in response to the status indicating a temporary error; and

incrementing a retry count in the persistent job table.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

updating a reschedule timestamp associated with current server in a gateway server table, wherein the gateway server table stores a list of servers and their corresponding schedule timestamps; and

rescheduling the job in the persistent job table for processing at a future time.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

retrieving a list of inactive servers that have not updated their corresponding reschedule timestamps within a timeout period; and

rescheduling jobs belonging to the inactive servers for processing.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein rescheduling comprises:

sending the jobs belonging to the inactive servers through a virtual Internet Protocol load balancer; and

directing the jobs to new servers for processing; and

directing subsequent jobs from the same users to the same servers for processing dynamically.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein dispatching a job further comprises:

obtaining a lock according to an account lock and a set of data type locks of the user'"'"'s account and data respectively.

21. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

updating a user account information by implementing a mutually exclusive write of the user account information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein updating a user account information comprises:

provisioning the user account; and

updating the user account configurations.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein updating a user account information further comprises:

deleting the user account; and

deactivating the user account.

24. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

updating user data changes according to an account lock and a set of data type locks of the user'"'"'s data.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein updating user data changes comprises:

implementing a read lock on the account lock; and

implementing a write lock on a data type lock of the user data being updated.

26. A computer program product for updating user data from multiple data sources in a data gateway, wherein the data gateway includes a server farm having a plurality of servers, comprising:

code for receiving a job request at the data gateway;

code for fetching jobs due for processing from a persistent job table, wherein the persistent job table stores jobs to be processed by the plurality of servers, and wherein the persistent job table resides outside the plurality of servers;

code for sending the jobs to a storage queue;

code for rescheduling the jobs in the persistent job table for processing at a future time;

code for dispatching a job to be processed from the storage queue to a job handler; and

code for processing the job by the job handler according to a data source type of the job.

27. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for receiving a status from the job handler; and

code for removing the job from the persistent job table in response to the job being a one-time job and the status indicating the job has been completed.

28. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for receiving a status from the job handler; and

code for rescheduling the job in the persistent job table in response to the job being a recurring job and the status indicating the job has been completed.

29. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for receiving a status from the job handler; and

code for processing the job at a future time in response to the status indicating a busy-lock taken.

30. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for receiving a status from the job handler;

code for rescheduling the job with a delay in the persistent job table in response to the status indicating a temporary error; and

code for incrementing a retry count in the persistent job table.

31. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for updating a reschedule timestamp associated with current server in a gateway server table, wherein the gateway server table stores a list of servers and their corresponding schedule timestamps; and

code for rescheduling the job in the persistent job table for processing at a future time.

32. The computer program product of claim 31 further comprising:

code for retrieving a list of inactive servers that have not updated their corresponding reschedule timestamps within a timeout period; and

code for rescheduling jobs belonging to the inactive servers for processing.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the code for rescheduling comprises:

code for sending the jobs belonging to the inactive servers through a virtual Internet Protocol load balancer; and

code for directing the jobs to new servers for processing; and

code for directing subsequent jobs from the same users to the same servers for processing dynamically.

34. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the code for dispatching a job further comprises:

code for obtaining a lock according to an account lock and a set of data type locks of the user'"'"'s account and data respectively.

35. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for updating a user account information by implementing a mutually exclusive write of the user account information.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the code for updating a user account information comprises:

code for provisioning the user account; and

code for updating the user account configurations.

37. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the code for updating a user account information further comprises:

code for deleting the user account; and

code for deactivating the user account.

38. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

code for updating user data changes according to an account lock and a set of data type locks of the user'"'"'s data.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the code for updating user data changes comprises:

code for implementing a read lock on the account lock; and

code for implementing a write lock on a data type lock of the user data being updated.