METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PUSHING DATA TO A PLURALITY OF DEVICES IN AN ON-DEMAND SERVICE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20080010243A1
• Filed: 06/01/2007
• Published: 01/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Kothule, Deepak, Weissman, Craig, Forsberg, Erik, Eidson, William
• Granted Patent: US 9,201,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/002
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• 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

Abstract

Mechanisms and methods for pushing data to a plurality of devices of a plurality of organizations are provided. Queries are handled in bulk for a group of users of an organization or the entire organization, and limited results are sent to a middle tier server between the database system and the user devices. These mechanisms and methods for pushing data to a plurality of devices enable an efficient and transparent transfer of data to user devices. This efficient and transparent transfer of data can enable mobile devices of many organizations to seamlessly have the data that is required to perform business.

Claims

1. A method for pushing data to a plurality of devices of a plurality of organizations, comprising:

receiving a request for information for a first organization;

applying a query to a database to retrieve a result limited to information associated with the first organization; and

determining a subset of the result to be returned to the first organization by;

comparing the result to state information indicating what information is present on a server of the first organization; and

comparing the result to permission information indicating which portion of the result that devices at the first organization are permitted to view.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a request for information for a first organization includes:

receiving requests at periodic intervals.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the subset of the result to the server of the first organization, thereby enabling the server to provide each of the devices with that portion of the result that each of the devices is permitted to view without the device contacting the database.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing a scheduled procedure for sending information to a first device, wherein the scheduled procedure includes;

sending a quasi-identical copy of information to the first device in response to a request for information by the first device of the first organization; and

providing an exception procedure for acquiring information by a first device, wherein the exception procedure includes;

receiving, at the server, an exception request which activates a query to the database to return information specific to the first device.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

filtering, at the server, that portion of the result that each of the devices is permitted to view for information relevant to each device.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

sending, by the server, information to render objects at each device, thereby providing a self-describing mobile framework.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

sending, by the server, information determined to be related to information already stored at each device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is received from the server at the first organization.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving a request for information for a first organization comprises:

receiving, from the server, a request to update a quasi-identical copy of information present at each of a plurality of mobile devices of the first organization.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein applying the query to the database to retrieve the result limited to information associated with the first organization comprises:

forming a query to a multi-tenant database for information belonging to the first organization.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the result to the permission information comprises:

comparing the result to a set of access rules indicating which users in the first organization have access to each portion of the result; and

wherein comparing the result to state information comprises;

determining which portions of the result to send to a requesting server to update a quasi-identical copy, stored on the requesting server, of information present at each of a plurality of mobile devices.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an entire result for the first organization responsive to detecting at least one of;

a change in rules for the information associated with the first organization, an edit made to a portion of the data, a request for the entire result by the server of the first organization, and a size of the subset of the result being larger than a predetermined amount.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for information for a second organization;

applying a query to the database to retrieve a result limited to information associated with the second organization; and

determining a subset of this result to be returned to the second organization by;

comparing this result to state information indicating what information is present on a server of the second organization; and

comparing this result to permission information indicating which portion of the result that devices at the second organization are permitted to view.

14. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for pushing data to a plurality of devices at a plurality of organizations, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

receiving a request for information for a first organization;

applying a query to a database to retrieve a result limited to information associated with the first organization; and

determining a subset of the result to be returned to the first organization by;

comparing the result to state information indicating what information is present on a server of the first organization; and

comparing the result to permission information indicating which portion of the result that devices at the first organization are permitted to view.

15. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 14 wherein the instructions for carrying out the step of receiving a request include instructions for carrying out the step of receiving requests at periodic intervals.

16. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 14, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

sending the subset of the result to the server at the first organization, thereby enabling the server to provide each of the devices with that portion of the result that each of the devices is permitted to view without the device contacting the database.

17. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 16, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

providing a scheduled procedure for sending information to a first device, wherein the scheduled procedure includes;

sending a quasi-identical copy of information to the first device in response to a request for information by the first device of the first organization; and

providing an exception procedure for acquiring information by a first device, wherein the exception procedure includes;

receiving, at the server, an exception request which activates a query to the database to return information specific to the first device.

18. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 16, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

filtering, at the server, that portion of the result that each of the devices is permitted to view for information relevant to each device.

19. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 16, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

sending, by the server, information to render objects at each device, thereby providing a self-describing mobile framework.

20. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 16, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

sending, by the server, information determined to be related to information already stored at each device.

21. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 14 wherein the instructions for carrying out the step of comparing the result to the permission information include instructions for carrying out the step of:

comparing the result to a set of access rules indicating which users in the first organization have access to each portion of the result; and

wherein the instructions for comparing the result to state information include instructions for carrying out the step of;

determining which portions of the result to send to a requesting server to update a quasi-identical copy, stored on the requesting server, of information present at each of a plurality of mobile devices.

22. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 14, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

sending an entire result for the first organization responsive to detecting at least one of;

a change in rules for the information associated with the first organization, an edit made to a portion of the data, a request for the entire result by the server of the first organization, and a size of the subset of the result being larger than a predetermined amount.

23. A system comprising:

a multi-tenant database;

an interface to a server supporting a plurality of mobile devices; and

a processor coupled with a machine readable memory storing instructions for;

receiving a request for information for a first organization;

applying a query to the multi-tenant database to retrieve a result limited to information associated with the first organization; and

determining a subset of the result to be returned to the first organization by;

comparing the result to state information indicating what information is present on a server of the first organization; and

comparing the result to permission information indicating which portion of the result that devices at the first organization are permitted to view.