Propagation of conflict knowledge

• US 20080144669A1
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novik, Lev, Khosravy, Moe, Pfenning, Jorg-Thomas, Lee, Oliver, Clark, Michael Ray, Beckerman, Michael Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,778,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/503
• 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: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A sync community may include a group of synchronization endpoints. When two synchronization endpoints of the sync community synchronize with one another, a synchronization data conflict may be detected when the two synchronization endpoints make a change to a same particular data item and the two synchronization endpoints were unaware of the changes to the same particular data item made by the other respective synchronization endpoint at the time the changes were made. Resolution of the detected synchronization data conflict may be delayed and data indicative of the detected synchronization data conflict may be propagated to other synchronization endpoints during a synchronization operation.

Claims

1. In a sync community that includes a plurality of synchronization endpoints, a method for propagation of conflict knowledge, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first synchronization endpoint, knowledge information of a second synchronization endpoint, the knowledge information representing changes to data within the sync community of which the second synchronization endpoint is aware;

comparing the knowledge information from the second synchronization endpoint with knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint, the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint representing changes to data within the sync community of which the first synchronization endpoint is aware;

enumerating, at the first synchronization endpoint, change information based on the comparing of the knowledge information from the second synchronization endpoint with the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint, the change information including data indicative of an unresolved synchronization data conflict between a third synchronization endpoint and another synchronization endpoint of the plurality of synchronization endpoints; and

sending, from the first synchronization endpoint to the second synchronization endpoint, the change information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, from the first synchronization endpoint, the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint;

receiving, at the first synchronization endpoint in response to the sending of the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint, enumerated change information from the second synchronization endpoint, the enumerated change information including data indicative of a second unresolved synchronization data conflict; and

resolving the second unresolved synchronization data conflict by the first synchronization endpoint when the first synchronization endpoint includes knowledge of a change made to a data item associated with the second unresolved synchronization data conflict having associated made-with-knowledge including knowledge of conflicting changes of the second unresolved synchronization data conflict.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the knowledge information from the second synchronization endpoint includes a knowledge vector.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, from the first synchronization endpoint, the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the unresolved synchronization data conflict occurred during a synchronization of the first synchronization endpoint with a third synchronization endpoint.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unresolved synchronization data conflict occurred during a synchronization between a third synchronization endpoint and a fourth synchronization endpoint.

7. A tangible computer-readable medium having instructions for at least one processor recorded thereon, the tangible computer-readable medium comprising:

instructions for sending a first synchronization request from a first synchronization endpoint to a second synchronization endpoint, the first synchronization request including knowledge information representing changes to data, within a sync community including a plurality of synchronization endpoints, of which the first synchronization endpoint is aware;

instructions for receiving, at the first synchronization endpoint in response to sending the first synchronization request, change information from a second synchronization endpoint including knowledge information representing changes to data, within the sync community, of which the second synchronization endpoint is aware and of which the first synchronization endpoint is unaware;

instructions for determining an existence of a data synchronization conflict between the first synchronization endpoint and the second synchronization endpoint based, at least partially, on the received change information;

instructions for storing knowledge of the determined data synchronization conflict for propagation to a third synchronization endpoint within the sync community;

instructions for receiving, at the first synchronization endpoint, a second synchronization request from a synchronization endpoint of the plurality of synchronization endpoints; and

instructions for sending, from the first synchronization endpoint to the synchronization endpoint of the plurality of synchronization endpoints, in response to receiving the second synchronization request, change information including data indicative of the data synchronization conflict between the first synchronization endpoint and the second synchronization endpoint.

8. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the synchronization endpoint of the plurality of synchronization endpoints is a synchronization endpoint other than the second synchronization endpoint.

9. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the second synchronization request includes knowledge information representing changes to synchronization data of which the synchronization endpoint of the plurality of synchronization endpoints is aware within the sync community.

10. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the change information including data indicative of the data synchronization conflict between the first synchronization endpoint and the second synchronization endpoint comprises conflicting change information including at least two change IDs and corresponding change data.

11. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the knowledge information included in the first synchronization request includes a knowledge vector.

12. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein:

the change information includes at least one change ID and corresponding change data,

the instructions for determining an existence of a data synchronization conflict between the first synchronization endpoint and a second synchronization endpoint further comprise;

instructions for determining that a data synchronization conflict exists between the first synchronization endpoint and the second synchronization endpoint when the change information from the second synchronization endpoint includes a first change to a data item, the first synchronization endpoint is aware of a second change to the data item, made-with-knowledge associated with the change to the data item and included in the change information from the second synchronization endpoint indicates that the second synchronization endpoint was not aware of the second change to the data item, and made-with-knowledge of the first synchronization endpoint and associated with the second change to the data item indicates that the first synchronization endpoint was not aware of the change to the data item.

13. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein:

the change information includes at least one change ID and corresponding change data, and

each of the at least one change ID includes a version and a synchronization endpoint ID that is associated with a particular synchronization endpoint in the sync community.

14. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising:

instructions for storing an exception list that includes information corresponding to the change information from the second synchronization endpoint.

15. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising:

instructions for updating the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint based on the received change information from the second synchronization endpoint.

16. A processing device for implementing a first synchronization endpoint within a sync community including a plurality of synchronization endpoints, the processing device comprising:

at least one processor;

a communication interface; and

a memory including instructions for the at least one processor, the at least one processor and the memory being connected via the communication interface, and the instructions for the at least one processor including;

instructions for maintaining knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint representing changes to data within the sync community of which the first synchronization endpoint is aware,

instructions for comparing the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint with received knowledge information of a second synchronization endpoint,

instructions for determining existence of a synchronization data conflict based on the comparing of the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint with the received knowledge information of the second synchronization endpoint, and

instructions for storing knowledge of the determined synchronization data conflict for propagation to a third synchronization endpoint.

17. The processing device of claim 16, wherein the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint includes a first knowledge vector and the knowledge information of the second synchronization endpoint includes a second knowledge vector.

18. The processing device of claim 16, wherein the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint and the knowledge information of the second synchronization endpoint include data change information of the sync community of which the respective synchronization endpoints are aware, and made-with-knowledge information corresponding to each item of the synchronization data change information.

19. The processing device of claim 16, wherein:

the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint and the knowledge information of the second synchronization endpoint include data change information of the sync community of which the respective synchronization endpoints are aware, and made-with-knowledge information corresponding to each item of the synchronization data change information, and

the memory further includes;

instructions for determining that a data synchronization conflict exists between the first synchronization endpoint and the second synchronization endpoint when the synchronization data change information from the second synchronization endpoint includes a first change to a data item, the first synchronization endpoint is aware of a second change to the data item, the made-with-knowledge associated with the first change to the data item and included in the synchronization data change information from the second synchronization endpoint indicates that the second synchronization endpoint was not aware of the second change to the data item, and made-with-knowledge of the first synchronization endpoint and associated with the second change to the data item indicates that the first synchronization endpoint was not aware of the change to the data item.

20. The processing device of claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises:

instructions for enumerating change information based on comparing the knowledge information of the first synchronization endpoint with knowledge information of the third synchronization endpoint, the change information including information indicative of the synchronization data conflict.