DETECTING LOW FIDELITY SYNC DATA

• US 20080155122A1
• Filed: 03/04/2008
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Starbuck, Bryan T., Potter, David R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,019,898 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/248
• 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 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

The present invention provides for a distributed computing system that is capable of determining when data needs to be synced between two computer devices because data has changed on at least a remote device. More particularly, the present invention provides for a sync adapter that uses sync data to detect that a property on a device is new and needs to synchronize with corresponding data on another machine. The sync data is specific to the two devices in that the sync data mirrors data that was last synchronized between these two computing devices. Other example embodiments use the sync data to detect and mark data as low fidelity data for identifying any date and time information associated with the low fidelity data as potentially unreliable.

Claims

1. In a distributed computing system, a method of determining when data needs to by synchronized between two computer devices because data has changed on at least a remote device, the method comprising the acts of:

initiating synchronization of data between a local machine and a remote device;

receiving at the local machine, remote data that includes one or more remote properties that have changed on the remote device since the one or more remote properties were last synchronized between the local machine and the remote device;

accessing sync data specific to the local machine and the remote device in that the sync data mirrors data that was last synchronized between the local machine and the remote device;

comparing at least a portion of the sync data with a corresponding portion of the remote data; and

based on the comparison, indicating that the one or more remote properties need to be synchronized down to the local machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

accessing local data that includes one or more local properties that have changed on the local machine since the one or more local properties were last synchronized between the local machine and remote device;

comparing at least a portion of the sync data with a corresponding portion of the local data; and

based on the comparison, indicating that the one or more local properties need to be synchronized up to the remote device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising acts of:

determining that the one or more remote properties conflict with the one or more local properties;

evaluating local and remote metadata included in the remote data and local data, respectively, the remote device and local machine both being high fidelity devices and the metadata indicating when one or more users made the changes to the one or more remote properties and the one or more local properties;

based on the evaluation, resolving the conflict by choosing either the one or more remote properties or the one or more local properties; and

based on the choice, updating one or more of the local data, remote data or the sync data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the remote and local metadata is time-date information, and wherein the evaluation resolves the conflict by choosing whichever time-date is most recent in time and date.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the acts of:

determining that the one or more remote properties conflict with the one or more local properties;

based on the comparison of the at least a portion of the sync data and the at least a portion of the remote data, determining that the remote data is low fidelity data and that the conflict cannot be resolved based on when a user made changes to the one or more remote properties.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a user interface is presented to a user to allow the user to choose between the one or more remote properties and the one or more local properties in order to resolve the conflict.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the conflict is resolved by automatically choosing a value based on some predetermined criteria.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising the acts of:

changing corresponding one or more properties within both the local data and the sync data in accordance with the changes made to the one or more remote properties; and

changing corresponding one or more properties within both the remote data and the sync data in accordance with the changes made to the one or more local properties.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the acts of:

based on the comparison of the at least a portion of the sync data and the at least a portion of the remote data, determining that the one or more remote properties are low fidelity data; and

indicating in the local data and the sync data that the changes made in accordance with the changes made to the one or more remote properties are low fidelity data.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the remote data and the local data include information about a contact and the one or more remote and local properties are information about the contact.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more remote and local properties are one or more of an address, phone number, email address, or web page.

12. In a distributed computing system, a computer program product for implementing a method of synchronizing data between two computer devices because data has changed on at least a remote device, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that when executed by a process cause the distributed computing system to perform the following:

initiate synchronization of data between a local machine and a remote device;

receive at the local machine, remote data that includes one or more remote properties that have changed on the remote device since the one or more remote properties were last synchronized between the local machine and the remote device;

access sync data specific to the local machine and the remote device in that the sync data mirrors data that was last synchronized between the local machine and the remote device;

based on the sync data, determine when the last synchronization between the local machine and the remote device occurred

compare at least a portion of the sync data with a corresponding portion of the remote data; and

based on the comparison, indicate that the one or more remote properties needs to be synchronized down to the local machine.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

access local data that includes one or more local properties that have changed on the local machine since the one or more local properties were last synchronized between the local machine and remote device;

compare at least a portion of the sync data with a corresponding portion of the local data; and

based on the comparison, indicate that the one or more local properties need to be synchronized up to the remote device.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

determine that the one or more remote properties conflict with the one or more local properties;

evaluate local and remote metadata included in the remote data and local data, respectively, the remote device and local machine both being high fidelity devices and the metadata indicating when one or more users made the changes to the one or more remote properties and the one or more local properties;

based on the evaluation, resolve the conflict by choosing either the one or more remote properties or the one or more local properties; and

based on the choice, update one or more of the local data, remote data or the sync data.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the remote and local metadata is time-date information, and wherein the evaluation resolves the conflict by choosing whichever time-date is most recent in time and date.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

determine that the one or more remote properties conflict with the one or more local properties;

based on the comparison of the at least a portion of the sync data and the at least a portion of the remote data, determine that the remote data is low fidelity data and that the conflict cannot be resolved based on when user made changes to the one or more remote properties.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein a user interface is presented to a user to allow the user to choose between the one or more remote properties and the one or more local properties in order to resolve the conflict.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the conflict is resolved by automatically choosing a value based on some predetermined criteria.

19. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

change corresponding one or more properties within both the local data and the sync data in accordance with the changes made to the one or more remote properties; and

change corresponding one or more properties within both the remote data and the sync data in accordance with the changes made to the one or more local properties.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

based on the comparison of the at least a portion of the sync data and the at least a portion of the remote data, determine that the one or more remote properties are low fidelity data; and

indicate in the local data and the sync data that the changes made in accordance with the changes made to the one or more remote properties are low fidelity data.

21. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the remote data and the local data include information about a contact and the one or more remote and local properties are information about the contact.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the one or more remote and local properties are one or more of an address, phone number, email address, or web page.