SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING SYNCHRONIZATION

• US 20090006654A1
• Filed: 09/05/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Auriemma, Stephen T., Corbett, Maria M., O'Brien, Michael R., Mammen, Ashok C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,860,312 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: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A system and method is provided for optimizing a SyncML slow sync between a proprietary client and server. When a slow sync is detected, the client and server can depart from the normal SyncML protocol and process summary data without having to compare all items on a field-by-field basis.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing a slow synchronization between a client and a server, the method comprising:

receiving, at the server, a synchronization package having missing or corrupt synchronization anchors;

sending, by the server, a request to initiate a slow synchronization process to the client;

receiving a slow synchronization package, at the server, wherein the slow synchronization package comprises summary data associated with the documents stored at the client, the summary data including at least a unique identifier and a timestamp associated with the documents;

determining, at the server, if the slow synchronization package was received from a client designated proprietary by examining a header field of the slow synchronization package, wherein the proprietary client departs from the slow synchronization process by sending the slow synchronization package comprising the summary data rather than sending the documents themselves; and

processing, at the server, the received summary data associated with the documents stored at the client, if the client is so designated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending, by the server, a request to initiate a slow synchronization process to the client, further comprises:

sending, by the server, a slow synchronization initialization package to the client, the slow synchronization initialization package including a request to the client to send all documents stored at the client.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, at the client, if the request to initiate a slow synchronization process was sent by a server designated proprietary,

wherein the proprietary client departs from the slow synchronization process by sending the slow synchronization package comprising the summary data rather than sending the documents themselves, if the server is so designated.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining, at the client, if the request to initiate a slow synchronization process was sent by a server designated proprietary, further comprises:

receiving, at the client, the slow synchronization initialization package; and

examining a header field of the slow synchronization initialization package to determine if the server has been designated proprietary.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein processing, at the server, the received summary data, further comprising:

comparing the unique identifier and the timestamp, obtained from the summary data, for each document stored at the client with a unique identifier and timestamp for each document stored at the server; and

determining if said unique identifiers and said timestamps match for the client document and server document,

wherein if said unique identifiers do not match, sending a status to the client indicating a document that needs to be sent by the client.

6. A method for optimizing a slow synchronization between a client and a server, the method comprising:

receiving, at a client, a slow synchronization initialization package from a server, the slow synchronization initialization package including a request to the client to send all documents stored at the client;

examining a header field of the slow synchronization initialization package to determine if the server has been designated proprietary; and

sending, by the client, a slow synchronization package comprising summary data associated with the documents stored at the client rather than the documents themselves, if the server is so designated, the summary data including at least a unique identifier and a timestamp associated with the documents stored at the client.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

examining, at the server, a header field of the slow synchronization package sent by the client to determine if the client has been designated proprietary; and

processing, at the server, the received summary data associated with the documents stored at the client, if the client is so designated.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein processing, at the server, the received summary data, further comprising:

comparing the unique identifier and the timestamp, obtained from the summary data, for each document stored at the client with a unique identifier and timestamp for each document stored at the server; and

determining if said unique identifiers and said timestamps match for the client document and server document,

wherein if said unique identifiers do not match, sending a status to the client indicating the client document that needs to be sent by the client to the server.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein processing, at the server, the received summary data, further comprising:

comparing the unique identifier and the timestamp, obtained from the summary data, for each document stored at the client with a unique identifier and timestamp for each document stored at the server; and

determining if said unique identifiers and said timestamps match for the client document and server document,

wherein if said unique identifiers do not match, sending the server document to the client.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, the status at the client; and

sending, the client document indicated in the status in a subsequent synchronization session.

11. A system for optimizing a slow synchronization between a client and a server, the system comprising:

means for receiving, at the server, a synchronization package having missing or corrupt synchronization anchors;

means for sending, by the server, a request to initiate a slow synchronization process to the client;

means for receiving a slow synchronization package at the server, wherein the slow synchronization package comprises summary data associated with the documents stored at the client, the summary data including at least a unique identifier and a timestamp associated with the documents;

means for determining, at the server, if the slow synchronization package was received from a client designated proprietary by examining a header field of the slow synchronization package, wherein the proprietary client departs from the slow synchronization process by sending the slow synchronization package comprising the summary data rather than sending the documents themselves; and

means for processing, at the server, the received summary data associated with the documents stored at the client, if the client is so designated.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein means for sending, by the server, a request to initiate a slow synchronization process to the client, further comprises:

means for sending, by the server, a slow synchronization initialization package to the client, the slow synchronization initialization package including a request to the client to send all documents stored at the client.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

means for determining, at the client, if the request to initiate the slow synchronization process was sent by a server designated proprietary; and

means for sending, by the proprietary client, the slow synchronization package comprising the summary data associated with the documents stored at the client rather than the documents themselves, if the server is so designated.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein means for determining, at the client, if the request to initiate the slow synchronization process was sent by a server designated proprietary, further comprises:

means for receiving the slow synchronization initialization package; and

means for examining a header field to determine if the server has been designated proprietary.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein means for processing, at the server, the received summary data, further comprising:

means for comparing the unique identifier and the timestamp, obtained from the summary data, for each document stored at the client with a unique identifier and timestamp for each document stored at the server;

means for determining if said unique identifiers and said timestamps match for the client document and server document; and

means for sending a status to the client indicating a document that needs to be sent by the client, if said unique identifiers do not match.