BUSINESS DATA ACCESS CLIENT FOR ONLINE/OFFLINE CLIENT USE

• US 20090171679A1
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tennisberg, Targo, Kapadia, Arshish, Raj, Kaushik, Koronthaly, David, Sevilmis, Tarkan, Nazeeruddin, Mohammed, Salgado, Rolando Jimenez, Paranthaman, Sundar
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/346
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24552 Database cache management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

Architecture for uninterrupted access to business data by enabling work on rich client machines to be stored in a local business data cache that is always available. A dispatching mechanism executes read/write requests against the local cache transparently to a client application, an automatic synchronization mechanism propagates changes bi-directionally when the client goes online and a live connection with the corresponding backend data source is available. A declarative data access model is employed based on operation stereotyping and grouping that enables client applications to transparently execute create, read, update, delete, query (CRUDQ) and association operations against the local cache as if executed against the actual business data source. The architecture supports the offline creation of entities and sets of related entities when the entity identifiers are generated by the business data source and offline navigation of entity associations when foreign keys are not present in the related entities.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented business system, comprising:

a runtime component for enabling read/write access by a client application to business data based on a declarative data access model; and

a communications component for communicating access operations to the business data, which is stored on a backend system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the runtime component accesses the business data of the backend system via a mid-tier system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the runtime component includes a dispatcher component for executing data requests of the client application against the business data.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a cache component for storing portions of the business data during an offline mode for synchronization to the backend system during an online mode.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a synchronization component for automatically synchronizing the portions of the business data to the backend system and changes in the business data of the backend system to the cache component.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising a cache manager for managing a queue of pending changes and state of cached entities in the cache component.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the declarative data access model enables the client to execute create, read, update, delete (CRUD) query and association operations against the portions of the business data of the cache component and the business data of the backend system.

8. The system of claim 4, further comprising a cache refresh and cleanup component for propagating changes in the business data from the backend system to the cache component and flushing unneeded business data from the cache component.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component includes a remoting system that allows client application CRUD and query operations to be applied against business data sources with restricted access.

10. A computer-implemented business system, comprising:

a cache component of a client for caching business data locally for synchronization to a backend system;

a runtime component for enabling read/write access by a client application of the client to the cached business data using a declarative data access model;

a dispatcher component for routing calls through the cache component to a backend business data source or directly to the business data source based on declarative and programmatic configurations; and

a synchronization component for automatically synchronizing changes between the cached business data and a backend business data source.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the synchronization component synchronizes local changes related to conflict detection, error tracking and automatic retry as background operations.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the cache component caches the business data during an offline mode and the synchronization component synchronizes the changes between the cached business data and a backend business data source during an online mode.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the cache component includes a cache manager that facilitates offline creation and deletion of data entities and sets of related data entities based on entity identifiers created by a backend business data source or the client.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the cache manager facilitates offline and online navigation of entity associations when foreign keys are not present in the related data entities.

15. A computer-implemented method of processing data, comprising:

processing CRUD and query operations of a client application against local business data, or remote business data of a backend system;

dispatching the operations against the remote business data of the backend system, transparently to the client application, during an online mode;

otherwise, dispatching the operations against the local business data, transparently to the client application, during an offline mode; and

automatically synchronizing differences in the local business data and the remote business data bi-directionally during the online mode.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising caching the local business data in a client cache system and dispatching calls through the client cache system or directly to the backend system based on a declarative data access model.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising synchronizing the differences with disparate backend business data systems, one or more of the backend systems of which are behind firewalls.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising creating and deleting entities and sets of related entities during the offline mode.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising caching the local business data and managing a queue of pending differences and state of cached data entities.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising navigating, creating, and deleting entity associations in the local business data irrespective of foreign-key availability.