System and method for client synchronization for a communication device

• US 20090177800A1
• Filed: 07/10/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Software Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: New Act Ltd.
• Inventors: Ton, Rafael, Shulman, Boris, Gidron, Yoad
• Granted Patent: US 8,825,815 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 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A system and method for synchronizing data between a communication device and a server, through an agent installed on the device.

Claims

1. A system for synchronizing data between a communication device and a server and a communication device, comprising:

an agent installed at the device;

A synchronization module installed at the server, wherein said synchronization module and said agent communicate for synchronization and wherein a majority of synchronization activities are performed by the server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one device specific feature is enabled by said server and not by said agent.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said agent is configured for a platform and wherein one or more device specific features for the device are handled by said server.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein all device related customization beyond said platform is handled by said server.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the synchronized data comprises one or more of Contacts (vCard format), Calendar events and tasks (vCalendar format), Files (binary format), Messages (SMS and MMS), pictures, audio data and video data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server and the plurality of communication devices communicate through a network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said network comprises a plurality of networks, wherein each network can be wireless and/or fixed.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a telephone.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is any mobile communication device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said mobile communication device comprises voice and/or video communication capability.

11. A method for bi-directional data synchronization between a plurality of communication devices and a server, comprising:

Providing an agent for being operated by each communication device;

Providing data being installed on each said agent and on the said server;

Providing automatic synchronization of the said data between said agent and said server;

Wherein at least one device specific feature is enabled by said server and not by said agent.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said agent is configured for a platform and wherein one or more device specific features for the device are handled by said server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein all device related customization beyond said platform is handled by said server.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein a checksum is used in order to detect changes that were made to said data elements on the said device since last sync, and to minimize the traffic in the synchronization process by transferring only the data items that have been changed.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the synchronized data comprises one or more of Contacts (vCard format), Calendar events and tasks (vCalendar format), Files (binary format), Messages (SMS and MMS), pictures, audio data and video data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the files are transferred in their original binary format.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the agent user interface and flow can be customized.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said customization occurs according to one or more of changing icons, menus per operator and/or service.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the synchronized data is divided into chunks in order to enable the transferring of large amount of data.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein both the user and the device are authenticated before performing any data transaction.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein OTA protocol is used for updating the said agent on the said device.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein the agent is remotely initiated using CIR.

23. The method of claim 11 wherein the agent is transparently and automatically configured.

24. The method of claim 11 wherein data can be downloaded from the agent to the server.

25. The method of claim 11 wherein data can be uploaded from the server to the agent.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the agent presents to the user only the data that is missing in the server.