MINIMAL EXTENSIONS REQUIRED FOR MULTI-MASTER OFFLINE AND COLLABORATION FOR DEVICES AND WEB SERVICES

• US 20100057785A1
• Filed: 08/26/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novik, Lev, Khosravy, Moe, Clark, Michael Ray
• Granted Patent: US 8,458,128 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates managing data consistency in connection with a plurality of devices. A collection of devices can be associated with a user. A web service can receive a portion of data from at least one device via an interface component, wherein the web service can host and relate the portion of data with an account for the user. A master sync component can leverage a computing resource from at least one device in order to maintain data consistency between at least one of the following: two or more devices within the collection of devices associated with the user; or the account hosted by the web service and two or more devices within the collection of devices associated with the user.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates managing data consistency in connection with a plurality of devices, comprising:

a collection of devices associated with a user;

a web service that receives a portion of data from at least one device via an interface component, the web service hosts and relates the portion of data with an account for the user; and

a master sync component that leverages a computing resource from at least one device in order to maintain data consistency between at least one of the following;

two or more devices within the collection of devices associated with the user;

or

the account hosted by the web service and two or more devices within the collection of devices associated with the user.

2. The system of claim 1, the device is at least one of a smartphone, a laptop, a desktop, a computer, a machine, a portable digital assistant (PDA), a cellular device, a pager, a two-way, a hand-held, a mobile device, a browsing device, a wireless device, a portable gaming device, a gaming console, a media player, a portable media player, a pen drive, a hard drive, a data store, a digital camera, an image collecting device, a video collecting device, a video camera, an audio collecting device, an audio recorder, global positioning system (GPS), or a portable web browser.

3. The system of claim 1, the web service is at least one of an image web service, a video web service, a storage web service, an audio file web service, a data backup web service, or a social network service.

4. The system of claim 1, the collection of devices associated with the user is a collection of endpoints in a fully connected mesh.

5. The system of claim 4, the web service extends at least one of an offline data synchronization between multiple endpoints or a collaboration scenario between multiple endpoints.

6. The system of claim 1, the two or more devices interpret a portion of sync metadata in a seamless manner, wherein the sync metadata includes item level sync metadata and collection level sync metadata.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an item component that enforces a metadata characteristic for an item, the item is at least one of a photo, a personal contact, an image file, a portion of data, a portion of video, a portion of audio, a portion of a graphic, a portion of text.

8. The system of claim 7, the metadata characteristic is a portion of sync metadata, the portion of sync metadata is at least one of a pair or a token.

9. The system of claim 8, the portion of sync metadata signifies an update version structure, the update version structure includes at least one of data related to the last update, a virtual time of update in a local time of the device making the change, or an entity making the change.

10. The system of claim 8, the portion of sync metadata includes a creation version for at least one of specific conflict resolution, conflict detection, or tombstone cleanup.

11. The system of claim 8, the portion of sync metadata includes a BOOL for at least one of a deletion flag or a tombstone marker.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a collection handler that serializes the portion of sync metadata to enable a client to leverage for at least one of change enumeration or conflict detection.

13. The system of claim 12, the serialized portion of sync metadata employs at least one of a tombstone cleanup for cleaning up a remote delete from the web service.

14. The system of claim 13, the collection handler utilizes the serialized portion of sync metadata is utilized as a clock vector, wherein such clock vector is defined as a vector of versions.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a conflict resolver that enforces at least one of the following:

removal of a portion of the update version information within the update version structure for an item being updated if an update is made by a non-sync enabled client;

employment of a device to set a portion of the update version information within the update version structure for an item being updated by a sync enabled device;

or

maintenance of a copy of the portion of sync metadata when an item is deleted and provide access to a deleted item list with additional sync metadata assigned from the time of the update.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a cloud that incorporates at least one of the master sync component or the interface component, the cloud enables remote access for a user in order to provide data synchronization between two or more devices or the web service and two or more devices.

17. A computer-implemented method that facilitates maintaining data consistency between a plurality of devices and a web service, comprising:

defining two or more devices as endpoints in a connected mesh;

employing a data change to a portion of data associated with at least one device;

implementing the data change to the two or more devices in the connected mesh utilizing solely a resource from at least one of the devices; and

implementing the data change to a web service utilizing solely a resource from at least one of the devices.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

enforcing an item level sync metadata to signify an update version structure for an item update;

serializing the item level sync metadata; and

employing the serialized item level sync metadata as a clock vector for change enumeration and conflict detection.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

removing a portion of update version information from the update version structure for an item being updated if an update is made by a non-sync enabled client; and

utilizing a device to set the version information from the update version structure for an item being updated by a sync enabled device.

20. A computer-implemented system that facilitates employing data synchronization for an offline scenario or a collaboration scenario between a web service and a plurality of devices, comprising:

means for identifying a mesh connection of a plurality of devices related to a particular entity;

means for communicating data between at least one device and a web service;

means for hosting the data within the web service;

means for relating the data with an account for the particular entity;

means for detecting a change in the data, the change is executed within at least one of the web service or at least one of the devices in the mesh connection; and

means for leveraging a computing resource from at least one device in order to maintain data consistency between at least one of the following;

two or more devices within the collection of devices associated with the user;

or

the account hosted by the web service and two or more devices within the collection of devices associated with the user.