PACKAGING AND BULK TRANSFER OF FILES AND METADATA FOR SYNCHRONIZATION

• US 20100088297A1
• Filed: 10/03/2008
• Published: 04/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Naftolin, Jordan B., Kiilerich, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 9,043,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

An arrangement for packaging and transferring files such as content items and metadata in synchronization operations. Files are packaged in a concatenated fashion in order to optimize usage of the transfer channel, while maintaining an ability to keep track of how many files have been transferred. Metadata associated with the files may be sent in a single package in advance of sending the files. The metadata may be compressed using both a custom mechanism that takes into account predictable commonalities inherent in metadata for multimedia files, as well as standard compression techniques.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed in an electronic device, implement a method for packaging and transferring a plurality of content items from a first device to a second device, the method comprising the steps of:

a. on a first device on which content items are stored, concatenating a plurality of the content items;

b. transmitting the concatenated content items in a sequence for reception by a second device;

c. such that before, during, or after a content item is sent to the second device, but before a next content item is sent to the second device, further comprising changing a content revision number on the first device associated with the concatenated plurality of content items.

2. The medium of claim 1, in which the changing includes incrementing.

3. The medium of claim 1, in which the first device is selected from the group consisting of:

a server and a host computer.

4. The medium of claim 1, in which each content item is associated with a metadata item, and in which the concatenating a plurality of content items further comprises placing a metadata item before or after its associated content item in the sequence.

5. The medium of claim 1, in which each content item is associated with a metadata item, and in which the concatenating a plurality of content items further comprises placing a metadata consolidation file, containing data pertaining to the metadata items associated with the plurality, prior to the concatenating content items in the sequence.

6. The medium of claim 5, further comprising compressing the metadata consolidation file, in which the compression is based on a known category of metadata in the metadata consolidation file.

7. The medium of claim 6, in which the known category of metadata includes a category selected from the group consisting of:

album, artist, genre, file type, file name, series, and combinations thereof.

8. The medium of claim 5, further comprising compressing the metadata consolidation file, in which the compression is based on a standard variety of image compression, audio compression, or video compression, or combinations thereof.

9. The medium of claim 1, in which the plurality of content items is divided into a first set and a second set, and in which the first device has previously transmitted the first set of content items for reception by the second device, further comprising comparing the content revision number associated with the first device with a content revision number associated with the second device.

10. The medium of claim 9, in which if the content revision number associated with the first device corresponds to the content revision number associated with the second device, then further comprising transmitting the second set of content items from the first device for reception by the second device.

11. The medium of claim 9, in which if the content revision number associated with the first device does not correspond to the content revision number associated with the second device, then further comprising sending a query from the first device for reception by the second device requesting information about the content items from the first set received on the second device.

12. The medium of claim 1, in which the content revision number corresponds to the number of content items sent.

13. A computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed in an electronic device, implement a method for receiving content items sent from a first device and received on a second device, the method comprising the steps of:

a. from a first device, receiving a portion of a concatenated plurality of content items in a sequence on a second device;

b. such that, after each content item is received, changing a content revision number associated with the plurality of content items.

14. The medium of claim 13, in which the changing includes incrementing.

15. The medium of claim 13, in which each content item is associated with a metadata item, and in which the receiving a concatenated plurality of content items further comprises receiving a metadata item prepended or appended to its associated content item in the sequence.

16. The medium of claim 13, in which each content item is associated with a metadata item, and in which the receiving a concatenated plurality of content items further comprises receiving a metadata consolidation file placed at the beginning of the sequence.

17. The medium of claim 16, in which the metadata consolidation file is compressed using a compression technique based on a known type of metadata contained in the metadata consolidation file, and further comprising decompressing the metadata consolidation file.

18. The medium of claim 13, in which the plurality of content items is divided into a first set and a second set, and in which first device has previously transmitted the first set of content items for reception by the second device, further comprising comparing the content revision number associated with the first device with a content revision number associated with the second device.

19. The medium of claim 18, in which if the content revision number associated with the first device corresponds to the content revision number associated with the second device, then further comprising receiving the second set of content items from the first device on the second device.

20. The medium of claim 18, in which if the content revision number associated with the first device does not correspond to the content revision number associated with the second device, then further comprising receiving a query from the first device on the second device requesting information about the content items from the first set received on the second device.