SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ASYNCHRONOUS SYNCHRONIZATION

• US 20100100641A1
• Filed: 12/23/2009
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Good Technology Corporation (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: QUINLAN, Sean M., Mendez, Daniel J., Ardulov, Yuri, Joshi, Rajiv
• Granted Patent: US 8,255,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• 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: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Aspects of the advancement provide for information to be synchronized in an asynchronous manner among two or more computing devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by connecting to temporary storage in a routing system, when the first computing device is disconnected from the routing system;

receiving, by the first computing device from the temporary storage, a modification indicator indicating a modification to second device data of a second computing device transferred to the temporary storage in response to an asynchronous second device trigger at the second computing device; and

synchronizing, at the first computing device, the second device data of the second computing device with corresponding first device data of the first computing device.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device is a personal computer, a PDA, a PIM or a cell phone.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first triggering event is one of a first computing device power on and a periodically initiated first device trigger.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the modification indicator comprises a synchronization message.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization message comprises modified data corresponding to the modification.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization message comprises at least one of a first version indicator indicating a first computing device version of the first device data and a second version indicator indicating a second computing device version of the second device data.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the temporary storage comprises a storage device accessible by the first computing device and the second computing device.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising:

initializing, at the temporary storage, a first queue to receive first device modification indicators from the first computing device;

transferring the first device modification indicators to the second device;

initializing, at the temporary storage, a second queue to receive second device modification indicators from the second computing device; and

transferring the second device modification indicators to the first device.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the routing system comprises a network server connectable to the first computing device and the second computing device via a network.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the second device trigger comprises a modification to the second device data.

12. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

means for responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by connecting to temporary storage in a routing system, when the first computing device is disconnected from the routing system;

means for receiving, by the first computing device from the temporary storage, a modification indicator indicating a modification to second device data of a second computing device transferred to the temporary storage in response to an asynchronous second device trigger of the second computing device; and

synchronizing, at the first computing device, the second device data of the second computing device with corresponding first device data of the first computing device.

13. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon, the computer-readable instructions when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first triggering event;

responding to the first triggering event, by the first computing device, by connecting to temporary storage in a routing system, when the first computing device is disconnected from the routing system;

receiving, by the first computing device from the temporary storage, a modification indicator indicating a modification to second device data of a second computing device transferred to the temporary storage in response to an asynchronous second device trigger of the second computing device; and

synchronizing, by the first computing device, the second device data of the second computing device with corresponding first device data of the first computing device.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a routing system from a first computing device and in response to a first device trigger, a modification indicator indicating a modification to first device data of the first computing device;

storing, in temporary storage by the routing system, the modification indicator;

receiving, by the routing system from a second computing device and in response to a second device trigger, a transfer request from the second computing device, the second device trigger being asynchronous with respect to the first device trigger; and

responding to the transfer request, at the routing system, by transferring from the temporary storage to the second computing device the modification indicator, wherein data relating to the modification is received at the second computing device and synchronized with second device data of the second computing device.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device is a personal computer, a PDA, a PIM and a cell phone.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the first triggering event comprises a modification to the first device data.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein the modification indicator comprises a synchronization message.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the synchronization message comprises modified data corresponding to the modification.

19. A method according to claim 17, wherein the synchronization message comprises at least one of a first version indicator indicating a first computing device version of the first device data and a second version indicator indicating a second computing device version of the second device data.

20. A method according to claim 14, wherein the temporary storage comprises a storage device accessible by the first computing device and the second computing device.

21. A method according to claim 20, further comprising:

Initializing, at the temporary storage, a first queue for receiving first device modification indicators from the first computing device;

transferring the first device modification indicators to the second device;

initializing, at the temporary storage, a second queue for receiving second device modification indicators from the said second computing device; and

transferring the second device modification indicators to the first device.

22. A method according to claim 14, wherein the routing system comprises a network server connectable to the first computing device and the second computing device via a network.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

24. A method according to claim 14, wherein the second device trigger is one of a second device power on and a periodically initiated second device trigger.

25. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, by a routing system from a first computing device and in response to a first device trigger, a modification indicator indicating a modification to first device data of the first computing device;

means for storing, in temporary storage by the routing system, the modification indicator;

means for receiving, by the routing system from a second computing device and in response to a second device trigger, a transfer request from the second computing device, the second device trigger being asynchronous with respect to the first device trigger; and

means for responding to the transfer request, by the routing system, by transferring from the temporary storage to the second computing device the modification indicator,

wherein data relating to the modification is received by the second computing device and synchronized with the second device data of the second computing device.

26. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon, the computer-readable instructions when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by a routing system from a first computing device and in response to a first device trigger, a modification indicator indicating a modification to first device data of the first computing device;

storing, in temporary storage by the routing system, the modification indicator;

receiving, by the routing system from a second computing device and in response to a second device trigger, a transfer request from the second computing device, the second device trigger being asynchronous with respect to the first device trigger; and

responding to the transfer request, by the routing system, by transferring from the temporary storage to the second computing device the modification indicator,

wherein data relating to the modification is received by the second computing device and synchronized with the second device data of the second computing device.