Synchronization and Collaboration Within Peer-to-Peer and Client/Server Environments

• US 20110307555A1
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Richardson, Ransom Lloyd, Fischer, Edward J., Zircher, Dana, Norman, Christopher, Pyle, Hugh Francis, Jeffers, Michael Andrew, Slapikoff, Robert Sean
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,222 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104

Abstract

Tools and techniques are described for synchronization and collaboration within peer-to-peer and client/server environments. These tools may provide methods that include establishing peer-to-peer relationships between two or more client systems. These relationships enable the client systems to create respective local instances of workspaces, shared between the client systems to allow them to collaborate with one another. The client systems may participate in peer-to-peer synchronization flows with one another, with the synchronization flows representing updates made local to the shared workspaces of the client systems. The methods may also establish establishing a client/server relationship between one of the client systems and a server system. Through this client/server relationship, the client and server systems may participate in client/server synchronization flows, with these flows representing updates made to the local shared workspace at the client system.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a first client system operable with a server system, cause the first client system to:

establish a peer-to-peer relationship with a second client system, by which the first client system and the second client system create respective local shared workspaces for collaboration;

participate in a peer-to-peer synchronization flow with the second client system, wherein the peer-to-peer synchronization flow represents updates made to at least one of the local shared workspaces by at least one of the first client system and the second client system;

establish a client/server relationship with the server system; and

participate in a client/server synchronization flow with the server system, wherein the client/server synchronization flow represents updates made to the local shared workspace associated with the first client system.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions to participate in the client/server synchronization flow include instructions to receive a synchronization data flow from the server system.

3. The storage medium of claim 2, further comprising instructions to deconstruct the synchronization data flow into at least two subsets to form a deconstructed synchronization data flow, and further comprising instructions to define a multi-representative data type to represent the deconstructed synchronization data flow.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, further comprising instructions to store the multi-representative data type on the client system for reference by the second client system via the local shared workspaces.

5. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a first system operable with a second system, cause the first system to:

establish a synchronization relationship between the first system and the second system, by which the first system and the second system exchange synchronization flows;

receive, via the synchronization flows, an indication of a revision occurring on the second system;

determine that the revision results in a conflict with information represented on the first system;

resolve the conflict in favor of the first system or the second system; and

maintain the revision associated with the conflict for access by the first system and the second system.

6. The storage medium of claim 5, wherein the first system is a first client system and the second system is a second client system, and wherein the instructions to establish the synchronization relationship include instructions to establish a peer-to-peer collaborative relationship between the first client system and the second client system.

7. The storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions to establish a client/server relationship between the first client system and a server system.

8. The storage medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions to evaluate a first conflict arising between revisions occurring respectively on the first client system and the second client system, and further comprising instructions for evaluating a second conflict arising between the first client system and the server system.

9. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions to establish the peer-to-peer relationship between the first client system and the second client system comprise instructions to create respective shared workspaces locally on the first client system and the second client system, with the first client system and the second client system collaborating through the shared workspaces.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions to determine whether a conflict exists between revisions made on the respective shared workspaces maintained locally on the first client system and the second client system.

11. The storage medium of claim 5, further comprising instructions to provide a conflict resolution user interface that comprises representations of the revision associated with the conflict.

12. The storage medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions to establish the synchronization relationship between the first system and the second system comprise instructions to establish a client/server relationship between a client system and a server system.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions to sync a representation of a second revision occurring on the client system to the server system.

14. The storage medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions to receive a response from the server system, in response to the client system in syncing a representation of a second revision to the server system.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions to receive the response from the server system include instructions to receive an indication that the server system rejected the second revision.

16. The storage medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions to mark the revision as rejected, in response to receiving the indication that the server system rejected the revision.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a first system operable with a second system, cause the first system to:

establish a synchronization relationship between the first system and the second system, by which the first system and the second system exchange synchronization flows;

receive, via the synchronization flows, indications of one or more local revisions occurring locally at the first system;

create a local version in response to receiving the indications of the one or more local revisions occurring locally at the first system, the local version comprising the one or more local revisions;

sync, via the synchronization flows, the local version with the second system;

receive, via the synchronization flows, a remote version comprising one or more remote revisions occurring remotely at the second system; and

determine whether a conflict exists between the local version and the remote version.

18. The storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the first system, cause the first system to, if it is determined that a conflict exists between the local version and the remote version:

select a winning version from the local version and the remote version; and

mark a non-winning version as being conflicting.

19. The storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the first system, cause the first system to, await at least a further remote revision from the second system via the synchronization flows.

20. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more local revisions and the one or more remote revisions comprise revisions made to a record structure of a contact list, the record structure comprising one or more fields.