Synchronization of Data in a Distributed Computing Environment

• US 20120117271A1
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kennedy, Sean Patrick, Chang, Michael, Winter, Edward Theodore, Lawton, Andrew Lee, Carpio, Fredrik, Crisan, Adrian, Lyons, Gary Roberts, Garay, Rommel M., Kishimoto, Toyoaki
• Application Number:
  US12/940,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20120117271A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation

Abstract

A method for data synchronization across multiple target destinations in a computer network includes acquiring information about the target destinations, wherein: the target destinations comprises at least one of a network account in the computer network, or a target device coupled to the computer network or associated with the network account; and the acquired information includes identification information associated with the target destinations. The method may also include receiving, at a user device, data from a data source; filtering the received data based on information included in the received data and in the identification information; identifying, based on the filtering, a selected target destination for receiving the filtered data; and transmitting the filtered data to the identified selected target destination.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for data synchronization across multiple target destinations in a computer network, the method comprising:

acquiring information about the target destinations, wherein;

the target destinations comprises at least one of;

a network account in the computer network;

or

a target device coupled to the computer network or associated with the network account; and

the acquired information includes identification information associated with the target destinations;

receiving, at a user device, data from a data source;

filtering the received data based on information included in the received data and in the identification information;

identifying, based on the filtering, a selected target destination for receiving the filtered data; and

transmitting the filtered data to the identified selected target destination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein filtering the received data comprises:

comparing the information included in the received data with the identification information associated with the target destinations,

wherein;

the identification information includes at least one of;

geographical identification information,

an image of a person'"'"'s face,

a voice of a person, or

information referring to any of the target destinations;

determining whether the information of the received data matches identification information associated with any of the target destinations;

identifying the selected target destination based on the determination; and

associating the received data with the identified selected target destination.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein filtering the received data comprises:

receiving user input to manually update the information included in the received data; and

filtering the received data based on the updated information and the identification information associated with the target destinations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein filtering the received data comprises:

automatically updating the information included in the received data; and

filtering the received data based on the updated information and the identification information associated with the target destinations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring access permission metadata of the filtered data to provide criteria such that access to the transmitted data is provided only to users meeting the criteria.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input to select creation of a first content item by one of converting content items of the filtered data into a new format or merging the content items of the filtered data with a second content item;

creating the first content item according to the user selection; and

transmitting the created first content item to the identified selected target destination.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring characteristics information of the identified selected target destination, wherein

the acquired characteristics information includes at least one of;

a display screen size,

a maximum resolution,

an acceptable file size, or

a bandwidth limit;

modifying the filtered data based on the acquired characteristics information; and

transmitting the modified data to the identified selected target destination.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring status information of the user device or the identified selected target destination;

determining, based on the acquired status information, whether a restriction threshold is reached; and

performing the data synchronization if the determination shows that the threshold is not reached,

wherein the restriction threshold is related to a connection bandwidth or available resources.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating display of the transmitted data at the identified selected destination.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, at the user device, a first graphical user interface for displaying representations of the received data;

detecting a selection of a subset of the representations of the data;

receiving an instruction from a user to transmit selected data represented by the selected subset of the representations to a selected target destination;

after receiving the instruction, filtering the selected data based on information included in the selected data and identification information associated with the at least one of target destinations; and

transmitting the filtered data to the selected target destination.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving from the user a selection of a target graphical object representing the selected target destination, wherein;

the target graphical object is displayed within the first graphical user interface; and

transmitting the filtered data to the selected target destination represented by the selected target graphical object.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving an instruction from the user to transmit the selected data to the selected target destination comprises:

detecting that the selected subset of the representations of the data is dragged over and dropped onto a target graphical object linking to the selected target destination.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the target graphical object is within a second graphical user interface facilitating communication between the user and the selected target destination.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving an instruction from the user to transmit the selected data to the selected target destination comprises:

detecting that the user presses a graphical action object instructing to transmit the selected data to the selected target destination.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving user input to edit the received data listed in the first graphical user interface.

16. An apparatus for synchronizing data across multiple target destinations in a computer network, the apparatus comprising:

a synchronization manager to acquire information about the target destinations, wherein;

the target destinations comprises at least one of;

a network account in the computer network;

or

a target device coupled to the computer network or associated with the network account; and

the acquired information includes identification information associated with the target destinations;

a data analyzer to determine whether information included in the received data matches identification information associated with a selected target destination;

a data filter to filter the received data based on the determination; and

a data transmitter to transmit the filtered data to the selected target destination.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the synchronization manager:

acquires status information of the apparatus or the selected target destination;

determines, based on the acquired status information, whether a restriction threshold is reached, wherein;

the restriction threshold is related to a connection bandwidth or available resources; and

instructs the data transmitter to transmit the filtered data based on the determination.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a data optimizer for:

acquiring characteristics information of the selected target destination, wherein;

the acquired characteristics information includes at least one of;

a display screen size,

a maximum resolution,

an acceptable file size, or

a bandwidth limit;

modifying the filtered data based on the acquired characteristics information; and

instructing the data transmitter to transmit the modified data to the selected target destination.

19. A system comprising:

a user device to receive data; and

an auto-synchronization engine coupled to the user device to acquire information about target destinations, wherein;

the target destinations comprises at least one of;

a network account in the computer network, or

a target device coupled to the computer network or associated with the network account; and

the acquired information includes identification information associated with the target destinations;

filter the received data based on information included in the received data and the identification information;

identify, based on the filtering, a selected target destination for receiving the filtered data; and

transmit the filtered data to the identified selected target destination.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for data synchronization across multiple target destinations in a computer network, the method comprising:

acquiring information about the target destinations, wherein;

the target destinations comprises at least one of;

a network account in the computer network, or

a target device coupled to the computer network or associated with the network account; and

the acquired information includes identification information associated with the target destinations;

receiving data from a data source;

filtering the received data based on information included in the received data and in the identification information;

identifying, based on the filtering, a selected target destination for receiving the filtered data; and

transmitting the filtered data to the identified selected target destination.