System and Methods for Facilitating the Synchronization of Data

• US 20120226776A1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scribble Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Scribble Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Keebler, Jonathan, Wiercioch, Krzysztof
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Methods and systems for facilitating the synchronization of data on two or more user computers, where the data is maintained in a data structure as objects. The system assigns an index to one or more objects maintained in the data structure, wherein each index provides an address for an object within the data structure. The system detects at least one modification to the data, wherein said modification is initiated on a user computer. The system updates one or more objects in the data structure based on the modification. The system creates a representation of the at least one modification, wherein the representation comprises a reference to one or more indexes assigned to the one or more updated objects. The system transmits the representation, wherein the representation is for use in generating a corresponding modification to the data on other user computers.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating the synchronization of data on two or more user computers, the data being maintained in a data structure as objects, the method comprising:

assigning an index to one or more objects maintained in the data structure, wherein each index provides an address for an object within the data structure;

detecting at least one modification to the data, wherein said modification is initiated on a user computer;

updating one or more objects in the data structure based on the modification;

creating a representation of the at least one modification, wherein the representation comprises a reference to one or more indexes assigned to the one or more updated objects; and

transmitting the representation, wherein the representation is for use in generating a corresponding modification to the data on other user computers.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the corresponding modification to the data on the other user computers using the representation.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining at least one type of modification for the at least one modification;

updating one or more objects in the data structure based on the at least one type of modification; and

wherein the representation comprises a reference to the at least one type of modification.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the data is editable data.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying the data and modifications thereto on at least one of the two or more user computers.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the data is editable data.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the data displayed on the user computer at which the modification was detected is editable data.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the representation comprises data relating only to the at least one modification to the data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the objects are organized in the data structure as a connected tree of nodes, each node in the tree corresponding to an object;

wherein each node in the connected tree has zero or more parent nodes, zero or more sibling nodes, and zero or more children nodes; and

wherein the connected tree comprises a root node having zero parent nodes.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein an index comprises a unique token.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the data structure maintains each object in a position in relation to other objects, and wherein an index comprises a coordinate storing the position of its assigned object in relation to the other objects.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the objects are organized in the data structure as a connected tree of nodes, each node in the tree corresponding to an object;

wherein each node in the connected tree has zero or more parent nodes, zero or more sibling nodes, and zero or more child nodes; and

wherein the connected tree comprises a root node having zero parent nodes; and

wherein a coordinate is defined by at least three other nodes in the tree.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the at least three other nodes in the tree comprise:

a previous sibling node in the tree, a next sibling node in the tree, and a parent node in the tree.

14. The method of claim 3 where the at least one type of modification is selected from the group consisting of:

deleting an object from the data, adding an object to the data, editing an object of the data, moving an object from a first position to a second position, and changing the data by more than a threshold amount of data.

15. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining that the at least one type of modification comprises changing the data by more than a threshold amount of data;

and wherein the step of creating the representation of the modification comprises;

retrieving a copy of the data structure maintaining the data on the user computer at which the modification was detected and initiated;

transmitting the copy of data structure to a server;

receiving a modified data structure from the server at the user computer at which the modification was detected, wherein the server modified the copy of the data structure by assigning an index to each object that was not previously assigned an index;

replacing the copy of the data structure transmitted to the server with the modified data structure;

transmitting a copy of the modified data structure; and

indicating in the representation that the modified data structure should replace the data structure maintaining the data on the other user computers.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the objects comprise one or more text objects defining text data and one or more container objects defining a container for an object, and wherein the server modified the copy of the data structure by

wrapping text objects that are not wrapped with container objects.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the objects comprise one or more text objects defining text data and one or more container objects defining a container for an object, and wherein the server modified the copy of the data structure by

identifying one or more text objects defining text data that is longer than a threshold amount;

sub-dividing the identified text objects by sub-dividing the text data of each of the identified text objects into text objects defining text data that is that are less than the threshold amount;

modifying the data structure to wrap the divided text objects with container objects.

18. The method of claim 2 wherein the data comprises editable data and the method further comprises:

displaying the data and modifications thereto on each of the two or more user computers.

displaying a caret on each user computer displaying the editable data, wherein the caret is operable to move to different positions within the editable data;

for each of user computer;

before generating the corresponding modification to the editable data, storing a position of the caret; and

after generating the corresponding modification to the editable data, displaying the caret at the stored location.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein, at the computer at which the modification was detected, the coordinate of the assigned index for the one or more objects comprises a previous position and a current position, wherein the previous position is a position of the object in relation to other objects of the data before detecting the modification, and wherein the current position is a position of the object in relation to other objects of the editable data after detecting the modification;

and wherein creating a representation of the at least one modification further comprises;

identifying one or more objects assigned to an index having a coordinate with a previous position that does not match a current position;

indicating in the representation that each of the one or more identified objects should be moved from the previous position to the current position.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

determining at least one type of modification for the at least one modification; and

determining that the at least one type of modification comprises moving an object from a first position to a second position.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a representation of the at least one modification further comprises:

identifying one or more objects that are not associated with an index;

for each of the identified one or more objects;

modifying the data structure to assign a new index to the object;

determining a position for the object relative to other objects of the editable data; and

indicating in the representation that the object should be added to the data at the determined position.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a representation of the at least one modification using further comprises:

identifying an index assigned to an object that no longer exists in the data structure; and

indicating in the representation that the object assigned to the identified index should be deleted from the editable data.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the data structure associates one or more objects with a previous value before detecting the modification and a current value after detecting the modification, and wherein creating a representation of the at least one modification using further comprises:

identifying, from the one or more objects associated with a current value that does not match its previous value before detecting the modification; and

indicating in the representation that the identified object has been in edited from its previous value to its new value.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the objects are configured to be serialized into strings, and wherein the method further comprises:

before detecting the modification, storing a first version of each object'"'"'s serialized string;

wherein creating a representation of the at least one modification further comprises;

determining a second version for each object'"'"'s serialized string;

identifying an object having a first version of a serialized string that does not match a second version of a serialized string; and

indicating in the representation that the object should be changed to the second version of the serialized string.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a representation of the at least one modification further comprises:

identifying two or more objects assigned to the same index;

modifying the data structure to assign different indexes to each of the identified two or more objects;

indicating in the representation that the two or more identified elements assigned to the same index should be associated with the different indexes.

26. The method of claim 1 comprising:

detecting a plurality of modifications to the editable data;

generating a queue of representations by creating a representation for each modification of the plurality of modifications; and

sending the queue of representations to the other user computers, the queue of representations for use in generating a corresponding plurality of modifications to the data on the other user computers.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein the data structure associates one or more objects with a style attribute, and wherein the method comprises stripping style attributes from the one or more objects except those objects where the style attribute has been explicitly allowed.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein the objects comprise an image object referencing image data and wherein the method comprises:

determining that the image data referenced by the image object is stored on an external server;

storing a copy of the image data on an internal server;

modifying the image object to reference the copy of the image data stored on the internal server; and

indicating in the representation that the image object should be changed to reference the copy of the image data stored on the internal server.

29. The method of claim 9 wherein the objects comprise text objects defining editable text data and wherein the objects comprise container objects defining a container for one or more objects, wherein the container objects are associated with a value, and the method further comprises:

traversing each node in the tree of nodes to identify all nodes that have more than one children nodes and at least one child node that is a text object;

for each identified node, for all children nodes that are text objects, add a new container object at the position of the text object, and define the text object as the child node to the new container object; and

indicating in the representation that the modification comprises adding one or more new container objects at the position of the text object and that the value associated with the new container node is the text object.

30. The method of claim 9, wherein the objects comprise text objects defining editable text data and wherein the object comprise container objects defining a container for one or more objects, and the method further comprises:

identifying the root node of the data structure;

defining the root node as a container object;

identifying all children nodes to the root node that are text objects;

for each text object;

if a text object is next to a container object in the data structure, add the editable text data defined by the text object as a value for the container object and delete the text object; and

indicating in the representation that the modification comprises appending the children objects of the container object with the text data of the text object.

Else, wrap the text node in a container object assigned to a new index.

31. The method of claim 2 wherein generating the corresponding modification to the data on the other user computers comprises indicating the modification on the display.

36. The method for illustrating modified data of claim 30 further comprising:

detecting a first author of the modification to the first version of the data;

detecting a second author of the modification to the second version of the data;

publishing a third version of the data illustrating the differences and the author of the modification.

Wherein the first set of differences indicates the first author and the second set of differences indicates the second author.

37. The method of claim 27 further comprising animating to illustrate the first set of differences.

38. The method of claim 27 further comprising indicating a description of the first set of differences.

32. A method for illustrating modified data displayed on one or more user computers comprising:

storing a first version of data comprising a plurality of objects including textual objects and media objects;

detecting a modification to the first version of the data, wherein the data with the modification is a second version of the data;

receiving a request to publish the data;

determining a first set of differences between the first version of the data with the second version of the data; and

publishing a third version of the data illustrating the first set of differences.

33. The method for illustrating modified data of claim 32 further comprising:

detecting an author of the modification to the data;

publishing the third version of the data indicating the author of the modification.

34. The method for illustrating modified data of claim 32 further comprising:

storing the third version of the data;

detecting another modification to the data, wherein the data with the other modification is a fourth version of the data;

receiving a request to publish the fourth version of the data;

determining a second set of differences between the third version of the data with the fourth version of the data; and

publishing a fifth version of the data illustrating the second set of differences.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

publishing the fifth version of the publication illustrating the first set of differences and the second set of differences, wherein the first set of differences is illustrated differently than the second set of differences.

39. A system for facilitating the synchronization of data on two or more user computers, the data being maintained in a data structure as objects, the system comprising:

a modification module for;

assigning an index to one or more objects maintained in the data structure, wherein each index provides an address for an object within the data structure;

detecting at least one modification to the data, wherein said modification is initiated on a user computer;

updating one or more objects in the data structure based on the modification; and

creating a representation of the at least one modification, wherein the representation comprises a reference to one or more indexes assigned to the one or more updated objects; and

an output module for transmitting the representation, wherein the representation is for use in generating a corresponding modification to the data on other user computers.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the modification module is further for generating the corresponding modification to the data on the other user computers using the representation.

41. The system of claim 39 wherein the modification module is further determining at least one type of modification for the at least one modification;

updating one or more objects in the data structure based on the at least one type of modification; and

wherein the representation comprises a reference to the at least one type of modification.

42. A non-transitory computer-readable medium upon which a plurality of instructions are stored, the instructions for facilitating the synchronization of data on two or more user computers, the data being maintained in a data structure as objects, the instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

assigning an index to one or more objects maintained in the data structure, wherein each index provides an address for an object within the data structure;

detecting at least one modification to the data, wherein said modification is initiated on a user computer;

updating one or more objects in the data structure based on the modification;

creating a representation of the at least one modification, wherein the representation comprises a reference to one or more indexes assigned to the one or more updated objects; and

transmitting the representation, wherein the representation is for use in generating a corresponding modification to the data on other user computers.