Cloud Storage

• US 20120310880A1
• Filed: 06/01/2012
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Giampaolo, Dominic B., Atley, Dallas De, Watson, Matthew G., Galloway, Curtis, Reda, Matthew J., Trumbull, Benjamin Case, Gillett, Nicholas William Colby
• Granted Patent: US 9,208,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for data storage. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of identifying a running query from an application; determining one or more data items of a plurality of data items that the application has permission to view according to one or more application specific access policies; and presenting the one or more data items to the application while not presenting other data items of the plurality of data items.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

on a first computing device associated with a user account, receiving a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

based on the running query, determining one or more data items of a plurality of data items that the application has permission to view according to one or more application specific access policies,

at least one of the plurality of data items contributed by a second computing device associated with the user account; and

presenting the one or more data items to the application while not presenting other data items of the plurality of data items, the other data items being data items that the application does not have permission to view.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising

transmitting, to a remote storage location, a request to receive the data item;

and

receiving the data item from the remote storage location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more data items includes determining whether an identifier associated with each of the plurality of data items matches an identifier associated with the application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the data items is in response to receiving a notification of a data item from another computing device associated with the user account.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a data item from a first computing device associated with a user account, the data item associated with an application running on the first computing device;

determining a container for storing the data item, the container being specific to the user account associated with the first computing device, and specific to the application;

storing the data item in the container; and

sending a notification of the data item to one or more other devices associated with the user account, the notification including an identification of the application associated with the data item.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a database transaction log file from a first computing device associated with a user account, the database transaction log file identifying discrete changes made to a database, the database transaction log files being received in place of the database; and

notifying each of a plurality of related computing devices of the transaction log files, the related computing devices being associated with the user account associated with first computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing one or more of the transaction log file in response to a request from a device of the plurality of related computing devices.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first computing device associated with a user account, a first transaction log identifying discrete changes made to a database;

receiving, from a second computing device associated with the user account, a second transaction log identifying discrete changes made to the database;

determining that a conflict exists between the first transaction log and the second transaction log;

determining whether two or more transactions of the transaction logs can be merged; and

if the two or more transactions can be merged, applying the merged transactions to the database.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein if the two or more transactions cannot be merged, determining a conflict winner transaction and applying the transaction to the database.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein merging transactions includes determining a common ancestor database and performing a three way merge between the common ancestor database, the first transaction log, and the second transaction log.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the conflict is resolved absent user interaction.

14. A system comprising:

a first computing device associated with a user account and configured to;

receive a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

based on the running query, determine one or more data items of a plurality of data items that the application has permission to view according to one or more application specific access policies,

at least one of the plurality of data items contributed by a second computing device associated with the user account, and

present the one or more data items to the application while not presenting other data items of the plurality of data items, the other data items being data items that the application does not have permission to view; and

a server system configured to;

receive a data item from the first computing device, the data item associated with the application running on the first computing device,

determine a container for storing the data item, the container being specific to the user account associated with the first computing device, and specific to the application;

store the data item in the container, and

send a notification of the data item to one or more other devices associated with the user account, the notification including an identification of the application associated with the data item.

15. The system of claim 14, the first computing device being further configured to

transmit, to a remote storage location, a request to receive the data item;

and

receive the data item from the remote storage location.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the one or more data items includes determining whether an identifier associated with each of the plurality of data items matches an identifier associated with the application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the data items is in response to receiving a notification of a data item from another computing device associated with the user account.

20. The system of claim 14, comprising:

a server system configured to;

receive a database transaction log file from the first computing device, the database transaction log file identifying discrete changes made to a database, the database transaction log files being received in place of the database; and

notify each of a plurality of related computing devices of the transaction log files, the related computing devices being associated with the user account associated with first computing device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the server system is configured to provide one or more of the transaction log file in response to a request from a device of the plurality of related computing devices.

22. The system of claim 14, comprising:

a server system configured to;

receive, from the first computing device, a first transaction log identifying discrete changes made to a database;

receive, from a second computing device, a second transaction log identifying discrete changes made to the database;

determine that a conflict exists between the first transaction log and the second transaction log;

determine whether two or more transactions of the transaction logs can be merged; and

if the two or more transactions can be merged, apply the merged transactions to the database.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the server system is configured to, if the two or more transactions cannot be merged, determine a conflict winner transaction and applying the transaction to the database.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein merging transactions includes determining a common ancestor database and performing a three way merge between the common ancestor database, the first transaction log, and the second transaction log.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the conflict is resolved absent user interaction.

26. A computer program product, stored on a computer readable medium, comprising instructions that when executed on a first computing device cause the first computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

based on the running query, determining one or more data items of a plurality of data items that the application has permission to view according to one or more application specific access policies,

at least one of the plurality of data items contributed by a second computing device associated with a user account associated with the first computing device; and

presenting the one or more data items to the application while not presenting other data items of the plurality of data items, the other data items being data items that the application does not have permission to view.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, the operations comprising transmitting, to a remote storage location, a request to receive the data item;

and

receiving the data item from the remote storage location.

28. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

29. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein determining the one or more data items includes determining whether an identifier associated with each of the plurality of data items matches an identifier associated with the application.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

31. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein determining the data items is in response to receiving a notification of a data item from another computing device associated with the user account.

32. An apparatus, comprising:

a computing device associated with a user account and configured to provide;

a plurality of applications;

a synchronization manager configured to upload data items to a remote storage and to receive data items uploaded to the data storage by other devices associated with the user account; and

an access manager configured to determine permission to view data items available to each of the plurality of applications according to one or more application specific access policies.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the applications are configured to provide a running query to the access manager, the running query remaining active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the access manager is configured to determine permission to view data items available to each of the plurality of applications based on identifiers associated with the data items.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the synchronization manager is configured to receive at least one of the data items in response to receiving a notification of a data item from another computing device associated with the user account.