APPLICATION STATE SYNCHRONIZATION

• US 20130066832A1
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Russell, Christopher D., Sheehan, John Michael, Pammi, Hari Krishna
• Application Number:
  US13/230,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20130066832A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for synchronizing application state between one or more instances of an application on one or more devices. In particular, an application state, such as application settings, may be synchronized between a first instance of an application on a first device and a second instance of the application on a second device. For example, a user may configure a new email account within a first instance of an email application on a laptop device. The new email account may be synchronized with a second instance of the email application on a tablet device. During synchronization, various conflict resolution, version verifications, and/or consistency verifications may be performed. In this way, the user may be provided with a seamless and consistent experience between the laptop and tablet device.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing application state, comprising:

receiving, at a second device, a first application state update from a synchronization component, the first application state update corresponding to a modification to a first application state of a first instance of an application on a first device and being indicative of a modified first application state;

identifying a second application state of a second instance of the application on the second device; and

updating the second application state using the first application state update to create a synchronized second application state.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting a modification to the synchronized second application state resulting in a modified synchronized second application state; and

sending a second application state update to the synchronization component for synchronizing the modified first application state of the first instance of the application on the first device, the second application state update corresponding to the modified synchronized second application state.

3. The method of claim 1, the updating comprising:

determining whether a first schema version associated with the modified first application state as indicated by the first application state update corresponds to a second schema version associated with the second application state; and

if the first schema version corresponds to the second schema version, then updating the second application state using the first application state update, otherwise refraining from updating the second application state.

4. The method of claim 3, comprising:

identifying a schema modification to the second application state; and

reassigning the second application state from the second schema version to a third schema version.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

upon determining the third schema version does not correspond to the first schema version, refraining from updating the second application state.

6. The method of claim 1, the second application state corresponding to at least one of:

application settings and application files.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

facilitating application state synchronization between the first instance of the application on the first device, the second instance of the application on the second device, and one or more additional instances of the application on one or more additional devices, the facilitating comprising performing conflict resolution between application settings and performing schema version consistency checking.

8. The method of claim 1, the second application state and the modified first application state comprising at least one of:

a first logical grouping of application data and a second logical group of application data.

9. The method of claim 4, the updating comprising:

comparing the third schema version assigned to the second application state with the first schema version assigned to the first application state to determine whether a conflict exists; and

if a conflict exists, then modifying at least one of the third schema version and the first schema version to resolve the conflict based upon a preferred schema format.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting an installation of a third instance of the application; and

creating, before a first execution of the third instance of the application, a third application state associated with the third instance of the application based upon a new application state update received from the synchronization component.

11. The method of claim 1, the updating comprising:

determining a conflict exists between the modified first application state, as indicated by the first application state update, and the second application state; and

resolving the conflict.

12. The method of claim 11, the resolving the conflict comprising:

resolving the conflict based upon a last-to-write scheme.

13. The method of claim 2, the sending a second application state update comprising:

sending the second application state update to the synchronization component for synchronizing a plurality of instances of the application on a plurality of devices.

14. The method of claim 1, the first device comprising a first computing environment and the second device comprising a second computing environment different from the first computing environment.

15. The method of claim 1, the updating comprising:

updating the second application state when the second instance of the application is not executing.

16. A system for synchronizing application state, comprising:

a state manager configured to;

detect a modification to a first application state of a first instance of an application on a first device resulting in a modified first application state for the first instance of the application; and

a roaming component configured to;

upon the state manager detecting the modification, send a first application state update to a synchronization component for synchronizing a second application state of a second instance of the application on a second device, the first application state update corresponding to the modified first application state, the second application state synchronized to a synchronized second application state.

17. The system of claim 16, the roaming component configured to:

receive a second application state update from the synchronization component, the second application state update corresponding to a modification to the synchronized second application state of the second instance of the application on the second device; and

update the modified first application state using the second application state update to create a synchronized third application state.

18. The system of claim 16, the roaming component configured to:

resolve one or more conflicts between the modified first application state and the second application state; and

verify schema version consistency between the modified first application state and the second application state.

19. A method for synchronizing application state, comprising:

detecting a modification to a first application state of a first instance of an application on a first device resulting in a modified first application state for the first instance of the application; and

sending a first application state update to a synchronization component for synchronizing a second application state of a second instance of the application on a second device, the first application state update corresponding to the modified first application state, the second application state synchronized to a synchronized second application state.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising:

receiving a second application state update from the synchronization component, the second application state update corresponding to a modification to the synchronized second application state of the second instance of the application on the second device; and

updating the modified first application state using the second application state update to create a synchronized third application state.