MULTI-MASTER TEXT SYNCHRONIZATION USING DELTAS

• US 20130117220A1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Published: 05/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kasetty, Shruti, Elson, Anil Abraham
• Granted Patent: US 10,216,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1767 Concurrency control, e.g. optimistic or pessimistic approaches
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/194 Calculation of difference between files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services

Abstract

A server enforces a policy for selecting what received change to process. The non-selected changes are not processed by the server. Instead, after the selected change is processed and is incorporated into the current version of the text, the server sends an update to each of the clients indicating the change made to the current version of text. A client performs a conflict resolution procedure when its change was not processed by the server. The conflict resolution procedure detects the differences between the updated text version and its text change that was not accepted by the server and uses the differences to deduce the intent of the user and come up with a merged version of the text which preserves the intent and avoids data loss. The updated version is then sent back to the server to update the current version of the text.

Claims

1-8. -8. (canceled)

9. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for resolving conflicts to co-edited text, the instructions comprising:

receiving at a server text changes to update a current version of text from clients;

selecting a policy to determine what text change to select to first process;

wherein the selected text change is used to update the current version of the text;

selecting the text change to process based on the selected policy;

updating the current version of the text with the selected text change;

sending an update notification to the clients reflecting the selected text change;

wherein the update notification is used by the clients in determining whether a conflict in text edits has occurred on the server and when to perform a conflict resolution procedure to update a pending text change.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the policy is a first person wins policy that selects a first text change received.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the server selects a single text change and ignores any other text changes.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the updated notification sent to the clients comprises deltas to the current version of the text.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the conflict resolution procedure is performed by clients and not performed by the server.

26. :

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the conflict resolution policy comprises merging text of the non-selected text change with the update to the current version of the text.

14-25. -25. (canceled)

27. A method for resolving conflicts to co-edited text, comprising:

receiving at a server text changes to update a current version of text from clients;

selecting a policy to determine what text change to select to first process;

wherein the selected text change is used to update the current version of the text;

selecting the text change to process based on the selected policy;

updating the current version of the text with the selected text change;

sending an update notification to the clients reflecting the selected text change;

wherein the update notification is used by the clients in determining whether a conflict in text edits has occurred on the server and when to perform a conflict resolution procedure to update a pending text change.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the policy is a first person wins policy that selects a first text change received.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the server selects a single text change and ignores any other text changes.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the updated notification sent to the clients comprises deltas to the current version of the text.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the conflict resolution procedure is performed by clients and not performed by the server.

32. :

The method of claim 27, wherein the conflict resolution policy comprises merging text of the non-selected text change with the update to the current version of the text.

33. :

The method of claim 27, wherein the conflict resolution procedure is performed by the client when it is determined that the client has a non-selected text change.

34. A system for resolving conflicts to co-edited text, comprising:

a processor and a computer-readable storage medium;

an operating environment stored on the computer-readable storage medium and executing on the processor;

receiving text changes to update a current version of text from clients;

selecting a policy to determine what text change to select to first process;

wherein the selected text change is used to update the current version of the text;

selecting the text change to process based on the selected policy;

updating the current version of the text with the selected text change;

sending an update notification to the clients reflecting the selected text change;

wherein the update notification is used by the clients in determining whether a conflict in text edits has occurred on the server and when to perform a conflict resolution procedure to update a pending text change.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the policy is a first person wins policy that selects a first text change received.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the server selects a single text change and ignores any other text changes.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein the updated notification sent to the clients comprises deltas to the current version of the text.

38. The system of claim 34, wherein the conflict resolution procedure is performed by clients and not performed by the server.

39. :

The system of claim 34, wherein the conflict resolution policy comprises merging text of the non-selected text change with the update to the current version of the text.

40. :

The system of claim 34, wherein the conflict resolution procedure is performed by the client when it is determined that the client has a non-selected text change.