CONFIGURABLE OFFLINE DATA STORE

• US 20130124580A1
• Filed: 01/04/2013
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Gaya, Bruce
• Granted Patent: US 8,843,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

A method and apparatus for a configurable offline data store are described. For example, a method includes receiving a request for a first set of one or more records from a client application, wherein the first set is stored in a client data store and the client application also has access to a server data store unit of a server. The method further includes determining whether a first set of records in the client data store unit is valid; and upon determining the first set is valid, deleting those records of the first set in the client data store unit that are outdated. The method further includes upon determining the first set is not valid, deleting the first set; determining whether the record is in the client data store unit; and upon determining the record is in the client data store, transmitting a version of the record to the client application.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory unit coupled to the processor;

a client data store unit configured to store a first set of records, the first set of records associated with a second set of records stored in a server data store; and

a client data store administration unit coupled to the client data store unit, the client data store administration unit including;

a dependency schema that defines relationships between primary record types and dependent record types.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the records of the second set are dependent record types that depend from the first set of records that are primary record types.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client data store administration unit is configured to fetch the second set of records in response to a request to retrieve the first set of records.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the client data store administration unit further comprises a list of attributes for each record type, and wherein the client data store administration unit uses the list of attributes to determine which records are to be stored in the client data store unit.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client data store administration unit is configured to pre-fetch and store the second set of records in the client data store unit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dependency schema includes User, Computer, and Computer List as primary record types and Group as a dependent record type.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the client data store administration unit further comprises:

a list of attributes for each record type;

a vector of data store identifiers; and

a vector of data store change identifiers.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the client data store administration unit further comprises:

a vector of data store identifiers, each data store identifier being unique to a respective remote data store unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first set of records is a copy of the second set of records.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a dependency schema associated with record types;

receiving, at a client, a list of attributes for each record type, wherein the list of attributes indicates which records are to be stored locally at the client;

retrieving, with a client store administration unit, a search path;

retrieving, with the client store administration unit, configuration records from a plurality of remote data stores along the search path, wherein each configuration record includes a data store identifier that identifies one of the remote data stores and a data store change identifier that identifies whether an associated record has changed on the identified remote data store;

creating a vector of data store identifiers based on the data store identifiers of the configuration records; and

creating a vector of data store change identifiers based on the data store change identifiers of the configuration records.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the dependency schema defines relationships between primary record types and dependent record types, and wherein a first set of records are of a primary record type and a second set of records are of a dependent record that depends on the first set of records.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

fetching, with the client data store administration unit, the second set of records in response to a request to retrieve the first set of records.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the client data store administration unit includes a list of attributes for each record type, the method further comprising:

using the list of attributes to determine which records are to be stored locally at the client.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

pre-fetching, with the client data store administration unit, and storing the second set of records locally at the client.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein each configuration record is associated with a different record.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether a number of entries in the search path equals a number of items in the vector of data store identifiers; and

if the number of search path entries equals the number of items in the vector of data store identifiers, then retrieving the configuration records from the plurality of remote data stores along the search path.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

if an attribute is modified for a record, updating the data store change identifier associated with the modified record.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the search path is a list of data store addresses that is used to search for records.

19. A machine-readable memory device that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause said machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a dependency schema associated with record types;

receiving, at a client, a list of attributes for each record type, wherein the list of attributes indicates which records are to be stored locally at the client;

retrieving, with a client store administration unit, a search path;

retrieving, with the client store administration unit, configuration records from a plurality of remote data stores along the search path, wherein each configuration record includes a data store identifier that identifies one of the remote data stores and a data store change identifier that identifies whether an associated record has changed on the identified remote data store;

creating a vector of data store identifiers based on the data store identifiers of the configuration records; and

creating a vector of data store change identifiers based on the data store change identifiers of the configuration records.