SELECTIVE SYNCHRONIZATION OF REMOTELY STORED CONTENT

• US 20130212067A1
• Filed: 02/14/2013
• Published: 08/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Piasecki, Derek, Rivera, Juan
• Granted Patent: US 9,330,106 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/620
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• 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 16/275 Synchronous replication

Abstract

Described herein are methods and systems for selectively synchronizing locally stored data with data stored in a cloud storage repository. A client application can synchronize a portion of the locally or remotely stored content by choosing to synchronize data that is frequently used, data that is marked as priority data or data that was modified or otherwise accessed during a predetermined period of time. Other selective synchronization optimizations include predictively synchronizing data or content associated with frequently use or priority data and synchronizing data according to a priority score.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing data between a client device and a storage repository, the method comprising:

establishing a communications channel between the client device and the storage repository;

from a storage location for files to be synchronized between the client device and the storage repository, selecting a set of files which is related to a particular file based on a set of selection criteria; and

while the communications channel is established, copying data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository to synchronize the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein a group of files resides within the storage location;

and

wherein copying the data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository includes transferring the data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository ahead of transferring data of remaining files of the group to synchronize the selected set of files ahead of the remaining files of the group.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein selecting the set of files which is related to the particular file includes:

providing, for each file of the group of files, a respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria, and

distinguishing the selected set of files from the remaining files of the group based on the respective overall score of each file of the group.

4. A method as in claim 3, further comprising:

prior to selecting the set of files, receiving a set of file relevancy factors as at least part of the set of selection criteria.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score includes:

applying each file relevancy factor of the set of file relevancy factors to each file of the group of files to generate a set of relevancy scores for that file, and

for each file, aggregating the set of relevancy scores for that file to generate an aggregate score as the respective overall score for that file, the selected set of files being distinguished from the remaining files of the group based on the aggregate score generated for each file.

6. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on a time difference between a last access timestamp of that file and a last access timestamp of the particular file.

7. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on a filename similarity between a filename of that file and a filename of the particular file.

8. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on content similarity between content of that file and content of the particular file.

9. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on a comparison between a file type of that file and a file type of the particular file.

10. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on file size similarity between a current file size of that file and a current file size of the particular file.

11. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on access count similarity between an access count of that file and an access count of the particular file.

12. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on a folder location similarity between a current folder within which that file resides and a current folder within which the particular file resides.

13. A method as in claim 3 wherein providing, for each file of the group of files, the respective overall score based on the set of selection criteria includes:

generating the overall score for each file based at least in part on a time difference between a last modification timestamp of that file and a last modification timestamp of the particular file.

14. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

prior to selecting the set of files, receiving a set of user commands and, in response to the set of user commands, (i) identifying the particular file among multiple other files and (ii) changing at least some of the set of selection criteria from original default settings to new user defined settings.

15. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface (UI) to a user, the UI displaying filenames of the selected set of files in a sorted list based on the respective overall score of each file of the selected set of files.

16. A method as in claim 1 wherein copying the data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository includes:

uploading the data of the selected set of files from the client device to the storage repository through the communications channel.

17. A method as in claim 1 wherein copying the data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository includes:

downloading the data of the selected set of files from the storage repository to the client device through the communications channel.

18. Electronic circuitry, comprising:

memory; and

a controller coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions which, when carried out by the controller, cause the controller to;

establish a communications channel between a client device and a storage repository,

from a storage location for files to be synchronized between the client device and the storage repository, selecting a set of files which is related to a particular file based on a set of selection criteria, and

while the communications channel is established, copying data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository to synchronize the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository.

19. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium which stores a set of instructions to synchronize data between a client device and a storage repository, the set of instructions, when carried out by computerized circuitry, causing the computerized circuitry to perform a method of:

establishing a communications channel between the client device and the storage repository;

from a storage location for files to be synchronized between the client device and the storage repository, selecting a set of files which is related to a particular file based on a set of selection criteria; and

while the communications channel is established, copying data of the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository to synchronize the selected set of files between the client device and the storage repository.