AUTOMATIC CONFLICT RESOLUTION

• US 20130254164A1
• Filed: 05/09/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tsofi, Chen, Sheinker, Dov
• Granted Patent: US 9,367,596 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• 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 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A method and apparatus is for implementing a conflict resolution policy. The method includes providing a rule set that includes a plurality of rules that define the conflict resolution policy. An algorithm is generated by decomposing each rule in the rule set into at least one pre-action that is to be performed on data in identified fields in first and second conflicting objects, at least one condition that is to be applied to the first and second conflicting objects, and at least one action that is to be performed on the identified fields in the first and second conflicting objects if the at least one condition is satisfied. The algorithm is loaded from a configuration file for execution during a synchronization component runtime using first and second conflicting objects provided by the synchronization component.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein for performing a method of synchronizing data, the method comprising:

detecting a conflict between at least a first data item from a first device and second data item from a second device;

identifying a conflict between a first object of the first data item and a second object of the second data item;

identifying a first field in the first object that corresponds to a second field in the second object;

receiving a rule set having a plurality of rules for resolving conflicts between data items, wherein each of the one or more rules includes a condition and an action; and

processing the first object and the second object with at least two rules of the rule set, including for each of the at least two rules;

evaluating the condition of that rule against the first and second objects; and

selectively performing the action of that rule on data in the first field and/or the second field according to the evaluation of the condition of that rule against the first and second objects.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the rule set includes dynamically loadable and/or dynamically linkable rule objects.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein processing the first object and the second object with at least two rules also includes:

sequentially runtime processing the at least two rules.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises generating a conflict resolution request that includes the first object and the second object; and

processing the first object and the second object with the at least two rules includes forwarding the conflict resolution request from a synchronization component to a conflict resolution component.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selectively performing the action includes selectively replacing a value of a field of the first data object with a value of a corresponding field of the second data object.

6. A computer-implemented method of synchronizing conflicting objects, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, at least a first data object and a second data object, wherein the first data object includes one or more fields corresponding to one or more fields of the second data object, and wherein at least one of the fields of the first data object is in conflict with at least one corresponding field of the second data object;

receiving a rule set of multiple rules for resolving conflicts in fields of data objects, wherein each of the one or more rules defines a condition and an action; and

processing, by the computing device, a plurality of the multiple rules, the processing of each of the multiple rules including;

evaluating the condition of that rule for the first and second data objects; and

selectively changing, based on the evaluation of the condition, the first and/or second data objects via application of the action to the corresponding fields of the first and/or second data objects.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first and second data objects are from separate endpoint user devices that are also separate from the computing device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the method is an automated method for synchronizing the first and second data objects.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining that none of the multiple rules resolves the conflict between the at least one of the fields of the first data object and the at least one corresponding field of the second data object; and

in response to the determination, presenting an indication of the unresolved conflict for manual resolution.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

dynamically loading additional rule sets during runtime.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the each of the multiple rules is part of a rule object, and wherein the method further comprises:

dynamically loading at least one rule object during runtime; and

dynamically linking the at least one rule object during runtime.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the action includes replacing a value of a field of the first data object with a value of a corresponding field of the second data object.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein processing the plurality of the multiple rules includes:

resolving a first conflict according to a first rule of the plurality of multiple rules; and

resolving a second conflict according to a second rule of the plurality of multiple rules.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying the conflicting fields in the first and second data objects.

15. A computing device for automatically synchronizing conflicting data objects, comprising:

a memory and a processor that are respectively configured to store and execute instructions that, in response to being executed;

receive at least a first data object and a second data object, wherein the first data object includes one or more fields corresponding to one or more fields of the second data object, and wherein at least one of the fields of the first data object is in conflict with at least one corresponding field of the second data object;

receive a rule set of multiple rules for resolving conflicts in fields of data objects, wherein each of the one or more rules defines a condition and an action; and

sequentially evaluate the conditions of the multiple rules for the first and second data objects; and

selectively apply the actions of the multiple rules to the first and/or second data objects based on the evaluations of the conditions to corresponding fields of the of first and/or second data objects.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the first and second data objects are from endpoint user devices that are separate from the computing device.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is also configured to automatically execute the instructions to automatically synchronize the first and second data objects.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein, in response to being executed, the instructions also:

determine that none of the multiple rules resolves the conflict between the at least one of the fields of the first data object and the at least one corresponding field of the second data object; and

in response to the determination, present an indication of the unresolved conflict for manual resolution.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the each of the multiple rules is part of a rule object, and wherein, in response to being executed, the instructions also:

dynamically load at least one rule object during runtime; and

dynamically link the at least one rule object during runtime.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the selective application of the actions includes:

resolution of a first conflict according to a first rule of the plurality of multiple rules; and

resolution of a second conflict according to a second rule of the plurality of multiple rules.