APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACES FOR DATA SYNCHRONIZATION WITH ONLINE STORAGE SYSTEMS

• US 20140173230A1
• Filed: 02/11/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Smith, Brian E., Bezek, Scott, Potter, Jacob D., Twyman, Andrew R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,298,391 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• 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 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that manages access to data associated with an online storage system. During operation, the system enables synchronization of the data between an electronic device and the online storage system through an application programming interface (API) with an application on the electronic device. Next, the system uses the API to provide a synchronization state of the data to the application, wherein the synchronization state comprises at least one of a download state, an upload state, an idle state, a transfer progress, a cached state, and an error state.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing access to data associated with an online storage system, comprising:

enabling synchronization of the data between an electronic device and the online storage system through an application programming interface (API) with an application on the electronic device; and

using the API to provide a synchronization state of the data to the application, wherein the synchronization state comprises at least one of a download state, an upload state, an idle state, a transfer progress, a cached state, and an error state.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the API to provide a filesystem synchronization state of a filesystem comprising the data to the application, wherein the filesystem synchronization state comprises at least one of a metadata synchronization state, an online state, a running state, a ready state, and a change state.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

enabling synchronization of metadata for the filesystem with the electronic device through the API.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the synchronization of the metadata for the filesystem with the electronic device is enabled using at least one of an open operation, a create operation, a delete operation, and a move operation.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the change state is associated with at least one of a path, a directory, and a file.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein if the method accesses the data during synchronization of the data between the electronic device and the online storage system, accessing the data comprises:

if the synchronization state comprises the cached state, accessing the data from a cache on the electronic device;

if the synchronization state does not comprise the cached state, accessing the data from the online storage system;

if a newer version of the data is available, accessing the newer version; and

if the data is not available, indicating the error state.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the synchronization state specifies a synchronization between the data on the online storage system and a copy of the data in a cache on the electronic device.

8. A system for managing access to data associated with an online storage system, comprising:

a synchronization apparatus configured to enable synchronization of the data between an electronic device and the online storage system through an application programming interface (API) with an application on the electronic device; and

a communication apparatus configured to use the API to provide a synchronization state of the data to the application, wherein the synchronization state comprises at least one of a download state, an upload state, an idle state, a transfer progress, a cached state, and an error state.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the communication apparatus is further configured to:

use the API to provide a filesystem synchronization state of a filesystem comprising the data to the application, wherein the filesystem synchronization state comprises at least one of a metadata synchronization state, an online state, a running state, a ready state, and a change state.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization apparatus is further configured to:

enable synchronization of metadata for the filesystem with the electronic device through the API.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the synchronization of the metadata for the filesystem with the electronic device is enabled using at least one of an open operation, a create operation, a delete operation, and a move operation.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the change state is associated with at least one of a path, a directory, and a file.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein if the synchronization apparatus accesses the data during synchronization of the data between the electronic device and the online storage system, accessing the data comprises:

if the synchronization state comprises the cached state, accessing the data from a cache on the electronic device;

if the synchronization state does not comprise the cached state, accessing the data from the online storage system;

if a newer version of the data is available, accessing the newer version; and

if the data is not available, indicating the error state.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the synchronization state specifies a synchronization between the data on the online storage system and a copy of the data in a cache on the electronic device.

15. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for managing access to data associated with an online storage system, the method comprising:

enabling synchronization of the data between an electronic device and the online storage system through an application programming interface (API) with an application on the electronic device; and

using the API to provide a synchronization state of the data to the application, wherein the synchronization state comprises at least one of a download state, an upload state, an idle state, a transfer progress, a cached state, and an error state.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

using the API to provide a filesystem synchronization state of a filesystem comprising the data to the application, wherein the filesystem synchronization state comprises at least one of a metadata synchronization state, an online state, a running state, a ready state, and a change state.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the method further comprising:

enabling synchronization of metadata for the filesystem with the electronic device through the API.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the synchronization of the metadata for the filesystem with the electronic device is enabled using at least one of an open operation, a create operation, a delete operation, and a move operation.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the change state is associated with at least one of a path, a directory, and a file.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein if the method accesses the data during synchronization of the data between the electronic device and the online storage system, accessing the data comprises:

if the synchronization state comprises the cached state, accessing the data from a cache on the electronic device;

if the synchronization state does not comprise the cached state, accessing the data from the online storage system;

if a newer version of the data is available, accessing the newer version; and

if the data is not available, indicating the error state.