SYNCHRONIZATION ACROSS APPLICATIONS

• US 20140310327A1
• Filed: 04/10/2013
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yang, Bin, Yip, Clement Chun Pong, Helgren, Nathan A., Zhou, Rong, Liu, Ting, Ma, ZhenXiong, Chow, Chung Yiu Daniel, Vidhu, Janardhanan
• Granted Patent: US 9,396,043 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/522 Manager
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores

Abstract

Mechanisms of synchronization between different types of application, using communication between client and server devices, are described. As an example, synchronization between a script running in a browser and a native application may be implemented using a lock service on a server. Mechanisms for synchronization also allow for applications on different client devices to be automatically synchronized. Identifiers may be automatically used by a synchronization mechanism implemented by a service. Identifiers may include user, machine, application or other identifiers. Messages and protocols between the client devices and server services to create, use, and destroy a lock are described.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at a first client computer, sending a request for a lock to a first server;

receiving, from the first server, a first notification message indicating a start of the lock;

displaying, at the first client computer, at least a portion of the first application in a locked state;

receiving from the first server a second notification message indicating an end of the lock; and

terminating the display of the portion of the first application in a locked state.

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

spawning a second application on the first client computer, wherein the second application is spawned after the start of the lock and the second application is terminated before the end of the lock.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first application and second application are each any one of:

a script run by a browser on the first client computer, a script run by another server, a managed component, a component of an operating system, or an application run natively on the first client computer.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the first application is a web application for managing repair of an operating system, and the second application is an application for modifying settings of an operating system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request includes:

a user identifier indicating an identity of a user; and

a machine identifier indicating an identity of the first client computer sending the request for the lock.

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

at a third computer, sending a request to display the first application, the request including the user identifier;

receiving notification that the first application is locked; and

displaying at least a portion of the first application in a locked state on the third computer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for the lock to the first server is made by a protocol that is any one of:

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Representational State Transfer (REST) protocol, Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a WebSocket protocol, or a web service protocol.

8. A server computer system, comprising a processor for executing computer instructions, the server computer system configured to perform a method for locking comprising:

receiving a first request to start a lock from a first application on a first machine, the request including a user identifier;

sending a first message indicating a start of the lock in association with the user identifier;

receiving a second request for a status of the lock from a second application on a second machine, the second request including the user identifier;

sending a second message indicating the status of the lock associated with the user identifier.

9. The server computing system of claim 8, wherein the second message further comprises an indication of the progress of an application on the first machine.

10. The server computing system of claim 8, wherein the first request to start a lock further includes a machine identifier.

11. The server computing system of claim 8, the method further comprising:

sending a security message to a security service, the security message including the user identifier;

receiving a security token from the security service; and

sending a database message to a lock database, the database message including the security token.

12. The server computing system of claim 8, wherein the first request and the second request are made via a protocol that is any one of:

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Representational State Transfer (REST) protocol, Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a WebSocket protocol, or a web service protocol.

13. A computer-readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method, the method comprising:

sending, from a first application on a first computer, a request for a status of a lock to a first server, the request including a first identifier of a first user;

receiving, from the first server, a first message indicating a start of the lock, the lock associated with the first user;

displaying at least a part of a user interface in a locked state;

receiving from the first server a second message indicating a progress of a task by a second application run by the first user; and

displaying the progress of the task in the user interface.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first application and second application are each any one of:

a script run by a browser, a browser plug-in, a native application, an operating system component, or a device driver.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first application is a web application for managing repair of components on a computer.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the second application is an application for modifying settings of one or more components on the first computer.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a third message indicating the ending of the lock;

displaying an indication that the task is completed in the user interface.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the task is completed on a second machine, the second machine different than the first machine.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first request further comprises an identifier of the first application.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first request further comprises an identifier of the first machine.