DISTRIBUTED SYNCHRONIZATION DATA IN A MESSAGE MANAGEMENT SERVICE

• US 20150256504A1
• Filed: 03/06/2014
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Beausoleil, Sean, Kabbes, Steven, Roeder, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,122,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A message management service that acts as intermediary between a messaging service and a client device can generate a synchronization data bundle for a message that includes an external message identifier usable to retrieve the message from the messaging service. The message management service can send the synchronization data bundle to the client along with the message, and the client can store the synchronization data bundle for each message in its local data store. The client can later return the synchronization data bundle to the message management service, which can use information contained therein to facilitate synchronization and related operations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending to a client device, by a server of a message management service, a set of messages and a synchronization data bundle corresponding to each message in the set of messages, the set of messages including at least a first message;

storing, by the server, a server message window that includes the set of messages;

performing, by the server, an update to the server message window during a time when the client device is offline, wherein performing the update comprises removing the first message from the server message window;

receiving, by the server, a request from the client device to perform an action on the first message, the request comprising the synchronization data bundle for the first message.

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

using, by the server, information from the synchronization data bundle to perform the requested action on the first message.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the synchronization data bundle for each message includes an external message identifier assigned to the message by the messaging service and wherein the external message identifier is used to perform the requested action on the first message.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein using the information from the synchronization data bundle to perform the requested action on the first message includes:

sending a message-retrieval request to the messaging service, the message-retrieval request including the external message identifier of the first message;

receiving the first message from the messaging service in response to the message-retrieval request; and

adding the first message to the server message window.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein using the external message identifier from the synchronization data bundle to perform the requested action on the first message includes one or more of:

sending a message-update request to the messaging service, the message-update request including the external message identifier and a message metadata item to be updated;

or

sending a message-delete request to the messaging service, the message-delete request including the external message identifier.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the synchronization data bundle corresponding to each of the messages in the set of messages further includes an internal message identifier assigned to the corresponding message by the message management service.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein performing the update includes:

receiving, by the server from the message service provider, a second message from the messaging service;

adding, by the server, the second message to the server message window; and

removing the first message from the server message window.

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

identifying, by the server, a second message that is present in the server message window but not present on the client device; and

sending to the client device, by the server, the second message and a synchronization data bundle corresponding to the second message.

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

identifying, by the server, a third message that is present on the client device but not present in the server message window; and

sending to the client device, by the server, an instruction to remove the third message.

10. A computer system comprising:

a client interface configured to communicate with a plurality of client devices including a first client device;

a messaging service interface configured to communicate with a messaging service;

a message store configured to store a window of messages for the first client device; and

a message management module coupled to the client interface, the messaging service interface, and the message store, the message management module being configured to;

receive a message for the first client device from the messaging service interface;

add the message to the window of messages stored for the first client device in the message store;

send to the first client device, via the client interface, the message and a synchronization data bundle corresponding to the message, the synchronization data bundle including an external message identifier assigned to the message by the messaging service;

receive a request from the first client device to perform an action on the message, the request including the synchronization data bundle for the message;

in the event that the message is present in the window of messages stored for the client device in the message store, use information stored in the window of messages to perform the requested action on the message; and

in the event that the message is absent from the window of messages stored for the client device in the message store, use information from the synchronization data bundle to perform the requested action on the message.

11. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the message management module includes a sync data generator configured to create a synchronization data bundle corresponding to a given message.

12. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the message management module includes a sync data parser configured to extract one or more information items from a synchronization data bundle received from the client device.

13. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the synchronization data bundle further includes an internal message identifier assigned to the message by the message management service.

14. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the synchronization data bundle further includes a thread identifier assigned to the message by the messaging service.

15. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the synchronization data bundle further includes a status metadata item indicating a status of the message when the synchronization data bundle was created.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code instructions that, when executed by a server computer system, cause the server computer system to perform a method comprising:

obtaining, from a client device, a set of synchronization data bundles, each synchronization data bundle in the set of synchronization data bundles corresponding to a different one of a plurality of messages stored by the client device;

determining, based at least in part on the synchronization data bundles, whether one or more of the plurality of messages stored by the client device is absent from a server message window of the server computer system; and

for each one of the plurality of messages stored by the client device that is absent from the server message window;

extracting, from the synchronization data bundle corresponding to the message that is absent from the server message window, an external message identifier assigned to the message by a messaging service;

using the external message identifier to retrieve the message from the messaging service; and

adding the retrieved message to the server message window of the server computer system.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, from the client device, a set of queued action requests; and

processing each of the queued action requests.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

subsequently to processing the queued action requests, defining a reconciled message window based at least in part on a current state of the server message window;

updating the server message window to correspond to the reconciled message window; and

sending, to the client device, an instruction to update the messages stored thereon to conform to the reconciled message window.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

subsequently to processing the queued action requests, determining whether the server message window includes any messages for which the client device did not send a corresponding synchronization data bundle; and

for each message in the server message window for which the client device did not send a corresponding synchronization data bundle;

generating a synchronization data bundle corresponding to the message; and

sending the message and the synchronization data bundle to the client device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the method further includes:

receiving an inbound message from the messaging service to be sent to the client device;

generating a synchronization data bundle corresponding to the inbound message; and

sending the inbound message and the corresponding synchronization data bundle to the client device.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein the synchronization data bundle that is generated includes an external message identifier assigned to the inbound message by the messaging service and an internal message identifier assigned to the inbound message by the server computer system.