Storage Constrained Synchronization Engine

• US 20170308600A1
• Filed: 01/30/2017
• Published: 10/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Goldberg, Isaac, Newhouse, Benjamin Zeis
• Granted Patent: US 10,719,532 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1734 Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2308 Concurrency control transaction processing G06F9/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/235 Update request formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• 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

Abstract

A client application of a content management system provides instructions for synchronizing content items and placeholder items using a local file journal and updated file journal. The client application compares entries in the updated file journal to entries in the local file journal to determine modifications to make to content items or placeholder items stored in a shared content storage directory on the client device. Based on the result of the comparison, the client application replaces placeholder items with content items or replaces content items with placeholder items.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method comprising:

storing, by a client device, a plurality of synchronized items including placeholder items and content items;

storing, by the client device, a local file journal comprising a plurality of local entries, each local entry representing one of the plurality of synchronized items, wherein each local entry includes a local journal ID of the synchronized item, a local blocklist for the synchronized item, a plurality of local attributes of the synchronized item, and a local sync type, the local sync type indicating whether the synchronized item is a placeholder item or a content item;

receiving, by a client device, an updated entry from a content management system, the updated entry representing a new version of a synchronized item of the plurality of synchronized items and including an updated journal ID for the synchronized item, an updated blocklist for the synchronized item, a plurality of updated attributes for the synchronized item, and an updated sync type;

comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries to identify a corresponding local entry from the plurality of local entries;

determining that the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry is a placeholder item based on a local sync type of the corresponding local entry; and

responsive to the updated sync type indicating that the new version of the synchronized item is a content item;

downloading, from the content management system to the client device, blocks for the new version of the synchronized item indicated by the updated blocklist;

replacing in the client device the placeholder item with a new content item including the downloaded blocks; and

replacing in the local file journal the corresponding local entry for the synchronized item with the updated entry for the synchronized item.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries, further comprises comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries by comparing the local journal ID, the local blocklist, and the plurality of local attributes from each of the plurality of local entries to the updated journal ID, the updated blocklist, and the plurality of updated attributes of the updated entry.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining that the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry is a placeholder item based on a local sync type of the corresponding local entry further comprises:

determining whether the local journal ID of the corresponding local entry indicates a pending status for the synchronized item;

receiving a new local journal ID for the corresponding local entry from the content management system and an associated local modification time;

comparing the local modification time to an updated modification time associated with the updated entry; and

resolving conflicts between the new version of the synchronized item represented by the updated entry and the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries is completed using an update function, wherein the update function compares:

an updated file path of the synchronized item with a local file path of each of the plurality of local entries,

the updated journal ID of the synchronized item with the local journal ID of each of the plurality of local entries,

the updated blocklist for the synchronized item with the local blocklist of each of the plurality of local entries, and

determines whether a force reconstruct value associated with the updated entry indicates that the synchronized item is to be reconstructed.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a force reconstruct value in the updated entry from the content management system;

determining that the force reconstruct value indicates that the synchronized item is to be reconstructed;

determining based on the updated sync type that the new version of the synchronized item is a content item;

downloading, from the content management system, blocks of the new version of the synchronized item indicated by the updated blocklist;

replacing the synchronized item with a new content item including the downloaded blocks; and

replacing the corresponding local entry with the updated entry.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the force reconstruct value indicates that the synchronized item is to be reconstructed despite the comparison of the updated entry and the corresponding local entry indicating the updated journal ID matches the local journal ID, the updated blocklist matches the local blocklist, and the plurality of updated attributes match the plurality of local attributes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of updated attributes for the synchronized item includes an updated file path for the synchronized item and the plurality of local attributes includes a local file path for the synchronized item on the client device.

9. A method comprising:

storing, by a client device, a plurality of synchronized items including placeholder items and content items;

storing, by the client device, a local file journal comprising a plurality of local entries, each local entry representing one of the plurality of synchronized items, wherein each local entry includes a local journal ID of the synchronized item, a local blocklist for the synchronized item, a plurality of local attributes of the synchronized item, and a local sync type, the local sync type indicating whether the synchronized item is a placeholder item or a content item;

receiving, by a client device, an updated entry from a content management system, the updated entry representing a new version of a synchronized item of the stored synchronized items and including an updated journal ID for the synchronized item, an updated blocklist for the synchronized item, a plurality of updated attributes for the synchronized item, and an updated sync type;

comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries to identify a corresponding local entry from the plurality of local entries;

determining that the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry is a content item based on a local sync type of the corresponding local entry; and

responsive to the updated sync type indicating that the new version of the synchronized item is a placeholder item;

replacing in the client device the content item with a new placeholder item; and

replacing in the local file journal the corresponding local entry with the updated entry.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries, further comprises comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries by comparing the local journal ID, the local blocklist, and the plurality of local attributes from each of the plurality of local entries to the updated journal ID, the updated blocklist, and the plurality of updated attributes of the updated entry.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining that the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry is a placeholder item based on a local sync type of the corresponding local entry further comprises:

determining whether the local journal ID of the corresponding local entry indicates a pending status for the synchronized item;

receiving a new local journal ID for the corresponding local entry from the content management system and an associated local modification time;

comparing the local modification time to an updated modification time associated with the updated entry; and

resolving conflicts between the new version of the synchronized item represented by the updated entry and the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries is completed using an update function.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving the updated entry from the content management system, wherein the updated entry includes a force reconstruct value;

responsive to the force reconstruct value indicating that the synchronized item is to be reconstructed;

determining based on the updated sync type that the new version of the synchronized item is a placeholder item;

replacing the content item with a new placeholder item; and

replacing the corresponding local entry with the updated entry.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the force reconstruct value indicates that the synchronized item is to be reconstructed despite the comparison of the updated entry and the corresponding local entry indicating the updated journal ID matches the local journal ID, the updated blocklist matches the local blocklist, and the plurality of updated attributes match the plurality of local attributes.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of updated attributes for the synchronized item includes an updated file path for the synchronized item and the plurality of local attributes includes a local file path for the synchronized item on the client device.

16. A method comprising:

storing, by a client device, a plurality of synchronized items including placeholder items and content items;

storing by the client device, a local file journal comprising a plurality of local entries, each local entry representing one of the plurality of synchronized items, wherein each local entry includes a local journal ID of the synchronized item, a local blocklist for the synchronized item, a plurality of local attributes of the synchronized item, and a local sync type, the local sync type indicating whether the synchronized item is a placeholder item or a content item;

receiving, by a client device, an updated entry from a content management system, the updated entry representing a new version of a synchronized item of the stored synchronized items and including an updated journal ID for the synchronized item, an updated blocklist for the synchronized item, a plurality of updated attributes for the synchronized item, and an updated sync type;

comparing the received updated entry to the plurality of local entries to identify a corresponding local entry from the plurality of local entries;

determining that the synchronized item represented by the corresponding local entry is a placeholder item based on a local sync type of the corresponding local entry; and

responsive to the updated sync type indicating that the new version of the synchronized item is a placeholder item;

modifying the attributes of the placeholder item represented by the corresponding local entry according to the updated entry; and

replacing in the local file journal the corresponding local entry for the synchronized item with the updated entry for the synchronized item.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of updated attributes includes an updated file path and the plurality of local attributes includes a local file path.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein modifying the attributes of the placeholder item represented by the corresponding local entry according to the updated entry further comprises, modifying a file path of the placeholder item based on the updated file path of the updated entry.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the attributes of the placeholder item represented by the corresponding local entry according to the updated entry further comprises, modifying the local journal ID of the corresponding local entry according to the updated journal ID.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the attributes of the placeholder item represented by the corresponding local entry according to the updated entry further comprises, modifying the local blocklist of the local entry according the updated blocklist.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the attributes of the placeholder item represented by the corresponding local entry according to the updated entry further comprises, modifying a modification time associated with the local entry according to a modification time associated with the updated entry.