On-line database updating network system and method

• US 6,377,951 B1
• Filed: 08/06/1999
• Issued: 04/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Deep9 Corporation
• Original Assignee: Punch Networks Corporation
• Inventors: Campbell, R. David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Corrielus, Jean M.
• Application Number:
  US09/369,960
• Time in Patent Office: 991 Days
• Field of Search: 707/511, 707/203, 707/200, 707/10, 707/3, 395/712, 717/10, 713/200, 713/201, 455/456, 705/54, 705/26, 705/39, 705/58, 380/30, 340/990, 340/995, 345/352, 704/251
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

An on-line database updating network system and method using object-oriented programming to build a program of discrete blocks, with each block being separately accessible, modifiable, and replaceable. The system includes a user terminal, a host terminal, and a communications channel. Origin dates of user module blocks of information stored in the user terminal are compared, over the communications channel, with origin dates of corresponding host module blocks of information stored in the host terminal. Host module blocks having origin dates more recent than corresponding user module blocks are downloaded as updated blocks over the communications channel to the user terminal. The downloaded updated blocks are then used to update the relevant user module blocks of information. Alternate host terminals may also be accessed by the user terminal, and updated alternate host module blocks of information may be downloaded to the user terminal.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for updating modules of information via a communications channel interconnecting a plurality of computers, wherein each module of information includes a plurality of module blocks of information, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable components comprising:

(a) a comparison component for comparing an out-of-date module of information stored in memory of a first computer to an updated module of information stored in memory of a second computer to identify which module blocks in the updated module of information contain more recent information;

(b) a download component for downloading from the second computer to the first computer, only the module blocks of the updated module containing more recent information that were identified by the comparison component; and

(c) an update component for replacing corresponding module blocks in the out-of-date module with the module blocks of the updated module containing more recent information that were downloaded by the download component.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the comparison component identifies which module blocks in the updated module of information contain more recent information by comparing each module block of the updated module of information to each module block of the out-of-date module of information.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the comparison component identifies at least one new module block within the updated module of information that does not correspond to a module block in the out-of-date module, the download component downloads from the second computer to the first computer via the communication channel the at least one new module block of information identified by the comparison component, and the update component updates the out-of-date module with the at least one new module block downloaded by the download component.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the comparison component identifies which module blocks in the updated module of information contain new information.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the download component downloads module blocks in the updated module of information containing new information.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the update component updates the out-of-date module with the module blocks of the updated module containing new information that were downloaded by the download component.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the out-of-date module of information contains a submodule.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the updated module of information contains a submodule.

9. A method for updating modules of information via a common communications channel interconnecting a plurality of computers, the method comprising:

(a) identifying a first module containing information to be updated, wherein the first module is stored in memory of a first computer, and wherein the first module comprises a plurality of first module blocks;

(b) identifying a second module containing more recent information than the first module, wherein the second module is stored in memory of a second computer, and wherein the second module comprises a plurality of second module blocks;

(c) identifying which second module blocks contain more recent information than the first module blocks;

(d) downloading via the common communications channel the identified second module blocks from memory of the second computer to the first computer; and

(e) updating the first module stored in memory of the first computer with the more recent information contained in the identified second module blocks downloaded from memory of the second computer.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising repeating (b) through (e) of claim 9 for each of a plurality of modules identified as containing information to be updated.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein identifying the second module containing more recent information than the first module comprises comparing the first module to the second module to determine if the second module contains more recent information than the first module.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying which second module blocks contain more recent information than the first module blocks comprises comparing each second module block to each first module block to determine if the second module block has more recent information than the first module block.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein updating the first module stored in memory of the first computer comprises updating each of the first module blocks with the more recent information contained in each of the identified second module blocks downloaded from memory of the second computer.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

(a) identifying an n^th module containing more recent information than the first module, wherein the n^th module is stored in memory of an n^th computer and wherein the n^th module comprises a plurality of n^th module blocks;

(b) identifying which n^th module blocks contain more recent information than the first module blocks;

(c) downloading via the common communication channel the identified n^th module blocks from memory of the n^th computer to the first computer; and

(d) updating the first module stored in memory of the first computer with the more recent information contained in the identified n^th module blocks downloaded from memory of the n^th computer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one of the first module, the second module and the n^th module comprises a module of information nested within another module of information.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

(a) identifying an n^th module containing new information, wherein the n^th module is stored in memory of an n^th computer, and wherein the n^th module comprises a plurality of n^th module blocks;

(b) identifying which n^th module blocks contain new information;

(c) downloading via the common communication channel the identified n^th module blocks from memory of the n^th computer to the first computer; and

(d) updating the first module stored in memory of the first computer with the new information contained in the identified n^th module blocks downloaded from memory of the n^th computer.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein identifying the second module containing more recent information comprises:

(a) determining a first origin date for the first module;

(b) determining a second origin date for the second module; and

(c) comparing the first origin date for the first module to the second origin date for the second module.

18. A method of updating outdated information stored in memory of a first computer with updated information stored in memory of a second computer, wherein the first computer and the second computer are interconnected via a common communications channel, the method comprising:

(a) comparing a module of outdated information stored in memory of the first computer to a module of updated information stored in memory of the second computer, wherein the module of outdated information includes a plurality of module blocks at least one of which contains outdated information, and wherein the module of updated information includes a plurality of module blocks at least one of which contains updated information and corresponds to the at least one module block of outdated information;

(b) downloading via the common communications channel the at least one module block of updated information from the second computer to the first computer; and

(c) replacing the at least one module block containing outdated information with the at least one module block containing updated information which was downloaded via the common communications channel.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein comparing the module of outdated information stored in memory of the first computer to the module of updated information stored in memory of the second computer comprises comparing each module block of outdated information to a corresponding module block of updated information to identify the at least one module block containing updated information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein comparing each module block of outdated information to a corresponding module block of updated information identifies a plurality of module blocks in the updated module containing updated information, wherein the plurality of module blocks containing updated information are downloaded via the common communications channel from the second computer to the first computer, and wherein the module blocks containing outdated information are replaced with the plurality of module blocks containing updated information.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising repeating (a) through (c) for each module of outdated information stored in the first computer.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one module block of outdated information contains a nested outdated module.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one module block of updated information contains a nested updated module.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the module of updated information contains more recent information.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the module of updated information contains new information.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

(a) identifying an n^th module of updated information stored in memory of an n^th computer;

(b) comparing the n^th module of updated information to the module of outdated information stored in the memory of the first computer; and

(c) if the n^th module contains any updated n^th module blocks, downloading only the updated n^th module blocks and updating the first computer with the updated n^th module blocks downloaded from the n^th computer.

27. A method for updating information stored in memory of a subscribing computer connected to a publishing computer via a common communications channel, the method comprising:

(a) subscribing to published information stored in memory of the publishing computer, wherein the published information is stored in publisher modules, the publisher modules comprising publisher module blocks, and wherein the information stored in the memory of a subscribing computer is stored in subscriber modules, the subscriber modules comprising subscriber module blocks;

(b) comparing the information stored in memory of the subscribing computer to the published information stored in memory of the publishing computer by comparing subscriber module blocks to publisher module blocks;

(c) responsive to the published information stored in memory of the publishing computer having been changed from the information stored in memory of the subscribing computer, identifying which published module blocks have changed;

(d) downloading from the publishing computer to the subscribing computer via the common communications channel only that published information which has changed from the information stored in the memory of the subscribing computer, wherein downloading the information comprises downloading only the changed publisher module blocks; and

(e) updating the information stored in memory of the subscribing computer only with that published information which has changed and has been downloaded from the publishing computer, wherein updating the subscribing computer comprises updating only with the changed publisher module blocks.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the published information which has changed is more recent information.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the published information which has changed is new information.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein at least one subscriber module contains a nested subscriber module.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein at least one publisher module contains a nested publisher module.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein comparing the information comprises comparing subscriber modules to publisher modules to identify changed publisher modules.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein downloading the information comprises downloading only the changed publisher modules, and wherein updating the subscribing computer comprises updating only with the changed publisher modules.

34. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

(a) identifying an n^th publishing computer connected to the subscribing computer via the common communications channel;

(b) subscribing to published information stored in memory of the n^th publishing computer;

(c) comparing the information stored in memory of the subscribing computer to the published information stored in memory of the n^th publishing computer;

(d) responsive to the published information stored in memory of the n^th publishing computer having been changed from the information stored in memory of the subscribing computer, identifying which published information stored in memory of the n^th publishing computer has been changed;

(e) downloading from the n^th publishing computer to the subscribing computer via the common communications channel only that published information which has changed from the information stored in the memory of the subscribing computer; and

(f) updating the information stored in memory of the subscribing computer only with that published information which has changed and has been downloaded from the n^th publishing computer.

35. A method of updating a plurality of user modules of information via a common communications channel interconnecting a host computer and a user computer, the user computer having a user memory for storing user modules, each user module including a plurality of user module blocks, the host computer having a host memory for storing host modules, each host module including a plurality of module blocks, the method comprising:

(a) identifying a first user module stored in user memory, wherein at least one first user module block of the first user module comprises a second user module of information;

(b) identifying a first host module stored in host memory that corresponds to the first user module, wherein each first host module block corresponds to a first user module block, wherein at least one first host module block comprises a second host module of information, and wherein the second host module corresponds to the second user module;

(c) comparing the first host module to the first user module to determine if the first host module contains more recent information;

(d) if the first host module contains more recent information, comparing each first host module block to the corresponding first user module block to determine if the first host module block contains more recent information than the corresponding first user module block;

(e) if the first host module block comprises a second host module of information, comparing each second host module block to the corresponding second user module block to determine if the second host module block contains more recent information than the corresponding second user module block;

(f) downloading via the common communications channel, each host module block containing more recent information into user memory; and

(g) updating each corresponding user module block with the corresponding downloaded host module block.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising repeating (b) through (g) for each of a plurality of user modules.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

(a) comparing the first host module to the first user module to determine if the first host module contains new information;

(b) if the first host module contains new information, comparing the first host module blocks to the first user module blocks to determine if any first host module blocks contain new information;

(c) if the first host module block comprises a second host module of information, comparing the second host module blocks to the second user module blocks to determine if any second host module block contains new information;

(d) downloading only the host module blocks containing new information; and

(e) updating the first user module with only the new information contained in the downloaded host module blocks.

38. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

(a) identifying an n^th host module stored in an n^th host computer, wherein the n^th host module corresponds to the first user module, wherein at least one n^th host module block comprises a nested n^th host module, and wherein the nested n^th host module corresponds to the second user module;

(b) comparing the n^th host module to the first user module to determine if the n^th host module contains changed information;

(c) if the n^th host module contains changed information, comparing the n^th host module blocks to the first user module blocks to determine which n^th host module blocks contain changed information;

(d) if the n^th module block comprises a nested n^th host module of information, comparing the nested n^th host module blocks to the second user module blocks to determine which nested n^th host module blocks contain changed information; and

(e) downloading only the n^th host module blocks containing changed information and updating the user module with only the downloaded n^th host module blocks containing changed information.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the changed information is more recent-information.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the changed information is new information.

41. The method of claim 35 further comprising:

(a) identifying a first alternate host module including a plurality of first alternate host module blocks stored in an alternate host computer, wherein the first alternate host module corresponds to the first user module, wherein at least one first alternate host module block comprises a second alternate host module that includes a plurality of second alternate host module blocks, and wherein the second alternate host module corresponds to the second user module;

(b) comparing the first alternate host module to the first user module to determine if the first alternate host module contains changed information;

(c) if the first alternate host module contains changed information, comparing the first alternate host module blocks to the first user module blocks to determine which first alternate host module blocks contain changed information;

(d) if the first alternate host module block comprises a second alternate host module of information, comparing the second alternate host module blocks to the second user module blocks to determine which second alternate host module blocks contain changed information; and

(e) downloading only the alternate host module blocks containing changed information and updating the user module with only the downloaded alternate host module blocks containing changed information.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the changed information is more recent information.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the changed information is new information.