Method for selecting an information unit among conflicting information units based on context fields by a user device

• US 6,640,222 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2000
• Issued: 10/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Briancon, Alain C.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, UYEN T
• Application Number:
  US09/677,308
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-7, 707/10, 707/100, 707/200, 707/203, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/919 Geographic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing data synchronization and/or resolving data conflicts is disclosed. In today'"'"'s data communication environment multiple pieces of information may be received by a device and one of the pieces must be selected for processing or storage. The present system assigns a context value to each piece of information to describe the relevance of the piece of information to a recipient. When a recipient recognizes that it has received two or more pieces of information purporting to serve the same purpose, the context values of the pieces of information are evaluated and the piece of information having the largest context value, representing the most relevance to the recipient, is selected.

Claims

1. A method of information synchronization at a user'"'"'s information responsive device comprising:

assigning a context field to information units to be accessed by the user device;

identifying at the user device a first and a second information units which include conflicting information;

analyzing the context field of both the first and the second information units to determine the respective relevance to the user of the respective first and second units of information; and

selecting one of the first and second information units based on the relevance to the user determined in the analyzing step.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the value characterizing the source represents a relationship of the source relative to the user.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1 comprising:

receiving the first information unit from a source and receiving a context field assigned to the first information unit from the source.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1 comprising receiving a context field by the user device after a reception of the information unit to which the context field is assigned.

8. A method in accordance with claim 1 comprising

receiving a context field by the user device prior to a reception of the information unit to which the context field is assigned.

2. A method of accessing by a user device, units of information from an information source over a network, comprising:

assigning to a unit of information at an information source a context field representing the possible relevance of the unit of information to user devices;

receiving by the information source a request for a unit of information and a context field;

analyzing the context field from the user device and the context field assigned to the unit of information; and

sending the requested unit of information by the information source to the user device only when the analyzing step indicates that the unit of information is more relevant to the user device than the relevance shown by the context field received from the user device.

3. A method in accordance with claim 2 wherein the received context field represents the relevance to the user device of another unit of information known to the user device.

4. A method of information synchronization at a user'"'"'s information responsive device comprising:

assigning a context field to information units to be accessed by the user device, wherein the context field comprises a value representing at least one of;

a number of users for which the information unit is intended, a geographic or logical range for which the information unit is intended, and a source from the user'"'"'s perspective;

identifying at the user device a first and a second information units which include conflicting information;

analyzing the context field of both the first and the second information units to determine the respective relevance to the user of the respective first and second units of information; and

selecting one of the first and second information units based on the relevance to the user determined in the analyzing step.