Data transfer and synchronization system

• US 6,694,336 B1
• Filed: 01/25/2000
• Issued: 02/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Synchronoss Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: FusionOne Incorporated (Synchronoss Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Stannard, Liam J., Cash, Donald W., Multer, David L., Ridgard, Leighton A., Onyon, Richard M., Garner, Robert E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrai, Diane D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu M
• Application Number:
  US09/490,550
• Time in Patent Office: 1,484 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/201, 707/203, 370/359, 439/533, 455/3.05, 705/9, 709/204, 709/228, 709/248, 345/762
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A system in a processing device having at least one application including application data in a format in an application data store. The system includes: a system data store associated with the processing device including a representation of a previous state of application data in the application data store; a difference engine generating difference information associated with a change to said application data store; and an application interface, interpreting application data for the difference engine. The difference engine may further comprise a delta engine comparing the change to said application data store to said system data store to construct difference information. In a further aspect, a method for updating data files in a first system is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a data store associated with the first system and including information representing data in the data files at a previous time state; generating first difference information upon a change to the data files by comparing the change to the data store; receiving second difference information for a subset of said data files from a second system; and applying said difference information to said subset of said data files.

Claims

1. A system in a processing device having at least one application, the application including application data having an application readable record format in an application data store, comprising:

a system data store associated with the processing device, the system data store holding a representation of a previous state of application data in the application data store in a system format not readable by the application;

a difference engine comparing at least one change in a record in said application data store to said system data store and generating an output file, wherein the output file comprises at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record changed in the application data store relative to the system data store, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data; and

an application interface, interpreting the application readable record format for the difference engine.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processing device further includes a binary file, said system data store includes a representation of a previous state of said binary file, said difference engine further compares a change to said binary file to said system data store, and said output file includes at least a second application data change instruction and a delta of binary change information.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said application interface applies a second output file received from a second device to said application data and extracts application data for the differencing engine.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said system data store is in a universal data format.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein said application interface includes an input receiving the second output file in a universal format and an output to said application data format.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the device is coupled to a network and difference engine includes a network interface.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the difference engine receives said second via said network interface.

8. The system of claim 1 further including a plurality of application interfaces for a plurality of application data formats.

9. The system of claim 1 further including a encryption routine.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the encryption routine encrypts the output file for transmission via a network prior to transmission.

11. The system of claim 1 further including a compression routine.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the compression routine compresses the output file for transmission via a network prior to transmission.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the application interface includes an extraction interface having an application data record format input and a universal data format output, and the differencing engine includes a universal data input and a output file output.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the device is coupled to a network, difference engine includes a network interface and wherein the difference engine outputs output file via said network interface.

15. The system of claim 1 further including a versioning module coupled to the difference engine.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the versioning module determines a version of said delta of the record.

17. The system of claim 1 further including an event trigger.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the event trigger enables receipt of said output file by the application.

19. An application on a first processing device, the first processing device having device application programs including program data in a program readable record format, the application for applying changes to the device program data received in the form of a first change file from at least a second processing device, and providing changes to at least the second processing device via a second change file, comprising:

an application data store reflecting the state of a previous state of the program data prior to a change to the program data;

a difference information generation routine comparing a change in a record in said program data to said application data store and creating said second change file based on the change to the program application data and the data store, wherein the change file includes at least one program application data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record changed in the program application data store relative to the data store, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data; and

a difference reconstruction routine applying first chance file received from the second processing device to the program application data.

20. The application of claim 19 wherein said difference reconstruction routine receives second change file in a universal data format from the second processing device and outputting changes to said program data in the program readable record format.

21. The application of claim 20 further including a plurality of application interfaces for a plurality of program data formats.

22. The application of claim 19 further including:

a construction routine having an extraction interface including an program data format input and a universal data format output, and wherein said difference information generation routine reads said universal data output to generate change transactions indicating changes to the program data.

23. The application of claim 22 wherein the processing device is coupled to a network, the device includes a network interface and wherein the generation routine outputs said second change log via said network interface.

24. The application of claim 20 wherein the device is coupled to a network and includes a network interface.

25. The application of claim 24 wherein the reconstruction routine receives said first change file via said network interface.

26. A method for updating application data files having an application accessible record format in a first system, comprising:

(A) providing a process data store associated with the first system and including information representing data in the data files at a previous time state in a format not accessible by the application;

(B) generating a first change log file based upon a change to the application data files by comparing the change in the application data to the process data store, the change log file comprising at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record changed in the application data file on the first system relative to a process data store on the system, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data;

(C) receiving a second chance log file for a subset of said application data files on the first system from a second system; and

(D) applying said second change log to said application data files.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said step (B) comprises generating said change log in a universal data format.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said step (C) comprises:

converting said delta in said universal data format to the application record format; and

updating said record data with changes to said data.

29. An application in a processing system having a program data source in a program accessible record format, comprising:

an application data store associated with the system including a representation of data in the program data source;

a program data source interface, extracting data from said program data source; and

a difference engine receiving said extracted data and outputting a difference instruction file associated with changes to said program data source based on a change to the program data relative to the application data source, said instruction file including at least one program data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record changed in the program data store relative to the application data store, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data.

30. The application of claim 29 wherein the program data source interface includes a source format interface;

and

a converter to map said data from said source format into a universal format.

31. The application of claim 30 wherein said program data source interface extracts data from said data source.

32. The application of claim 31 wherein said program data source interface converts source data to a universal data format.

33. The application of claim 29 wherein the processing system further includes a binary file, said application data store including a representation of a previous state of said binary file;

and said difference engine further compares a change to said binary file to said application data store, and said instruction file includes at least a second application data change instruction and a delta of binary change data wherein said change instruction provides an operation for said binary change delta.

34. The application of claim 33 further including a plurality of program data source format interfaces for a plurality of source formats.

35. The application of claim 29 wherein said data source interface includes an input receiving source format data and an output providing universal format data.

36. The application of claim 29 further including an encryption routine.

37. The application of claim 36 wherein the encryption routine encrypts the difference instruction file following output from the difference engine.

38. The application of claim 29 further including a compression routine.

39. The application of claim 38 wherein the compression routine compresses the difference instruction file following output from the difference engine.

40. The application of claim 29 wherein the interface further includes a source format output and a universal data format input, and the differencing engine includes a universal data output and a source format input.

41. The application of claim 40 wherein the device is coupled to a network, the difference engine includes a network interface and wherein the difference engine receives at least a second difference instruction file from a second system via said network interface.

42. The application of claim 29 wherein the device is coupled to a network and difference engine includes a network interface.

43. The application of claim 42 wherein the difference engine outputs said difference instruction file via said network interface.

44. The application of claim 29 further including a versioning module coupled to the difference engine.

45. The application of claim 44 wherein the versioning module associates a version of said difference information with said instruction file.

46. The application of claim 29 further including an event trigger.

47. The application of claim 46 wherein the event trigger enables generation and receipt of said instruction files by the application.

48. An application in a device for distributing changes made to device program data having a program readable record format, the application distributing said changes in a system specific record format not readable by the device program, comprising:

an application data store associated with the device reflecting the state of the device program data prior to a change to said device data;

a device data extraction routine interpreting the program readable format for the application; and

a change transaction generation routine comparing at least one change in a record in said program data to the application data store to generate a change log, the change log including at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of a record changed in the program data relative to the application data store, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data.

49. The application of claim 48 wherein the device further includes a binary file, said application data store including a representation of a previous state of said binary file, said change transaction generation routine compares a change to said binary file to said application data store, and said change log includes at least a second application data change instruction and a delta of binary change data associated said change instruction provides an operation for said binary change delta.

50. The application of claim 48 wherein said device data extraction routine includes an device data interface reading changes to said device program data in the system specific format and outputting change information in a universal data format.

51. The application of claim 50 further including a plurality of program data interfaces for a plurality of system specific formats.

52. The application of claim 48 further including:

a construction routine having an extraction interface including an system specific format input and a universal data format output, and wherein said change transaction generation routine reads said universal data output to generate said change log.

53. The application of claim 52 wherein the device is coupled to a network, the change transaction generation routine includes a network interface and wherein the change transaction generation routine outputs the change log via said network interface.

54. The application of claim 48 further including:

code for applying change transactions to the device data from a second device in the system specific format, comprising;

a difference reconstruction routine applying the change log to the device data.

55. A method for updating an application program data source having an application readable record format in a system, comprising:

extracting application record format source data from at least a subset of data in said application program data source;

comparing the application data source data to a comparison data store, the comparison data store including a representation of the application data source data at a previous state prior to a change to the application program data source and being associated with the system, the comparison data store having a format not accessible by the application program; and

outputting a change information file for at least the subset of said source data, the change information file including at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record chanted in the application data source relative to the comparison data store, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein said system further includes a binary file, said comparison data store includes a representation of a previous state of said binary file;

and the method further includes the step of;

comparing a change in said binary file to said system data store, and

generating a difference information file including at least a second application data change instruction and a portion of binary change data wherein said change instruction provides an operation for said binary change data.

57. The method of claim 55 wherein said generating step comprises generating changes to said data in a universal data format.

58. The method of claim 57 further including the steps of:

receiving a second change log for said application data source;

converting said change information into updated application program data; and

updating said application program data source with changes to said updated source data.

59. An application in a device containing a plurality of data files, each of the data files being provided in a program data record format accessible by programs on the device, comprising:

an application data store associated with the system and reflecting a prior state of the data files in an application readable format not accessible by said programs;

an extraction routine for extracting a first set of difference information resulting from changes to the data files when compared with the application data store, the difference information including at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record changed in the application data store relative to the application data store, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with said delta of the record data;

a differencing transmitter for transmitting said first set of difference information to an output;

a differencing receiver for receiving a second set of difference information from a second device from an input, the second difference information including at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of the record changed in a set of data files on said second device relative to an application data store on said second device, and wherein the add or modify instruction provides an operation associated with the delta of the record data on said second device; and

a reconstruction routine for applying the second set of difference information to the data files.

60. The application of claim 59 wherein said first device further includes a binary file, said application data store including a representation of a previous state of said binary file;

and

said difference engine further compares a change in said binary file to said system data store, and said difference information file includes at least a second application data change instruction and a portion of binary change data wherein said change instruction provides an operation for said binary change data.

61. The application of claim 59 further including a decryption routine.

62. The application of claim 59 further including a compression routine.

63. The application of claim 59 wherein the system is coupled to a network, and the first set and second set of difference information is output to and received from the network.

64. The application of claim 59 further including a versioning module coupled to the difference engine.

65. A method for updating data files in a first system, the first system including application data files in an application accessible record format, comprising

receiving a first change log file comprising at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of a record changed in application data files on the second system relative to a comparison data store on the second system having a previous state of the data in application data files on the second system in a format not accessible by an application on the second system, the first change log file including deltas for a subset of said application data files from the second system;

applying said change log to said subset of said data files;

subsequent to a change in said application data files on said first system, generating second change log for said files, the second change log comprising at least one application data add or modify instruction and a delta of a record changed in the application data files relative to a comparison data store on the first system having a previous state of the data in application data files on the first system in a format not accessible by an application on the first system; and

outputting said second change log to an output.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein said receiving step comprises parsing a data stream to extract change logs identified for the subset of said data files.

67. The method of claim 65 wherein said comparison data store includes said data in a universal data format.

68. The method of claim 65 wherein said step of generating includes assigning a universal identification to each change transaction.

69. The method of claim 68 further including the step of identifying each change transaction with a version.