Media difference files for compressed catalog files

• US 7,636,728 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Issued: 12/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novak, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Quader; Fazlul
• Application Number:
  US11/425,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20070299886A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 707/101
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

Generating a difference (DIFF) file for catalog files. A second catalog file is compared with a first catalog file to identify at least a modified portion in the second catalog file. The modified portion indicates a difference between the content of the first catalog file and the second catalog file. A location of the modified portion is identified in the content of the second catalog file. A reference marker is assigned to the identified location with respect to the second catalog file. The DIFF file is generated indicating the modified portion and indicating the reference marker.

Claims

1. A method for generating from a server a difference (DIFF) catalog file for catalog files, said method comprising:

generating a first catalog file listing media files without contents of the media files;

generating a second catalog file, said second catalog file being an updated replacement of the first catalog file including a modified portion of the first catalog file, said modified portion indicating a difference between the content of the first catalog file and the second catalog file, said first catalog file and said second catalog file each including an array with reference identifiers identifying only one occurrence of words used in identifying the media files;

receiving a request from a client device for identifying one or more of the media files;

determining whether the client device has previously stored the first catalog file;

determining that the client device has not previously stored the first catalog file, transmitting the generated second catalog file to the client device;

determining that the client device has previously stored the first catalog file, comparing the generated second catalog file with the generated first catalog file to identify at least the modified portion in the second catalog file;

identifying a location of the modified portion in the content of the second catalog file;

assigning a reference marker to the identified location with respect to the second catalog file;

generating the DIFF file indicating the modified portion and indicating the reference marker; and

transmitting the generated DIFF file to the client device to be stored on the client device, wherein the client device executes the generated DIFF file and the first catalog file to generate an identical version of the generated second catalog file such that the second catalog file is stored on the client as a replacement of the first catalog file on the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a temporary file by applying the reference marker to the first catalog file as a function of the difference, and wherein generating the DIFF file comprises generating the DIFF file by comparing the created temporary file and the second catalog file to indicate the modified portion and indicate the reference marker.

3. The method of claim 1, further calculating an offset value based on the assigned reference marker and the difference.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first catalog file and the second catalog file being highly compressed media catalog file.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sorting the contents of the first catalog file and the second catalog file and wherein comparing comprises comparing the sorted first catalog file and the sorted second catalog file.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a reference table including the assigned reference marker with the identified location corresponding to the difference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer storage media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

8. A system for generating a compressed catalog file, said system comprising:

an interface for receiving a collection of media offerings from a source;

a server processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

generating a second catalog file including an update to a first catalog file including a modified portion of the first catalog file, said modified portion indicating a difference between the content of the first catalog file and the second catalog file, said generated second catalog file including an array with reference identifiers identifying only one occurrence of words used in identifying each of the media offerings in the update, said first catalog file including a previous version of the collection of media offerings;

comparing the second catalog file with the first catalog file to identify at least the modified portion in the second catalog file, said first catalog file and said second catalog file having references to the collection of media offerings received via the interface;

identifying a location of the modified portion in the content of the second catalog file;

assigning a reference marker to the identified location with respect to the second catalog file;

generating the DIFF file, said generated DIFF file indicating the modified portion and indicating the reference marker;

receiving a request for the update from a client device, wherein the client device has previously stored the first catalog file on the client device; and

transmitting the generated DIFF file to the client device, wherein the client device stores the transmitted DIFF file and executes the generated DIFF file and the first catalog file to generate the second catalog file such that the second catalog file is stored as a replacement of the first catalog file on the client device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to create the temporary file by applying the reference marker to the first catalog file as a function of the difference, and the processor generates the DIFF file by comparing the created temporary file and the second catalog file to indicate the modified portion and indicate the reference marker.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first catalog file and the second catalog file being highly compressed media catalog file.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to sort the contents of the first catalog file and the second catalog file and wherein the processor compares the sorted first catalog file and the sorted second catalog file.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to sort the contents of the first catalog file and the second catalog file using more than one sorting criteria.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a reference table including the assigned reference marker with the identified location corresponding to the difference.

14. One or more computer storage media having stored thereon a data structure for a media catalog file, said media catalog file including references to one or more media files, said data structure comprising:

a first data field including an array representing a collection of reference identifiers, each of the collection of reference identifiers identifying an occurrence of a word associated with characteristics of the plurality of media files, wherein the first data field comprises another array representing a collection of multi-words, each of the collection of multi-words identifying an occurrence of the word associated with characteristics of the plurality of media files; and

one or more second data fields including data representing the characteristics associated with content of media files by including location markers identifying a location of each of the words in the first data field,

wherein the media catalog file, being delivered for storage on a computing device from a source device remote with respect to the computing device, with the first data field and the one or more second data fields is executed by the computing device to render a list of the one or more media files to a user for interactions.

15. The computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the data structure further comprising a third data field including one or more classifications of the characteristics included in the second data fields.

16. The computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the data structure further comprising a third data field including data representing an identification of the highly compressed media catalog file.

17. The computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the reference identifiers comprise one or more of the following:

words, strings of characters, and pointers, and wherein one or more characteristics of content of media files including at least one of the following;

artist, track, album, genre (and subgenre), radio station and custom media playlist.

18. The computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the array of the collection of reference identifiers is sorted based on one or more sorting criteria.

19. The computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the another array of the collection of multi-words is sorted based on one or more sorting criteria.