Synchronizing structured web site contents

• US 7,792,792 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2006
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ferreira, Jorge, Witriol, Daniel B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): CAO, PHUONG THAO
• Application Number:
  US11/438,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20070271309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,569 Days
• Field of Search: 707/201, 707/203, 707/204, 707/610, 707/638, 707/999.201, 707/999.203
• US Class Current: 707/610
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Techniques to synchronize structured web site content are described. An apparatus may include a server having a server synchronization module to identify structured content types shared by the server and a client, and synchronize structured content corresponding to the structured content types. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. Computer readable storage media containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computing device, perform a method to synchronize data between a client device and a server device, the method comprising:

identifying one or more structured content types supported by the client device;

receiving, at the client device, one or more structured content types supported by the server device;

identifying, by the client device, one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device;

transmitting, by the client device, a synchronization request to synchronize the one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device, wherein the synchronization request comprises requesting a first defined number of data items that have changed since a change token, and wherein the request for the first defined number of data items is made using a rowLimit property on a GetListChangesSinceToken query;

when more than the first defined number of data items has changed, receiving, by the client device, the first defined number of data items requested and a ListItemCollectionPositionNext value for requesting a second defined number of data items from a start of the ListItemCollectionPositionNext value;

modifying, at the client device, at least a first data item of the one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device;

receiving, from the server device, a server version of at least the first data item, wherein the server version of the first data item includes a version history;

analyzing the version history of the server version of the first data item, wherein the version history for the server version of the first data item includes a first plurality of user-identifier and change-number pairs, and wherein the user-identifier in each user-identifier and change-number pair identifies a computer that edited the first data item and the change-number in each user-identifier and change-number pair indicates a sequence of changes made to the first data item;

determining from the version history of the server version of the first data item whether the first data item has been edited by a third device;

determining from the version history of the server version of the first data item that the modifications made at the client device are included in the server version of the first data item; and

synchronizing the one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device, wherein the synchronization is based, at least in part, on the version history.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating different hyperlinks to send the synchronization request for different structured content types.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an amount of structured content to synchronize, setting synchronization parameters based on the amount, and sending synchronization information to the client device in accordance with the synchronization parameters.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the synchronization request from a web browser using a protocol handler.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting data schema conflicts using a property bag.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting language conflicts using field value mapping.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a synchronization interval parameter, sending the synchronization interval parameter to the client device, and receiving synchronization requests from the client device in accordance with the synchronization interval parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a synchronization interval parameter for a client device based on historical content change data stored by the server device or previous synchronization results from previous synchronization requests, and send said synchronization interval parameter to said client.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a first network address to send the synchronization request to with at least one structured content type from an internal private network, and a second network address to send the synchronization request to with at least one structured content type from an external public network.

10. A method for synchronizing data between a client device and a server device, the method comprising:

transmitting, by the client device, a request for a server content list, wherein the server content list comprises structured content types supported by the server device;

receiving, by the client device, the server content list and comparing the server content list with a client content list, wherein the client content list comprises structured content types supported by the client device;

identifying, by the client device, one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device;

transmitting, by the client device, a synchronization request to synchronize the one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device, wherein the synchronization request comprises requesting a first defined number of data items that have changed since a change token, and wherein the request for the first defined number of data items is made using a rowLimit property on a GetListChangesSinceToken query;

when more than the first defined number of data items has changed, receiving, by the client device, the first defined number of data items requested and a ListItemCollectionPositionNext value for requesting a second defined number of data items from a start of the ListItemCollectionPositionNext value;

modifying, at the client device, one or more data items of the one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device;

receiving, from the server device, a server version of the one or more data items, wherein the server version of the one or more data items includes a version history;

analyzing the version history of the server version of the one or more data items, wherein the version history for the server version of the one or more data items includes a first plurality of user-identifier and change-number pairs, and wherein the user-identifier in each user-identifier and change-number pair identifies a computer that edited the one or more data items and wherein the change-number in each user-identifier and change-number pair indicates a sequence of changes made to the one or more data items;

determining from the version history of the server version of the one or more data items that the one or more data items have been edited by a third device;

determining from the version history of the server version of the one or more data items that the modifications made at the client device are included in the server version of the one or more data items; and

automatically storing the server version of the one or more data items at the client device.

11. A system for synchronizing structured content between a client device and a server device, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer-program instructions executable by the processor for;

identifying one or more structured content types supported by the server device;

receiving a client content list identifying one or more structured content types supported by the client device;

comparing the one or more structured content types supported by the client device and the one or more content types supported by the server device to generate a shared content type list, wherein the shared content type list comprises one or more content types supported by both the client device and the server device; and

receiving, by the server device, a synchronization request to synchronize the one or more structured content types supported by both the client device and the server device, wherein prior to synchronizing a determination is made as to whether a version history of the one or more content types supported by both the client device and the server device has been modified by a third device prior to the synchronization request, and wherein the synchronization request comprises a request for a first defined number of data items that have changed since a change token using a rowLimit property on a GetListChangesSinceToken query; and

when more than the first defined number of data items has changed, transmitting to the client device the first defined number of data items requested and a ListItemCollectionPositionNext value for requesting a second defined number of data items from a start of the ListItemCollectionPositionNext value.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a client synchronization module configured to send the synchronization request to synchronize structured content types supported by the server device and the client device.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising a server synchronization module configured to receive tile client content list, compare the structured content types supported by the client device to the structured content types supported by the server device, send the shared content type list with matching structured content types, and receive the synchronization request to synchronize structured content types in accordance with said shared content list.