System and a method for reliable symmetric data synchronization

• US 7,797,273 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2006
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: emoze Ltd. (BSD Crown Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: emoze Ltd. (BSD Crown Ltd.)
• Inventors: Levi, Moshe, Dgani, Moshe
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim T
• Application Number:
  US11/389,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20070226271A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,632 Days
• Field of Search: 707/200, 707/201, 707/609, 707/611
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication

Abstract

A system for synchronizing data between at least two electronic devices. The system includes at least one sending (source) side electronic device having a database and at least one receiving (target) side electronic device having a database, such that each data item has unique local and remote identifiers, wherein the local identifier of one side is the remote identifier of the other side and vice versa, thereby providing reliable, efficient and symmetrical synchronicity between the at least two electronic devices.

Claims

1. A system for synchronizing data between at least two electronic devices, said system comprising:

at least one receiving (target) side electronic device having a database being compatible to a database of an at least one sending (source) side electronic device, such that each data item has unique local and remote identifiers,

wherein the local identifier of one side is stored as the remote identifier of the other side and vice versa,

wherein access to the data item stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device, when synchronizing entire data items in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device to the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device, is enabled by receiving an element from a group consisting of the remote identifier and the local identifier of the data item as stored in the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device and verifies that the data fields contained in the data item as stored in the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device match the data fields contained in the data item as stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device, and wherein the data item stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device is selected from a list consisting of two or more object types, each of the two or more object types comprising different data fields, wherein the synchronizing is performed after comparing the object type of the data item as stored in the database of the at least sending (source) side electronic device with the data item as stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the local identifier and the remote identifier of the data item are unique identifiers for each data item stored in the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a smart phone.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device excludes duplications of data items in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device in case part of the data was lost in the data exchange.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a computer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said each data item is uniquely identified in the scope of one of said at least two electronic devices and is encapsulated into a finite length memory buffer of each of said databases.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said system supports a priority hierarchy of said items, and wherein said hierarchy is provided by a parent attribute of each of said data items and ensures that parent-child relationships are also synchronized.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said system provides a sharing mechanism, which when applied to said parents may switch on and off synchronization of all branches under the parent.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said system provides a restrictions mechanism that excludes certain items from synchronization, depending on item properties.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein said system provides target synchronization operations, comprising at least “

add,”

“

delete” and

“

update.”

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said system provides non-synchronization operations.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said non-synchronization operations comprise at least queries.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said system resolves “

update”

conflicts using priority levels, wherein said priority levels are assigned to each of said at least two electronic devices that participate in said synchronization.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said system allows partial updates of items that were synchronized beforehand.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said synchronization is network-layer independent and can be performed using other reliable and even unreliable protocols.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein said system is designed for cross platform operation.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein said system provides transforms comprising at least data encryption and compression.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said system provides data representation and encapsulation that is proprietary.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein synchronization sessions are performed symmetrically from the source to the target and from the target to the source.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein when any “

add”

item is marked as synchronized, it is guaranteed to be synchronized.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein when any “

update”

item is marked as synchronized, it is guaranteed to be synchronized.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the local identifier and the remote identifier are numerical identifiers.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein the local identifier and the remote identifier are integer identifiers.

22. A method for synchronizing data between at least one sending (source) side electronic device having a database and at least one receiving (target) side electronic device having a database, the method comprising:

receiving a data item at the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device from the at least one sending (source) side electronic device;

assigning an identifier value to the data item stored in both databases, such that the local identifier of the data item stored in the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device is identical to a remote identifier of the same data item stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device;

verifying that the data fields contained in the data item as stored in the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device match the data fields contained in the data item as stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device;

enabling synchronization of the data item in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device upon receipt of the remote identifier or the local identifier of the data item from the at least one sending (source) side electronic device.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising a step of selecting items to be synchronized, according to the remote identifier or the local identifier values received from the at least one sending (source) side electronic device.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising a step of adding a new type of data records in case the data fields contained in the data item as stored in the database of the at least one sending (source) side electronic device do not match the data fields contained in the data item as stored in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising a step of excluding duplications of data items in the database of the at least one receiving (target) side electronic device in case part of the data was lost in the data exchange.