System and method for integrating continuous synchronization on a host handheld device

• US 7,840,528 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2004
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Agrawal, Anish Kumar, Rybak, Michal A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Khanh B
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEEMA, AZAM M
• Application Number:
  US10/971,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20060101082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,223 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/609
• 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: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication

Abstract

A handheld device includes a host database having first and second API associated therewith, a client database and a notification handler. The notification handler sends a request for notification of a change in the host database to the first API and receives the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database. The notification handler then requests contents of the host database from the second API and requests contents from the client database. These contents are then compared by the notification handler to identify the change in the host database. The notification handler then sends a command to update the client database based upon the change in the host database such that changes made in the host database of the handheld device may be continuously synchronized with the user'"'"'s desktop computer via a wireless communication network.

Claims

1. A method for updating a client database within a host handheld device to enable continuous synchronization, the method comprising:

sending a request for notification of a change in a host database to a first application program interface (API);

receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database;

requesting contents of the host database from a second API;

requesting contents from the client database;

comparing the contents of the host database and the contents of the client database;

identifying the change in the host database; and

updating the client database based upon the change in the host database, wherein the sending, receiving, requesting, comparing, identifying and updating are performed by a notification handler on the host handheld device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises identifying a record in which the change occurred.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein requesting contents of the host database from a second API further comprises requesting contents of the record in which the change occurred.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein requesting contents from a client database further comprises requesting contents related to the record in which the change occurred in the host database.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising wireless updating a desktop computer database based upon the updated client database.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of the change in a calender record.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of the change in a contacts record.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of the change in a task record.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of deleted information in the host database.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of created information in the host database.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of updated information in the host database.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein sending a request for notification of a change in a host database to a first API further comprises sending a request for notification of a change in a host database to a low level API and wherein requesting contents of the host database from a second API further comprises requesting contents of the host database from a high level API.

13. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises receiving the notification of a new record in the host database.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 wherein updating the client database based upon the change in the host database further comprises adding the new record to the client database and adding additional fields in association with the new record in the client database.

15. A handheld device comprising:

means for sending a request for notification of a change in a host database to a first API;

means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database;

means for requesting contents of the host database from a second API;

means for requesting contents from a client database;

means for comparing the contents of the host database and the contents of the client database;

means for identifying the change in the host database; and

means for updating the client database based upon the change in the host database.

16. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for identifying a record in which the change occurred.

17. The handheld device as recited in claim 16 wherein the means for requesting contents of the host database from a second API further comprises means for requesting contents of the record in which the change occurred.

18. The handheld device as recited in claim 17 wherein the means for requesting contents from a client database further comprises means for requesting contents related to the record in which the change occurred in the host database.

19. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 further comprising means for wireless updating a desktop computer database based upon the updated client database.

20. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of the change in a calender record.

21. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of the change in a contacts record.

22. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of the change in a task record.

23. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of deleted information in the host database.

24. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of created information in the host database.

25. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of updated information in the host database.

26. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for sending a request for notification of a change in a host database to a first API further comprises means for sending a request for notification of a change in a host database to a low level API and wherein the means for requesting contents of the host database from a second API further comprises means for requesting contents of the host database from a high level API.

27. The handheld device as recited in claim 15 wherein the means for receiving the notification of the change in the host database after the change has occurred in the host database further comprises means for receiving the notification of a new record in the host database.

28. The handheld device as recited in claim 27 wherein the means for updating the client database based upon the change in the host database further comprises means for adding the new record to the client database and adding additional fields in association with the new record in the client database.