Synchronizing events between mobile devices and servers

• US 8,019,863 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2009
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iAnywhere Solutions Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: iAnywhere Solutions Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Jeide, Scott A., Krishnapillai, Senthil, Durai, Ponnusamy Jesudoss, Donahue, Brett
• Primary Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US12/432,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20090282125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709223-224, 709/238
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/554 Data synchronization

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product for synchronizing events between a mobile device and a server are described herein. In an embodiment, the method operates by detecting events to be synchronized between a source and a target, wherein the source and target are one of either a mobile device or a server. The method comprises deducing activities that occurred in order to create the detected event, reading data records corresponding to the deduced activities, and creating packets of operations needed to recreate the deduced activities on the target. The method further comprises queuing the packets of operations and data records and receiving event synchronization results at the source after the queued packets of operations have successfully executed on the target, wherein the synchronization results include a synchronization status and a unique record identifier identifying the event. In an embodiment, personal information manager (PIM) events are synchronized.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing events between a mobile device and a server, the method comprising:

detecting, at a computing device, an event to be synchronized from a source system to a target system, wherein the source system is one of the mobile device or the server;

deducing activities that occurred on the source system in order to create the detected event, wherein the deducing comprises examining the detected event;

reading data records corresponding to the deduced activities;

creating packets of operations and data records needed to recreate the deduced activities on the target system by determining if a subset of the deduced activities do not need to be recreated on the target system, wherein the determination is based on a chronology of the deduced activities, wherein the target system is one of the server or the mobile device

queuing the packets of operations and the data records if it is determined that the target system is the mobile device and it is determined that the mobile device is offline;

repeating the queuing until it is determined that the mobile device is online; and

obtaining event synchronization results after the queued packets of operations have successfully executed on the target system, wherein the event synchronization results include at least a synchronization status and a unique record identifier identifying the event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the events include personal information manager (PIM) events.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the PIM events include one or more of delivery of a new email message, forwarding of an email message, deletion of an email message, movement of an email message or item to a subfolder, deletion of one or more email messages, creating of an email subfolder, deleting of an email subfolder, receiving an email message, placing an email message in a folder, marking an email message as unread, reading an email message, receiving a meeting request, accepting meeting request, forwarding a meeting request, declining a meeting request, rescheduling an appointment or meeting, creation of a task, receiving a task reminder, forwarding a task reminder, delegating a task, and rescheduling a task.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting is performed by polling a data store on the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the polling is performed at a configurable interval.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the polling is performed by a listener running on the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the queuing comprises determining whether the mobile device has network connectivity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein repeating the queuing is performed at a configurable interval.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the configurable interval is based on factors comprising one or more of the number of packets of operations and the data records queued, a type of operations queued, available memory on the mobile device, overall memory on the mobile device, a central processing unit (CPU) speed of the mobile device, available CPU capacity on the mobile device, and network bandwidth available to the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the configurable interval is tunable on a synchronization server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is one or more of a personal digital assistants (PDAs), a device operating according to a mobile operating system, a device running a Symbian operating system, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a hand held computer, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, and an ultra-mobile PC.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is one or more of an email server, a Microsoft Exchange server, a Lotus Domino server, a Lotus Notes server, and a Novell GroupWise server.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the data records corresponding to the subset of the deduced activities are not read.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the packets of operations and the data records corresponding to the subset of the deduced activities are not queued.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for method for synchronizing events between a server and a mobile device, the method comprising:

detecting an event to be synchronized from a source system to a target system, wherein the source system is one of the server or the mobile device;

deducing activities that occurred in order to create the detected event on the source system, wherein the deducing comprises examining the detected event;

reading data records corresponding to the deduced activities;

creating packets of operations needed to recreate the deduced activities on the target system by determining if a subset of the deduced activities do not need to be recreated on the target system, wherein the determination is based on a chronology of the deduced activities, wherein the target system is one of the server or the mobile device;

queuing the packets of operations and data records for the mobile device if it is determined that the target system is the mobile device and it is determined that the mobile device is offline;

repeating the queuing until it is determined that the mobile device is online; and

receiving event synchronization results at the server after the queued packets of operations have successfully executed on the mobile device, wherein the event synchronization results include at least a synchronization status and a unique record identifier identifying the event.

16. A system capable of synchronizing events between a mobile device and a server, the system comprising:

a server;

a detection module configured to detect, at the server, an event to be synchronized from a source system to a target system, wherein the source system is one of the mobile device or the server;

a deduction module configured to deduce activities that occurred in order to create the detected event on the source system, wherein the deducing comprises examining the event;

a retrieval module configured to read data records corresponding to the activities deduced by the deduction module;

an encapsulation module configured to create packets of operations needed to recreate the deduced activities on the target system by determining if a subset of the deduced activities do not need to be recreated on the target system, wherein the determination is based on a chronology of the deduced activities, wherein the target system is one of the server or the mobile device;

a determining module configured to determine whether the mobile device is offline;

a queuing module configured to queue the packets of operations and the data records if it is determined that the target system is a mobile device and is determined that the mobile device is offline; and

a receiving module configured to receive event synchronization results after the queued packets of operations have successfully executed, wherein the event synchronization results include at least a synchronization status and a unique record identifier identifying the event.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the events include personal information manager (PIM) events.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the detection module detects occurrence of a PIM event by polling an email database or a PIM data store on the server when there is a PIM event detected to be synchronized from the server to the mobile device.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor to synchronize events between a plurality of mobile devices and a plurality of servers, the computer program logic comprising:

instructions for enabling a processor to determine whether there is an event to be synchronized from a source system to a destination system, wherein the source system is either one of the plurality of mobile devices or one of the plurality of servers;

instructions for enabling a processor to indicate to the instructions that there is an event to be synchronized if it is determined that there is an event to be synchronized from the source system;

instructions for enabling a processor to deduce activities that occurred in order to create the event on the source system, wherein the deducing comprises examining the event;

instructions for enabling a processor to create packets of operations needed to recreate the deduced activities on the target system by determining if a subset of the deduced activities do not need to be recreated on the target system, wherein the determination is based on a chronology of the deduced activities;

instructions for enabling a processor to save the event to be synchronized in a request cache, wherein the request cache is accessible from the target system, wherein the request cache includes at least a unique record identifier identifying said event;

instructions for enabling a processor to determine whether said one of the plurality of mobile devices is offline;

instructions for enabling a processor to queue synchronization of said event for the target system if it is determined that the target system is said one of the plurality of mobile devices and it is determined that said one of the plurality of mobile devices is offline; and

instructions for enabling a processor to receive synchronization results after said event has been synchronized on the target system, wherein the synchronization results include at least a synchronization status and the unique record identifier identifying the event.