Data synchronization protocol

• US 8,046,498 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2010
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: McCarthy, Brendan A., Guenther, Carsten
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilles; Jude Jean
• Application Number:
  US12/779,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20100223400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 530 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/202, 709/227, 709/228, 709/219, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/248
• 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 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Among other things, techniques and systems are disclosed for syncing data between a client device and a server. Synchronizing data includes initiating a sync session by negotiating a sync mode between a client device and a server for each of one or more dataclasses. A status code is generated based on a result of the negotiating. Based on the generated status code, the client device and the server exchanges one or more data items to be updated for the one or more dataclasses using the negotiated sync mode for each dataclass. The exchanged one or more data items are updated at the client device or the server The updated one or more data items are committed at the client or the server.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing data, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a single message requesting to sync data associated with multiple dataclasses with at least one client device, wherein the message includes a proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses;

negotiating, at the server, the proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses in parallel responsive to receiving the message;

sending, from the server, a reply message that includes one or more status codes indicative of whether the proposed sync mode for each dataclass has been accepted by the server.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

based on the one or more status codes, using an accepted sync mode negotiated for each dataclass to selectively update the data associated with the multiple dataclasses.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the accepted sync mode uses field level differencing.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the accepted sync mode uses record level differencing.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rejecting the proposed sync mode for at least one of the multiple dataclasses; and

responding to the message with a different sync mode to replace the rejected proposed sync mode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the single message requesting to sync data is represented as a binary property list file (plist).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the reply message is represented as a plist.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

based on the status code, syncing the data using an accepted proposed sync mode or a replacement sync mode for each dataclass.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

negotiating, at the server, the proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses in parallel responsive to receiving the first message.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the message from the at least one client device comprises a header and a body, wherein the body comprises a sequence of command elements.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the reply message comprises a header and a body, wherein the body comprises a sequence of command response elements.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

assigning a unique label to each of the message, the reply message, command elements and command response elements to ensure proper ordering and loss detection.

16. The method of claim 13, comprising:

setting a flag in the header of the message or the reply message, wherein the flag indicates that the sync session is complete.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the heard of the message or the reply message or both comprises a version number.

8. A method of synchronizing data in one round trip comprising two messages, the method comprising:

initiating, at a server, a sync session to sync data associated with multiple dataclasses with at least one client device responsive to a first message from the at least one client device, wherein the message includes a proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses; and

sending from the server, a second message to the at least one client device to complete the sync session, the second message comprising a status code to indicate acceptance or rejection of each proposed sync mode.

11. A method of syncing data, the method comprising:

initiating, at a server, a sync session to sync data associated with multiple dataclasses with at least one client device responsive to a message from the at least one client device, wherein the message includes a proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses;

negotiating, at the server, the proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses in parallel responsive to receiving the first message;

generating, at the server, a status code indicating whether the proposed sync mode for each of the multiple dataclasses is accepted or rejected;

initiating syncing of the data using an accepted sync mode or a replacement sync mode assigned for each of the multiple dataclasses;

detecting, at the server, an interruption in a network connection between the server and the at lest one client device that interrupts the sync session; and

resuming the sync session using the accepted sync mode or the replacement sync mode previously assigned to each of the multiple dataclasses before the network interruption.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending a reply message to the at least one client device, the reply message including the generated status code.

18. The method of claim 11, comprising:

assigning an anchor that keeps track of a state of the sync session.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein resuming the sync session comprises:

using the assigned anchor to identify the state of the sync session before the interruption.

20. The method of claim 11, comprising:

identifying a conflict associated with the data to be synced; and

resolving the identified conflict.