Cross-pollination synchronization of data

• US 8,386,558 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2005
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Schleifer, Jason E., Hall, Gary W., Tan, Garry K., Chen, James P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anya, Charles E
• Application Number:
  US11/113,688
• Publication Number:
  US 20060020804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,864 Days
• Field of Search: 455/517, 455/556.2, 707/201, 707/203, 707610-613, 715/203, 715/229, 719/311, 709201-207, 709217-219, 706/47
• US Class Current: 709/203
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A technique and mechanism to effect cross-pollination synchronization of PIM (personal information manager) data to multiple sources. Additionally, a novel feature of the subject invention is the ability to effect cross-pollination synchronization with any number of devices and sources in a network. The invention provides for a user to employ a mobile device or set of devices as a central repository for PIM data (e.g., calendar, contacts and tasks) synchronized from multiple sources (e.g., multiple PC'"'"'s (personal computers), an exchange server). The invention provides for synchronization of PIM data from multiple types of server sources to multiple devices regardless of the synchronization protocol versions and different schemas.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates synchronizing data, comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable storage medium operationally coupled to the processor and storing computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor, implement components comprising;

an analyzer component that is configured to analyze a first data item from a source, the first data item including a plurality of properties supported by the source, wherein the analyzer component is configured to compare the first data item with a second data item of a device and determines that the first data item and the second data item are duplicate data items; and

a transfer component configured to transmit the first data item and a command to the device in accordance with the output from the analyzer component, wherein the command causes the system to synchronize the second data item by updating at least one property of the second data item with at least one respective property in the first data item while leaving at least one other property of the second data item unchanged, based on the determination that the first data item and the second data item are duplicate data items and a determination that the at least one other property of the second data item is unsupported by the source and not included in the first data item.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a soft delete command is selected if the first data item is out of filter for a filter associated with the device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzer component is configured to determine a version of the first data item and compares the version of the first data item with a version of the second data item.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the transfer component is configured to transmit the first data item to a plurality of disparate devices in accordance with a rule.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzer component is configured to compare a property of the first data item with a property of the second data item.

6. The system of claim 1, the analyzer component further comprises a hash component that is configured to facilitate comparing the received first data item with the second data item.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sync loop reduction component that is configured to, based at least in part upon the output from the analyzer component, instruct the transfer component to discontinue a sync loop.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device identifier that is configured to determine a configuration of the device and communicate the configuration to the analyzer component;

the analyzer component further configured to employ the configuration to determine the output.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a rules component that is configured to facilitate determining the output in accordance with a rule.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that is configured to infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.

11. A computer-implemented method of cross-pollinating data, the method comprising:

receiving a request to add a first data item to a device;

receiving the first data item from a first source;

storing the first data item in memory on the device;

after storing the first data item in memory, receiving a request to add a second data item to the device;

receiving the second data item from a second source;

determining that the second data item is to be cross-pollinated between the first and second sources via the device;

determining that the second data item is a duplicate of the first data item;

comparing one or more properties of the first data item to a one or more respective properties of the second data item; and

synchronizing the second data item with the device if the first data item and the second data item are determined to be duplicates, and if the one or more properties of the first data item are different from the respective one or more properties of the second data item, synchronizing comprising updating at least one property of the first data item to include identification data from the second data item without creating a duplicate of the first data item in the memory while leaving at least one other property of the first data item unchanged, the at least one other property of the first data item being a property that is not supported by the second source and not included in the second data item.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the one or more properties is at least one of a hash value, a time stamp, a version indicator and an identifier.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the or more properties is a combination of at least two of a hash value, time stamp, version indicator and an identifier.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the act of determining that the first and second data items are duplicates includes generating a hash value of the first data item.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the act of synchronizing includes synchronizing based at least in part upon a rule.

16. A system of cross-pollinating data, comprising:

means for receiving a first data item from a source;

means for comparing the first data item to a second data item stored on a disparate source to determine a distinguishable characteristic; and

means for cross-pollinating the first data item to the disparate source if the first data item has a distinguishable characteristic from the second data item, the means for cross-pollinating capable of executing any of a soft delete command, a hard delete command, and a resolve conflict command, wherein cross-pollinating comprises updating a property of the first data item with a respective property of the second data item while leaving at least one other property of the first data item unchanged if the first data item is determined to be a duplicate of the second data item, the at least one other property of the first data item being a property that is not supported by the second source and not included in the second data item.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for computing a hash of the first data item and means for comparing the hash of the first data item to a hash of the second data item.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the soft delete command is selected if the first data item is out of filter for a filter associated with the disparate source.

19. The system of claim 16, the distinguishable characteristic is a combination of at least two of a hash value, a time stamp, a version indicator and a property value.

20. A method of facilitating synchronization of data, the method comprising:

receiving at a device a first data item from a source, the first data item having a first plurality of item properties supported by the source;

comparing the first data item received from the source with a second data item stored in the memory, the second data item having a second plurality of item properties including a subset of item properties absent from the first plurality of item properties, thereby determining that the first data item and the second data item are duplicate data items; and

upon determining that the first data item and the second data item are duplicate data items, synchronizing the second data item with the first data item, wherein synchronizing the second data item and the first data item includes updating item properties included within the first plurality of item properties and the second plurality of item properties without updating the subset of item properties that are absent from the first plurality of item properties.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising, prior to receiving the first data item at the device, receiving the second data item from a second source.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the device comprises a source computing system.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the source comprises a mobile device.