Systems and methods for continuous PIM synchronization between a host computer and a client handheld device

• US 8,548,943 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Agrawal, Anish, Ruan, Zhigang
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Shew-Fen
• Assistant Examiner(s): MINCEY, JERMAINE A
• Application Number:
  US11/317,216
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218224A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,840 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/611
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

A wireless handheld device operable to continuously synchronize PIM information with a host desktop computer. The device comprises a software module for updating a handheld PIM database to reflect a change to PIM information, a software module for updating a handheld mirror database to reflect the change to PIM information, a software module for generating a PIM message relating to the change to the PIM information, a software module for translating the PIM message from a handheld data format into a network data format and a software module for sending the PIM message from the client wireless handheld device to the host desktop computer via a wireless network.

Claims

1. A method for implementing continuous wireless synchronization of a personal information management (PIM) database disposed on a wireless handheld device with a remote PIM database disposed on a host computer, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving, at a PIM listener on the wireless handheld device, a notification with respect to a change in the PIM database, comparing the content of the PIM database to a mirror database on the wireless handheld device to identify the change;

changing the mirror database according to the identified change and providing the identified change to a synchronizer on the wireless handheld device that pushes the identified change to the remote PIM database via a wireless network in order to update the remote PIM database; and

responsive to receiving at the wireless handheld device, via the wireless network, a PIM message indicating a change in PIM data in the remote PIM database, changing, according to the content of the PIM message, PIM data in the mirror database disposed on the wireless handheld device and a mirror listener listens for the change in mirror database and propagates the change in the mirror database to the PIM database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting appointment data from the PIM message if the PIM message is an email message;

determining if the appointment data conflicts with an existing appointment;

storing the email message into an email database if the appointment data does not conflict with an existing appointment;

updating the handheld PIM database with the appointment data, and

updating the handheld mirror database with the appointment data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified change relates to one of:

creation of a calendar record, an update to a calendar record and deletion of a calendar record.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the calendar record is an appointment record.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the calendar record is a meeting request record.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the calendar record is a meeting response record.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified change relates to one of:

creation of a contacts record, an update to a contacts record and deletion of a contacts record.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified change relates to one of a creation of a tasks record, an update to a tasks record and a deletion of a tasks record.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified change relates to one of a creation of a memos record, an update to a memos record and a deletion of a memos record.

10. A method for continuously updating, via a wireless network, personal information management (PIM) databases disposed on a wireless handheld device with a PIM database on a host computer, the method comprising:

responsive to a PIM listener on the wireless handheld device receiving a notification with respect to a change in the PIM database by a user of the handheld device, comparing the content of the PIM database to a mirror database on the wireless handheld device to identify the change, changing the mirror database according to the identified change and cause the identified change to be forwarded to the remote PIM database via the wireless network in order to update the remote PIM database; and

responsive to receiving at the wireless handheld device, via the wireless network, a message from the host computer containing appointment data, extracting appointment data from the message, determining whether the extracted appointment data conflicts with prior appointments in the mirror database disposed on the wireless handheld device, storing non-conflicting appointment data in the mirror database, and a mirror listener listens for the change in mirror database and propagates the change in the mirror database to the PIM database.

11. A wireless handheld device operable to implement continuous wireless synchronization of personal information management (PIM) databases disposed on the wireless handheld device with a remote PIM database disposed on a host computer, the device comprising:

a PIM database disposed on the wireless handheld device and having PIM data stored therein;

a mirror database disposed on the wireless handheld device and having PIM data stored therein;

a PIM listener that receives a notification with respect to a change to the PIM database on the wireless handheld device by a user of the wireless handheld device, compares the content of the PIM database to the mirror database to identify the change, causes the mirror database to be updated according to the identified change; and

a database accessor that forwards the identified change to a synchronizer that pushes the identified change to the remote PIM database via a wireless network so that the remote PIM database is updated;

wherein, when a PIM message indicating a change in PIM data in the remote PIM database is received at the wireless handheld device via the wireless network, the synchronizer causes the PIM data in the mirror database to be updated according to the content of the PIM message and a mirror listener listens for the change in mirror database and propagates the change in the mirror database to the PIM database.

12. The wireless handheld device of claim 11, further comprising:

means for extracting appointment data from the PIM message if the PIM message is an email message;

means for determining if the appointment data conflicts with an existing appointment;

means for storing the email message into an email database if the appointment data does not conflict with an existing appointment;

means for updating the handheld PIM database with the appointment data, and

means for updating the handheld mirror database with the appointment data.

13. The wireless handheld device of claim 11, wherein the identified change relates to one of:

creation of a calendar record, an update to a calendar record and deletion of a calendar record.

14. The wireless handheld device of claim 13, wherein the calendar record is an appointment record.

15. The wireless handheld device of claim 13, wherein the calendar record is a meeting request record.

16. The wireless handheld device of claim 13, wherein the calendar record is a meeting response record.

17. The wireless handheld device of claim 11, wherein the identified change relates to one of:

creation of a contacts record, an update to a contacts record and deletion of a contacts record.

18. The wireless handheld device of claim 11, wherein the identified change relates to one of a creation of a tasks record, an update to a tasks record and a deletion of a tasks record.

19. The wireless handheld device of claim 11, wherein the identified change relates to one of a creation of a memos record, an update to a memos record and a deletion of a memos record.

20. A wireless handheld device for continuously synchronizing, via a wireless network, a personal information management (PIM) database disposed on the wireless handheld device with a PIM database on a host computer, the wireless handheld device comprising:

a PIM database disposed on the wireless handheld device and having PIM data stored therein;

a mirror database disposed on the wireless handheld device and having the PIM data stored therein;

a PIM listener that receives a notification with respect to a change to appointment data on the wireless handheld device by a user of the wireless handheld device, compares the content of the PIM database to the mirror database to identify the change, causes the mirror database to be updated with the identified change; and

a database accessor that forwards the identified change to a synchronizer that pushes the identified change to the remote PIM database via the wireless network so that the remote PIM database is updated;

wherein, when a message received from the host computer via the wireless network is an email message containing appointment data, the synchronizer extracts appointment data from the message determines whether the extracted appointment data conflicts with prior appointments in the mirror database, and a mirror listener listens for the change in mirror database and propagates the change in the mirror database to the PIM database.