System and method for synchronization of actions in the background of an application

• US 8,554,729 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2012
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Bolohan, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jensen
• Application Number:
  US13/463,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/617
• US Class Current: 707/617
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• 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 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A background page script is executing on a device. A plurality of webpages are executing on the device. The plurality of webpages register with the background page script. An action generated by one of the plurality of webpages is cached in a database. In response to a determination that the device is in an online state and that the one of the plurality of webpages is no longer registered, the background page script retrieves the action from the database and transmits the action.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

registering, with a background page script executing on a device, a plurality of webpages associated with an application executing on the device, wherein registering each of the plurality of webpages is in response to opening respective webpages;

caching an action generated by one of the plurality of webpages in a database;

deregistering, with the background page script, the one of the plurality of webpages in response to closing the one of the plurality of webpages; and

in response to a determination that the device is in an online state and that the one of the plurality of webpages is deregistered;

retrieving, by the background page script, the action from the database; and

transmitting, by the background page script, the action.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the background page script to a host server, the action.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the action from the database, by the background page script, in response to receipt of an acknowledgment of successful transmission of the action.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

caching, by the one of the plurality of webpages, a second action in the database;

transmitting, by the one of the plurality of webpages, the second action; and

removing, by the one of the plurality of webpages, the second action from the database.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

transmitting, by the one of the plurality of webpages to the background page script, a request to deregister.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein removing the second action from the database occurs in response to receipt of a second acknowledgment of successful transmission of the second action.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein:

transmitting the request to deregister is in response to receiving a request by a user to close the one of the plurality of webpages.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

locking the action in the database.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

registering, with a background page script executing on a device, a plurality of webpages associated with an application executing on the device, wherein registering each of the plurality of webpages is in response to opening respective webpages;

caching a action generated by one of the plurality of webpages in a database;

deregistering, with the background page script, the one of the plurality of webpages in response to closing the one of the plurality of webpages; and

in response to a determination that the device is in an online state and that the one of the plurality of webpages is deregistered;

retrieving, by the background page script, the action from the database; and

transmitting, by the background page script, the action.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising instructions defining the step of:

transmitting, by the background page script to a host server, the action.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising instructions defining the step of:

removing the action from the database, by the background page script, in response to receipt of an acknowledgment of successful transmission of the action.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising instructions defining the steps of:

caching, by the one of the plurality of webpages, a second action in the database;

transmitting, by the one of the plurality of webpages, the second action; and

removing, by the one of the plurality of webpages, the second action from the database.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 further comprising instructions defining the step of:

transmitting, by the one of the plurality of webpages to the background page script, a request to deregister.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 wherein removing the second action from the database occurs in response to receipt of a second acknowledgment of successful transmission of the second action.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein transmitting the request to deregister is in response to receiving a request by a user to close the one of the plurality of webpages.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising instructions defining the steps of:

locking the action in the database.

17. A method comprising:

accessing, by a device, an application via an Internet;

executing, by the device, a background page script associated with the application;

registering, in a background page, a first webpage associated with the application in response to opening the first webpage;

registering, in the background page, a second webpage associated with the application in response to opening the second webpage;

storing in a database a first action generated by the first webpage and a second action generated by the second webpage, while the device is in an offline state;

determining that the first webpage is closed;

determining that the second webpage is closed;

deregistering, from the background page, the first webpage in response to the determining that the first webpage is closed;

deregistering, from the background page, the second webpage in response to the determining that the second webpage is closed;

retrieving, by the background page script, from the database, the first action and the second action; and

transmitting the first action and the second action to a server via the Internet.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

removing the first action and the second action from the database, by the background page script, in response to receipt of an acknowledgment of successful transmission of the first action and the second action from the server.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the deregistering is in response to receiving requests by the first webpage and the second webpage to deregister.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of the first webpage and the second webpage is associated with an application selected from the group consisting of:

an email application;

a web document processing application;

a multimedia player application;

a social media network application;

a spreadsheet application;

a presentation application;

a game application;

an image editing application; and

a video editing application.