Synchronizing local and remote data

• US 9,110,892 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2012
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Didcock, Clifford Neil, Luk, Jonathan M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Uddin, Mohammed R
• Application Number:
  US13/418,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20130246353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: 707/610, 707/635, 707/620, 707/999.204
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• 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 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• 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

Abstract

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to synchronizing data. In aspects, properties are synchronized from an organization property store to a cloud property store and/or vice versa. The list of properties to synchronize may change based on the cloud services to which the organization subscribes, changes to the cloud services, or for other reasons. Furthermore, the list of properties to synchronize may be limited to certain objects of the organization which may also change over time.

Claims

1. At a computer system, the computer system connected to an organization and a cloud, the organization subscribing to a plurality of services from the cloud, a method for synchronizing data from the organization to the cloud, the method implemented at least in part by the computer system, the method comprising:

determining that synchronization of data from the organization to the cloud is appropriate due to the organization changing subscriptions to the plurality of services from a prior different plurality of services of the cloud, including;

obtaining a schema for the plurality of services, the schema defining a set of properties relevant to the plurality of services, the defined set of properties to be synchronized from the organization to the cloud to increase the effectiveness of providing the plurality of services to the organization, the schema obtained by combining one or more properties relevant to each service in the plurality of services into the defined set of properties;

comparing the schema to a prior schema that was previously obtained, the prior schema defining a prior set of properties relevant to the prior different plurality of services, the prior schema obtained by combining one or more properties relevant to each service in the prior plurality of services into the defined prior set of properties; and

identifying a difference of at least one relevant property between the plurality of services and the prior different plurality of services based on comparing the schema to the prior schema; and

synchronizing data for the defined set of properties from the organization to the cloud by performing a set of actions to address the identified difference of at least one relevant property.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a schema comprises obtaining a schema that indicates relevant properties are to be synchronized for a limited set of eligible objects, the limited set of eligible objects being a subset of objects of the organization.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the limited set of eligible objects comprises licensed subscribers to a service, the service selected from among the plurality of services.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining an indication that the plurality of properties are to be synchronized for a limited set of objects comprises obtaining a rule that defines the limited set of objects;

and

wherein comparing the schema to the prior schema comprises applying the rule on a plurality of objects of the organization to determine which of the plurality of objects satisfy the rule.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein performing the set of actions comprises for each object included in the limited set of objects:

obtaining data corresponding to the defined set of properties from the organization resources; and

sending the data to the cloud.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the set of actions comprises for an additional object to be synched from the organization to the cloud, including:

obtaining data for the defined set of properties for the additional object; and

sending the data to the cloud.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a difference of at least one relevant property comprises determining at least one property included in the schema is not included in the prior schema;

and

further comprising adding the at least one property to the defined set of properties to check periodically for changes to synchronize from the organization to the cloud.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a difference of at least one relevant property comprises determining at least one property included in the prior schema is not included in the schema;

and

further comprising removing the at least one property from the defined set of properties to periodically check for changes to synchronize the organization with the cloud.

9. A computer system, the computer system connected to an organization and a cloud the organization subscribing to a plurality of services for the cloud, the computer system comprising:

a processor;

system memory;

a synchronization manager, the synchronization manager configured to synchronize data from the organization to the cloud including;

determine that synchronization of data from the organization to the cloud is appropriate due to the organization changing service subscriptions to the plurality of services from a prior different plurality of services of the cloud, including;

obtain a schema for the plurality of services, the schema defining a set of properties relevant to the plurality of services, the defined set of properties to be synchronized from the organization to the cloud to increase the effectiveness of providing the plurality of services services to the organization, the schema obtained by combining one or more properties relevant to each service in the plurality of services into the defined set of properties;

compare the schema to a prior schema that was previously obtained, the prior schema defining a prior set of properties relevant to the prior different plurality of services, the prior schema obtained by combining one or more properties relevant to each of the prior plurality of services into the defined prior set of properties; and

identify a difference of at least one relevant property between the the plurality of services and the prior different plurality of services based on comparing the schema to the prior schema; and

synchronize data for the defined set of properties from the organization to the cloud by performing a set of actions to address the identified differences of at least one relevant property, synchronizing the defined set of properties increasing the effectiveness of providing the plurality of services to the organization.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the computer system hosts organization resources on a network.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the computer system hosts the plurality of services.

12. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the computer system is external to both the organization and the cloud.

13. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization manager being configured to synchronize the defined set of properties comprises the synchronization manager being configured to convert between different storage formats at the organization and the cloud.

14. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization manager comprises an object selector, the object selector configured to:

select a limited set of objects, from among a plurality of objects of the organization, for synchronization, the selection in accordance with a rule that defines the limited set of objects.

15. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising a licensing manager, the licensing manager configured to:

track licensed subscribers to the plurality of services; and

create an indication of objects to use to limit the properties to synchronize based on the licensed subscribers to the one or more services.

16. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer system connected to an organization and a cloud, the organization subscribing to a plurality of services from the cloud, the computer program product for implementing a method for synchronizing data from the organization to the cloud, the computer program product comprising one or computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method including the following:

determine that synchronization of data between the organization and the cloud is appropriate due to the organization changing service subscriptions to the plurality of services from a prior different plurality of services of the cloud, including;

obtain a schema for the plurality of services, the schema defining a set of properties relevant to the plurality of services, the defined set of properties to be synchronized from the organization to the cloud to increase the effectiveness of providing the plurality of services to the organization, the schema obtained by combining one or more properties relevant to each service in the plurality of services into the defined set of properties;

compare the schema to a prior schema that was previously obtained, the prior schema defining a prior set of properties relevant to the prior different plurality of services, the prior schema obtained by combining one or more properties relevant to each of the prior plurality of services into the defined prior set of properties; and

identify a difference of at least one relevant property between the plurality of services and the prior different plurality of services based on comparing the schema to the prior schema; and

synchronize data for the defined set of properties from the organization to the cloud by performing a set of actions to address the identified difference of at least one relevant property, synchronizing the defined set of properties increasing the effectiveness of providing the plurality of services to the organization.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to obtain a schema comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to obtain obtaining a schema that indicates relevant properties are to be synchronized for a limited set of eligible objects, the limited set of eligible objects being a subset of objects of the organization.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the limited set of eligible objects comprises licensed subscribers to a service, the service selected from among the plurality of services.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to determine that synchronization of data between the organization and the cloud is appropriate comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to determine that synchronization of data between the organization and the cloud is appropriate by detecting that the organization has changed subscriptions to services from among the plurality of services.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the plurality of services include one or more of:

e-mail, document management, reporting, database, calculating, calendaring, scheduling, and instant messaging.