Document synchronization solution

• US 9,251,236 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2013
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nair, Nisha K., Turaga, Sandhya C., Wisneski, David J., Nirmal, Dinesh K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Uddin, Mohammed R
• Application Number:
  US14/144,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20140114912A1
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• Field of Search: 707/610, 707/629, 707/635, 707/999.101
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

A method for synchronizing a database with displayed data, includes providing a data feed to receive data from the database to provide displayed document data, detecting a database change to the data within the database by a database synchronizer to provide a change event, polling the database synchronizer using an HTTP message to detect the change event, and pushing the database change to the displayed document data to update the displayed document data in accordance with the database change and the polling. The polling includes long polling and short polling. A polling servlet within the database synchronizer performs the polling by the database synchronizer. The database synchronizer updates the displayed document data by way of a data structure. The data structure is a queue.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a data feed associated with a collaboration document that is updated by an external database and a plurality of collaboration users, wherein the collaboration document is synchronized based on updates provided by the plurality of collaboration users and the external database;

storing a table name of a table of the external database that corresponds to a feed name of the data feed defined in configuration data, wherein the table name and the feed name are stored in a queue;

in response to detecting a database change to the table of the external database updated by an external application,

locating the table name of the changed table in the queue;

using the table name of the changed table to identify the feed name of the data feed that is associated with the collaboration document; and

pushing the database change to the collaboration document via the feed name for viewing by the plurality of collaboration users; and

in response to detecting a collaboration change made by one of the plurality of collaboration users to the collaboration document,

using the feed name of the data feed associated with the collaboration document to identify the table name of the table of the external database; and

pushing the collaboration change to the table of the external database for viewing by the external application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an HTTP save message from the one of the plurality of collaboration users; and

pushing the collaboration change to the external database in response to receiving the HTTP save message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the external database includes a database log for storing a record of the database change and further comprising:

reading the database log to detect the database change; and

creating a change event in accordance with the reading of the database log.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a change event in accordance with the feed name.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

polling to detect the database change, wherein the polling comprises one of long polling and short polling.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein an HTTP message remains open until one of a relevant change to the data in the external database is identified and the HTTP message times out in long polling.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein an HTTP message is generated by the one of the plurality of collaboration users and does not remain open in short polling.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

polling a database synchronizer by a polling servlet of the database synchronizer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the collaboration document using a data structure.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data structure comprises the queue.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the collaboration document in a browser.