Abstracting data for use by a mobile device having occasional connectivity

• US 9,477,727 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sybase Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Sybase Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Ho, Michael, Wong, Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Loan T
• Application Number:
  US12/503,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20100030783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,659 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for abstracting data in a remote data source. A method operates by defining the data source, defining a data synchronization methodology for communication with the data source, and providing an abstraction layer for accessing data in the data source. The abstraction layer implements the data synchronization methodology when data is accessed through the abstraction layer is presented.

Claims

1. A method for abstracting data in a remote data source for use by a mobile device having occasional connectivity, comprising:

defining object accessible source data based on a remote data source, wherein the object accessible source data is a subset of data stored at the remote data source;

defining a data synchronization methodology for communication with said remote data source;

determining a current state of said object accessible source data;

determining, security characteristics of said object accessible source data, wherein said security characteristics comprise information identifying which, of a plurality of components of said mobile device, accessing the object accessible source data;

providing an abstraction layer configured to allow access to the object accessible source data; and

implementing said data synchronization methodology consistent with the determined current state of the object accessible source data synchronized with and maintained by said mobile device when data is accessed through said abstraction layer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a method by which said data is provided by said remote data source to said mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

interfacing with a mobile business object (MBO).

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

defining security characteristics of said MBO;

defining data synchronization characteristics of said MBO; and

defining relationships between said MBO and other MBOs.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

defining in-bound invocation methods for said MBO.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

defining metadata for said MBO.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

capturing said metadata with a modeling tool.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

performing an application program interface (API) call to said MBO; and

obtaining a response to said API call, wherein said response is based on a state of said MBO.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining a transformation to be performed on data received from or sent to the remote data source.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the object accessible data source data further comprises a subset of data stored at an additional remote data source.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining a method of pushing data from the remote data source to the mobile device.

9. A system for abstracting data in a remote data source for use by a mobile device having occasional connectivity, comprising:

non-transitory computer readable media containing non-transitory computer code, comprising;

a middleware associated with said remote data source, wherein said remote data source includes defined object accessible source data comprising a subset of data stored at the remote data source;

a mobile business object (MBO) associated with said middleware, wherein said MBO includes at least a subset of data in said remote data source and wherein said MBO is configured to update an associated state, and wherein said associated state includes a persistence of said object accessible source data;

an application program interface (API) configured to request access to data provided by said MBO, wherein said MBO is configured to generate a response to said request consistent with said persistence of said associated state; and

a data security module configured to determine security characteristics of said object accessible source data, wherein said security characteristics comprise information identifying which, of a plurality of components of said mobile device, accessing the object accessible source data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer code further comprises:

a mobile application associated with said middleware, wherein said mobile application is configured to access data in said remote data source using said API.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said mobile application comprises:

an object relational mapping layer configured to interact with one or more object oriented programming language objects;

a messaging object mapping layer; and

a device persistence library associated with said messaging object mapping layer configured to store data associated with said mobile application.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said mobile application further comprises a state management module configured to determine status of said stored data.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein said mobile application further comprises a local database configured to store data retrieved from said remote data source.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein said mobile application further comprises a local messaging cache configured to store messaging data associated with said mobile application.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having control logic stored therein, said control logic enabling one or more processors to abstract data, according to a method, in a remote data source for use by a mobile device having occasional connectivity, the method comprising:

defining object accessible source data based on a remote data source, wherein the object accessible source data is a subset of data stored at the remote data source;

defining a data synchronization methodology for communication with said data source;

determining a current state of said object accessible source data;

determining security characteristics of said object accessible source data, wherein said security characteristics comprise information identifying which, of a plurality of components of said mobile device, accessing the object accessible source data;

providing an abstraction layer configured to allow access to the object accessible source data; and

implementing said data synchronization methodology consistent with the determined current state of said object accessible source data synchronized with and maintained by said mobile device when data is accessed through said abstraction layer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

defining a method by which said data is provided by said remote data source to said mobile device.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

interfacing with a mobile business object (MBO).

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

defining security characteristics of said MBO;

defining data synchronization characteristics of said MBO; and

defining relationships between said MBO and other MBOs.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

defining in-bound invocation methods for said MBO.