Opportunistic, priority-based object synchronization

• US 9,489,440 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2012
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Stritzel, Adam, Brezak, John E., Lam, Chin Hung, Jakubowski, Patrick Richard, Gociman, Ciprian, Zender, Joerg Christof, Bennett, David, Gupta, Sarita, Malaguti, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Application Number:
  US13/713,686
• Publication Number:
  US 20140172793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: 707/620, 707/634, 707/640, 709/203, 709/248
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1756 based on delta files
• 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

Abstract

Mechanisms for synchronizing an object set with a remote data store are often performed at a particular frequency, e.g., once per hour or day. However, the objects of the object set may have different priorities, and it may be advantageous to synchronize higher-priority objects more often than regular-priority objects. The synchronization mechanisms may also differ (e.g., high-priority object synchronization may be direct and/or holistic, while regular-priority object synchronization may be differential, cached, and/or involving version and/or conflict resolution). Additionally, a resource-based threshold may be applied to the high-priority objects (e.g., a bandwidth cap) in order to reduce resource exhaustion, and high-priority objects that are not synchronized within the threshold may be synchronized with the regular-priority objects. These techniques may be particularly advantageous for synchronizing objects comprising an application state of applications of current or recent usage by a user, where application state “staleness” is acutely visible to the user.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing objects of an object set with a remote data store, the method involving a device having a processor and comprising:

executing, by the processor, instructions that cause the device to;

identify respective objects of the object set as a high-priority object or a regular-priority object;

perform a high-priority synchronization by synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set with the remote data store at a high-priority synchronization interval and limiting the synchronization of the high-priority objects to a high-priority data threshold; and

synchronize the regular-priority objects and the high-priority objects that were not synchronized during the high-priority synchronization with the remote data store at a regular-priority synchronization interval that is longer than the high-priority synchronization interval.

2. The method of claim 1, the identifying comprising:

identifying respective objects as a high-priority object or a regular-priority object based on at least one prioritization criterion selected from a prioritization criteria set comprising;

an object type of the object;

a data access frequency of the object;

a data update frequency of the object;

a data significance of the object;

a relationship with a second object of the object set; and

a user preference of a user of the device.

3. The method of claim 1:

the device comprising a high-priority object synchronization policy; and

identifying the respective objects of the object set comprising;

identifying the respective objects of the object set as a high-priority object or a regular-priority object according to the high-priority object synchronization policy.

4. The method of claim 1:

the device comprising at least one application utilized by a user; and

identifying the respective objects of the object set comprising;

determining whether the object is associated with an application utilized by the user within a utilization duration.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating with respective high-priority objects a high-priority object identifier; and

identifying the respective objects of the object set comprising;

determining whether the object is associated with a high-priority object identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, synchronizing the regular-priority objects comprising:

resolving conflicts among the objects of the object set while synchronizing the regular-priority objects.

7. The method of claim 6, at least one conflict created while synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set.

8. The method of claim 1, synchronizing the regular-priority objects of the object set comprising:

synchronizing the regular-priority objects of the object set and the high-priority objects of the object set with the remote data store at the regular-priority synchronization interval.

9. The method of claim 1:

the remote data store comprising a high-priority end point and a regular-priority end point;

synchronizing the high-priority objects comprising;

synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set through the high-priority end point of the remote data store at the high-priority synchronization interval; and

synchronizing the regular-priority objects comprising;

synchronizing the regular-priority objects of the object set through the regular-priority end point of the remote data store at the regular-priority synchronization interval.

10. A system for synchronizing objects of an object set with a remote data store on a device having a processor, the system comprising:

a object priority identifier that identifies respective objects of the object set as a high-priority object or a regular-priority object; and

an object set synchronizer that;

performs a high-priority synchronization by synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set with the remote data store at a high-priority synchronization interval and limiting the synchronization of the high-priority objects to a high-priority data threshold; and

synchronizes the regular-priority objects and the high-priority objects that were not synchronized during the high-priority synchronization, with the remote data store at a regular-priority synchronization interval that is longer than the high-priority synchronization interval.

11. The system of claim 10:

the system further comprising;

a object cache configured to store object updates, and

a object caching component configured to, upon detecting an object update, store the object update in the object cache; and

the object set synchronization component configured to synchronize the objects with the remote data store by synchronizing the object updates in the object cache with the remote data store.

12. The system of claim 11:

the object caching component storing the object updates comprising;

upon detecting an object update of a regular-priority object update, store the regular-priority object update in the object cache; and

the object set synchronization component configured to;

synchronize the updated regular-priority objects stored in the object cache with the remote data store at the regular-priority synchronization interval; and

synchronize the high-priority objects directly with the remote data store at the high-priority synchronization interval.

13. The system of claim 10, the high-priority data threshold selected from a high-priority data threshold set comprising:

a high-priority synchronization maximum data threshold;

a high-priority synchronization maximum object count threshold; and

a high-priority synchronization bandwidth consumption threshold.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a high-priority data threshold selecting component configured to;

monitor a resource capacity of at least one synchronization resource of the device; and

adjust the high-priority data threshold in view of the resource capacities of the synchronization resources of the device.

15. The system of claim 10, the data object synchronization client configured to synchronize, at the regular-priority synchronization interval, the regular-priority objects of the object set and at least one unsynchronized high-priority object of the object set that has not been synchronized within the high-priority data threshold.

16. The system of claim 15, synchronizing the regular-priority objects comprising:

synchronizing, at the regular-priority synchronization interval, the unsynchronized high-priority objects of the object set before synchronizing the regular-priority objects of the object set.

17. A method of synchronizing objects of an object set stored by a server with a device data store of a device, the method comprising:

identifying respective objects of the object set as a high-priority object or a regular-priority object;

performing a high-priority synchronization by synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set with the device data source of the device at a high-priority synchronization interval and limiting the high-priority synchronization to a high priority data threshold; and

synchronizing the regular-priority objects of the object set and the high-priority objects of the object set that were not synchronized within the high-priority synchronization, with the remote data store at a regular-priority synchronization interval that is longer than the high-priority synchronization interval.

18. The method of claim 17:

the server comprising a high-priority end point and a regular-priority end point;

synchronizing the high-priority objects comprising;

synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set with the device data store through the high-priority end point; and

synchronizing the regular-priority objects comprising;

synchronizing the regular priority objects of the object set with the device data store through the regular-priority end point.

19. The method of claim 17, synchronizing the regular-priority objects comprising:

resolving conflicts among the objects of the object set while synchronizing the regular-priority objects.

20. The method of claim 17:

synchronizing the high-priority objects comprising;

synchronizing the high-priority objects of the object set with the device data store; and

synchronizing the regular-priority objects comprising;

upon receiving from the device an object update of a regular-priority object, apply the object update to the object in the object set.