Context sensitive distributed file system synchronization and merging semantics

• US 9,524,151 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2014
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Razer (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd. (Razer Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Nextbit Systems, Inc. (Razer Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chan, Michael A., Quan, Justin, Bornstein, Daniel R., Moss, Tom, Tong, Linda
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim
• Application Number:
  US14/222,374
• Publication Number:
  US 20140289191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,005 Days
• Field of Search: 707/610, 707/716
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1734 Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• 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 8/44 Encoding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/78 Architectures of resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 : specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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 67/1097 : for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 : Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Technology is disclosed for context sensitive synchronization of a distributed cloud-based file system across multiple devices and for providing seamless merging of conflicting data objects. In some embodiments, data objects of a user are stored across multiple computing devices associated with a user, e.g., mobile computing devices such as a tablet, a laptop, or a smartphone, and/or at server systems, e.g., cloud-based storage servers, in a distributed cloud-based storage system. The described technology intelligently synchronizes the data objects based on context and manages potential conflicts.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a cloud-based server, a synchronization event initiating synchronization of data objects in distributed file system;

selecting a first computing device responsive to receiving the synchronization event, the first computing device having a first local file system;

determining, by the cloud-based server, one or more expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device,

wherein each expected access patterns is determined based on a corresponding file directory of the first local file system; and

synchronizing data objects of the distributed file system with the first local file system with based on the expected access patterns,

wherein performing the synchronization on the first computing device further comprises determining a type of activity associated with a particular data object of the first local file system, wherein if the type of activity is not of a first type of activity, allowing the synchronization to complete while synchronizing less than all of the data associated with the particular data object, and wherein if the type of activity is of the first type of activity, allowing the synchronization to complete once all of the data associated with the particular data object is synchronized.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein two or more directories of the first local file system have different determined expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device comprises:

recognizing a first directory on the first local file system of the first computing device;

identifying files in the first file directory of the first local file system as application identifiers;

scanning the application identifiers to identify the applications installed on the first computing device;

determining a first expected access pattern based on the applications installed on the first computing device,

wherein the first expected access pattern identifies only directories associated with the application installed on the first computing device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a conflict between data object information associated with the first computing device and data object information associated with a second computing device;

determining a losing computing device of the first computing device and the second computing device; and

determining a modification to the data object information associated with the losing device that resolves the conflict.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

waiting for the first computing device to cease accessing the data object information associated with the losing device;

resolving the conflict by sending the instruction to the losing device requesting that the losing device perform the modification to the data object information.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the specific parts of the particular data object include header fields, tag fields, or identifier fields.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the specific parts of the particular data object Include a thumbnail field.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first type of activity comprises a display activity.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the less than all of the data associated with the particular data object includes specific parts of the particular data object.

10. A cloud-based server system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory system having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the cloud-based system to;

select a first computing device responsive to receiving a synchronization event initiating synchronization of data objects in distributed file system, the first computing device having a first local file system;

determine or more expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device,

wherein each expected access patterns is determined based on a corresponding file directory of the first local file system; and

synchronize data objects of the distributed file system with the first local file system with based on the expected access patterns,

wherein to perform the synchronization on the first computing device, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the cloud-based system to determine a type of activity associated with a particular data object of the first local file system, wherein if the type of activity is not of a first type of activity, allowing the synchronization to complete while synchronizing less than all of the data associated with the particular data object, and wherein if the type of activity is of the first type of activity, allowing the synchronization to complete once all of the data associated with the particular data object is synchronized.

11. The cloud-based server system of claim 10, wherein two or more directories of the first local file system have different determined expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device.

12. The cloud-based server system of claim 10, wherein to determine the expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the cloud-based system to:

recognize a first directory on the first local file system of the first computing device;

identify files in the first file directory of the first local file system as application identifiers;

scan the application identifiers to identify the applications installed on the first computing device;

determine a first expected access pattern based on the applications installed on the first computing device,

wherein the first expected access pattern identifies only directories associated with the application installed on the first computing device.

13. The cloud-based server system of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the cloud-based system to:

detect a conflict between data object information associated with the first computing device and data object information associated with a second computing device;

determine a losing computing device of the first computing device and the second computing device;

determine a modification to the data object information associated with the losing device that resolves the conflict;

wait for the first computing device to cease accessing the data object information associated with the losing device; and

resolve the conflict by sending the instruction to the losing device requesting that the losing device perform the modification to the data object information.

14. The cloud-based server system of claim 10, wherein the first type of activity comprises a display activity, wherein the less than all of the data associated with the particular data object includes specific parts of the particular data object, and wherein the specific parts of the particular data object include header fields, tag fields, identifier fields, or thumbnail fields.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions to be implemented by a computer system having a processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the computer system to:

select a first computing device responsive to receiving a synchronization event initiating synchronization of data objects in distributed file system, the first computing device having a first local file system;

determine or more expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device,

wherein each expected access patterns is determined based on a corresponding file directory of the first local file system,

wherein two or more directories of the first local file system have different determined expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device; and

synchronize data objects of the distributed file system with the first local file system with based on the expected access patterns,

wherein performing the synchronization on the first computing device further comprises determining a type of activity associated with a particular data object of the first local file system, wherein if the type of activity is not of a first type of activity, allowing the synchronization to complete while synchronizing less than all of the data associated with the particular data object, and wherein if the type of activity is of the first type of activity, allowing the synchronization to complete once all of the data associated with the particular data object is synchronized.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein to determine the expected access patterns of the distributed file system by the first computing device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the computer system to:

recognize a first directory on the first local file system of the first computing device;

identify files in the first file directory of the first local file system as application identifiers;

scan the application identifiers to identify the applications installed on the first computing device;

determine a first expected access pattern based on the applications installed on the first computing device,

wherein the first expected access pattern identifies only directories associated with the application installed on the first computing device.