Presenting availability statuses of synchronized objects

• US 9,560,130 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Mantri, Siddharth, Popkin, Rachel Karin
• Primary Examiner(s): Chacko, Joe
• Application Number:
  US12/894,679
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084341A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,315 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2329 using versioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2343 Locking methods, e.g. distributed locking or locking implementation details
• 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: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment

Abstract

The objects of an on object set may be synchronized across many clients (e.g., various devices may synchronize files of a mirrored filesystem). However, the synchronization of an object may be complicated, and an object may not yet be synchronized in the object set of a client for many reasons, such as an incomplete reception of the object, an unavailability of the object from currently reachable hosts, and a versioning conflict with a different version of the same object in the object set. In order to inform a user of the availability of an object in the object set, an analysis of the availability status of the object may be performed (e.g., by tracking metadata stored in object descriptors of respective objects of the object set, and later examining the metadata of respective objects), and a selected availability status may be presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method performed on a client device interconnected to one or more additional client devices via a computer network, the client device having a synchronization service operable to synchronize multiple objects in an object set with corresponding object sets on the additional client devices via the computer network, the method comprising:

receiving, via the computer network, a notification that a new object for the object set is created on another client device;

in response to receiving the notification, creating an object descriptor associated with a local copy of the new object referenced in the received notification and storing the created object descriptor in a memory on the client device, the object descriptor containing information regarding a synchronization state of the local copy of the created new object in the object set;

performing synchronization of the created new object with the another client device via the computer network using the synchronization service on the client device; and

during synchronization with the another client device,

monitoring for a status change of the local copy of the created new object on the client device with respect to a progress of the synchronization of the created new object; and

upon detecting a status change, updating a value of the object descriptor in the memory of the client device with the detected status change of the local copy of the created new object on the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein performing synchronization of the created new object includes:

transmitting, via the computer network, a request for a copy of the created new object to the another client device; and

receiving, via the computer network, a copy of the created new object from the another client device transmitted in response to the request.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring for a status change includes:

during synchronization with the another client device,

determining whether the local copy of the created new object exists in the object set; and

in response to determining that the local copy of the created new object exists in the object set, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that the local copy of the created new object is available on the client device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring for a status change includes:

during synchronization with the another client device,

determining whether a portion of the created new object has been received at the client device; and

in response to determining that a portion of the created new object has been received at the client device, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that a copy of the created new object is currently being received.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring for a status change includes:

during synchronization with the another client device,

determining whether a copy of the created new object has been received at the client device but has not been relocated to the object set on the client device; and

in response to determining that a copy of the created new object has been received at the client device but has not been relocated to the object set on the client device, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that a copy of the created new object is currently being relocated to the object set as the local copy of the created new object.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring for a status change includes:

during synchronization with the another client device,

determining whether a copy of the created new object has been received at the client device;

in response to determining that a copy of the created new object has been received at the client device, determining whether a version conflict exists between the received copy of the created new object and another object in the object set; and

in response to determining that a version conflict exists between the received copy of the created new object and the another object in the object set, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that the received copy of the created new object is currently locked due to the version conflict.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user request for a synchronization status of the local copy of the created new object; and

in response to receiving the user request, presenting, on a output component of the client device, a current value of the object descriptor associated with the local copy of the created new object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user request for a synchronization status of the local copy of the created new object;

in response to receiving the user request, presenting, on a output component of the client device, a current value of the object descriptor associated with the local copy of the created new object, the current value indicating a version conflict associated with the created new object; and

receiving, via an input component of the client device, a user input to resolve the version conflict associated with the created new object.

16. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising;

receiving a user request for a synchronization status of the local copy of the object;

in response to receiving the user request, presenting, on a output component of the computing device, a current value of the object descriptor associated with the local copy of the object, the current value indicating a version conflict associated with the object; and

receiving, via an input component of the computing device, a user input to resolve the version conflict associated with the object.

9. A computing device interconnected to one or more additional computing devices via a computer network, the computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory containing a local object set synchronized with remote object sets on the one or more additional computing devices, the memory also containing instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to perform a process including;

receiving, via the computer network, a notification that an object is created in a remote object set on another computing device;

in response to receiving the notification, creating an object descriptor associated with a local copy of the object referenced in the received notification and storing the created object descriptor in the memory, the object descriptor containing data representing a synchronization state of the local copy of the object in the local object set; and

during synchronization of the object with the another computing device,

monitoring for a synchronization status change of the local copy of the object in the local object set on the client device with respect to a progress of the synchronization of the object; and

upon detecting a synchronization status change, updating a value of the object descriptor in the memory of the client device with the detected status change of the local copy of the object in the local object set on the client device.

10. The computing device of claim 9 wherein synchronization of the object with the another computing device includes:

transmitting, via the computer network, a request for a copy of the created object to the another computing device; and

receiving, via the computer network, a copy of the created object from the another computing device transmitted in response to the request.

11. The computing device of claim 9 wherein monitoring for a synchronization status change includes:

during the synchronization with the another computing device,

determining whether the local copy of the object exists in the local object set; and

in response to determining that the local copy of the object exists in the local object set, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that the local copy of the object is available for access on the computing device.

12. The computing device of claim 9 wherein monitoring for a synchronization status change includes:

during the synchronization with the another computing device,

determining whether a portion of the object has been received at the computing device; and

in response to determining that a portion of the object has been received at the computing device, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that a copy of the object is currently being received.

13. The computing device of claim 9 wherein monitoring for a synchronization status change includes:

during the synchronization with the another computing device,

determining whether a copy of the object has been received at the computing device but has not been relocated to the local object set on the computing device; and

in response to determining that a copy of the object has been received at the computing device but has not been relocated to the local object set on the computing device, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that a copy of the object is currently being relocated to the local object set as the local copy of the object.

14. The computing device of claim 9 wherein monitoring for a synchronization status change includes:

during the synchronization with the another computing device,

determining whether a copy of the object has been received at the computing device;

in response to determining that a copy of the object has been received at the computing device, determining whether a version conflict exists between the received copy of the object and another object in the local object set; and

in response to determining that a version conflict exists between the received copy of the object and the another object in the local object set, updating the value of the object descriptor to a new value indicating that the received copy of the object is currently locked due to the version conflict.

15. The computing device of claim 9 wherein the process performed by the processor further includes:

receiving a user request for a synchronization status of the local copy of the object; and

in response to receiving the user request, presenting, on a output component of the computing device, a current value of the object descriptor associated with the local copy of the object.

17. A method performed on a client device interconnected to one or more other client devices via a computer network, the client device having a synchronization service operable to synchronize multiple objects in a local object set with corresponding objects in the other client devices via the computer network, the method comprising:

receiving, via the computer network, a notification that an object is created in a remote object set on another client device;

in response to receiving the notification, creating an object descriptor associated with a local copy of the object and storing the created object descriptor in a memory on the client device, the object descriptor containing data representing a synchronization state of the local copy of the object in the local object set; and

during synchronization of the local object set with the remote object set on the another client device,

detecting a status change of the local copy of the object on the client device with respect to a progress of the synchronization of the local object set with the remote object set; and

updating a value of the object descriptor in the memory of the client device with the detected status change of the local copy of the object on the client device.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting a status change of the local copy of the object includes:

determining whether a copy of the object is available in the another client device; and

in response to determining that a copy of the object is not available on the another client device, updating the value of the object descriptor in the memory of the client device with a new value indicating that the object is lost.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting a status change of the local copy of the object includes:

determining whether the another client device is reachable on the computer network; and

in response to determining that the another client device is not reachable on the computer network, updating the value of the object descriptor in the memory of the client device with a new value indicating that a connection issue exists for synchronization of the local object set with the remote object set on the another client device.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein:

synchronization of the local object set with the remote object set on the another client device includes transmitting, via the computer network, a request for a copy of the object from the another client device; and

detecting a status change of the local copy of the object includes;

subsequent to creating and storing the object descriptor, updating the value of the object descriptor in the memory of the client device with a new value indicating the object is being searched; and

subsequent to transmitting the request for a copy of the object from the another client device, updating the value of the object descriptor indicating the object is being searched with another new value indicating the object is being requested.