Synchronization of web service endpoints in a multi-master synchronization environment

• US 9,648,101 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Clark, Michael Ray, Khosravy, Moe, Lee, Oliver C., Novik, Lev
• Primary Examiner(s): ALGIBHAH, HAMZA N
• Application Number:
  US14/668,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20150201014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 776 Days
• Field of Search: 709248
• 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: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A Web service synchronization protocol is provided that sets forth the metadata and messaging by which endpoints roam, share and synchronize common information with one another in a multi-master networked computing ecosystem. A general SOAP-based protocol is defined for synchronizing data between two endpoints where one or more of the endpoints supports a Web service. Defining messaging for knowledge-based transfers using XML Web services, the protocol allows devices, services and applications to synchronize through firewalls, allows for flexibility by allowing any common set or subset of information across endpoints and allows for extensibility by not prescribing the schema of the actual data being synchronized at the endpoints.

Claims

1. A method for data synchronization between a plurality of nodes communicatively coupled via one or more networks, comprising:

transmitting a ping from an originating node to a different node independent from data to be synchronized;

subsequent to transmitting the ping and based on a determination obtained in response to the ping that one or more updates to knowledge maintained by the different node have occurred subsequent to a previous synchronization, transmitting knowledge to be synchronized from the originating node to the different node, the knowledge to be synchronized being transmitted subsequent to the ping and in a separate transmission from the ping, the knowledge including a label for each object in the knowledge to be synchronized and version information for each object in the knowledge to be synchronized;

receiving the knowledge maintained by the different node in response to the transmission of the knowledge from the originating node, the knowledge maintained by the different node including a label for each object in the knowledge maintained by the different node and version information for each object in the knowledge maintained by the different node, the knowledge maintained by the different node being received with one or more changes related to one or more objects in the knowledge maintained by the different node;

performing a comparison of a scope of the knowledge maintained by the originating node with a scope of the knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the knowledge maintained by the originating node with the knowledge maintained by the different mode.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ascertaining that the scope of the knowledge maintained by the originating node has a same scope as the knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the knowledge maintained by the originating node according to knowledge maintained by the originating node and knowledge maintained by the different node.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ascertaining that the scope of the knowledge maintained by the originating node has a different scope as the knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the knowledge maintained by the originating node according to knowledge maintained by the originating node and knowledge maintained by the different node as projected onto an intersection of the knowledge maintained by the originating node and the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising propagating the knowledge maintained by the different node to a subsequent node via the originating node.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the propagating is performed while the originating node is connected to the different node.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the propagating is performed while the subsequent node is not connected to the different node.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the propagating comprises defining messaging for knowledge-based transfers using extensible markup language (XML) Web services.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronizing is performed by at least comparing versioning of one or more objects identified in the received knowledge from the different node with versioning of the one or more objects that are also identified from the knowledge of the originating node, the synchronizing further including determining a conflict exists for the one or more objects when both the originating node and the different node made changes to a same version of the one or more objects and storing the knowledge from the different node and the originating node corresponding to the one or more objects which are associated with the determined conflict for a subsequent conflict resolution.

9. A system configured to synchronize data between a plurality of nodes communicatively coupled via one or more networks, comprising:

at least one processor;

a transmitting component configured to transmit a request associated with synchronizing filtered knowledge maintained by an originating node with filtered knowledge maintained by a different node, wherein the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node corresponds to a subset of knowledge maintained by the originating node, and wherein the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node corresponds to a subset of knowledge maintained by the different node, the transmitting component also being configured to transmit a ping from the originating node to a different node independent from data to be synchronized;

a receiving component configured to receive the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node in response to the request;

a synchronization component configured to synchronize the knowledge maintained by the originating node with the knowledge maintained by the different mode based on a comparison of a scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node with a scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node by at least comparing versioning of one or more objects identified in the received knowledge from the different node with versioning of the one or more objects that are also identified from the knowledge of the originating node; and

one or more storage media having stored computer-executable instructions which are executable by the at least one processor to implement a method that includes;

transmitting the ping;

subsequent to transmitting the ping and based on a determination obtained in response to the ping that one or more updates to the knowledge maintained by the different node have occurred subsequent to a previous synchronization, transmitting the knowledge to be synchronized from the originating node to the different node, the knowledge to be synchronized being transmitted subsequent to the ping and in a separate transmission from the ping;

receiving the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node in response to the transmission of the filtered knowledge from the originating node, the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node including a label for each object in the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node and version information for each object in the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node, the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node being received with one or more changes related to one or more objects in the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node;

performing the comparison of the scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node with the scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node with the filtered knowledge maintained by the different mode.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization component is further configured to:

ascertain that the scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node has a same scope as the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronize the knowledge maintained by the originating node according to knowledge maintained by the originating node and knowledge maintained by the different node.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization component is further configured to:

ascertain that the scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node has a different scope as the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronize the knowledge maintained by the originating node according to knowledge maintained by the originating node and knowledge maintained by the different node as projected onto an intersection of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node and the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization component is configured to propagate the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node to a subsequent node via the originating node.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization component is configured to define messaging for knowledge-based transfers using extensible markup language (XML) Web services.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving component is configured to accrue collective knowledge, and wherein the collective knowledge is node-independent synchronization knowledge.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node or the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node includes a version representation of data.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the synchronization component synchronizes the knowledge maintained by the originating node with the knowledge maintained by the different mode by at least comparing versioning of one or more objects identified in the received knowledge from the different node with versioning of the one or more objects that are also identified from the knowledge of the originating node, the synchronizing further including determining a conflict exists for the one or more objects when both the originating node and the different node made changes to a same version of the one or more objects and storing the knowledge from the different node and the originating node corresponding to the one or more objects which are associated with the determined conflict for a subsequent conflict resolution.

17. One or more hardware storage device storing computer-readable instructions which are executable by one or more processor of a computing system for causing the one or more processor to execute the following acts:

transmitting a ping from an originating node to a different node independent from data to be synchronized;

subsequent to transmitting the ping and based on a determination obtained in response to the ping that one or more updates to knowledge maintained by the different node have occurred subsequent to a previous synchronization, transmitting knowledge to be synchronized from the originating node to the different node, the knowledge to be synchronized being transmitted subsequent to the ping and in a separate transmission from the ping, the knowledge including a label for each object in the knowledge to be synchronized and version information for each object in the knowledge to be synchronized;

receiving the knowledge maintained by the different node in response to the transmission of the knowledge from the originating node, the knowledge maintained h the different node including a label for each object in the knowledge maintained by the different node and version information for each object in the knowledge maintained by the different node, the knowledge maintained by the different node being received with one or more changes related to one or more objects in the knowledge maintained by the different node;

performing a comparison of a scope of the knowledge maintained by the originating node with a scope of the knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the knowledge maintained by the originating node with the knowledge maintained by the different mode.

18. The one or more hardware storage device of claim 17, wherein the acts further comprise:

ascertaining that the scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node has a same scope as the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the knowledge maintained by the originating node according to knowledge maintained by the originating node and knowledge maintained by the different node.

19. The one or more hardware storage device of claim 17, wherein the acts further comprise:

ascertaining that the scope of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node has a different scope as the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node; and

synchronizing the knowledge maintained by the originating node according to knowledge maintained by the originating node and knowledge maintained by the different node as projected onto an intersection of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node and the knowledge maintained by the different node.

20. The one or more hardware storage device of claim 17, wherein the acts further comprise propagating the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node to a subsequent node via the originating node.

21. The one or more hardware storage device of claim 20, wherein the acts further comprise comparing the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node with filtered knowledge maintained by the subsequent node to determine what changes to propagate to the subsequent node of which the subsequent node is unaware.

22. The one or more hardware storage device of claim 17, wherein at least one of the filtered knowledge maintained by the originating node or the filtered knowledge maintained by the different node includes a version representation of data.

23. The one or more hardware storage device of claim 17, wherein the synchronizing is performed by at least comparing versioning of one or more objects identified in the received knowledge from the different node with versioning of the one or more objects that are also identified from the knowledge of the originating node, the synchronizing further including determining a conflict exists for the one or more objects when both the originating node and the different node made changes to a same version of the one or more objects and storing the knowledge from the different node and the originating node corresponding to the one or more objects which are associated with the determined conflict for a subsequent conflict resolution.