Synchronizing multiple classes with disparate schemas in the same collection

• US 10,042,858 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2015
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Esteve Balducci, Juan V., Atwood, John Allen, Neely, Samuel, Resnick, Kevin, Dragomir, Adrian, Bolles, Gregory A., Chen, Katy Chia-wen
• Primary Examiner(s): Shmatov, Alexey
• Application Number:
  US14/755,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20150302023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,134 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

The embodiments described herein generally relate to a method and system for synchronizing multiple classes with disparate schemas in a single collection through the use of the same synchronization request and/or synchronization key. A collection of different types of items may be synchronized while using the unique schema for each class. Further, different synchronization options, e.g., filtering, truncation, and body settings, may be applied to each class. In a synchronization request, an option block within a synchronization command notifies the server to synchronize the class specified in the option block. The option block may also specify the options, or settings, if any, to apply to the class. Multiple option blocks may be included in the synchronization command to specify the synchronization of multiple classes. Where multiple classes are specified, the server responds with the synchronized items of all such classes while maintaining each class'"'"'s unique schema.

Claims

1. A system for synchronizing a plurality of classes of user communication items, comprising:

a processor;

a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the memory storing a schema for each class of a plurality of classes of items, the memory further storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the system to perform a method of synchronizing a plurality of classes, the method comprising;

receiving from a mobile device a request including a selection of a folder to synchronize from among a plurality of folders each containing a plurality of items, wherein the folder comprises a logical collection of data presented to a user as a single collection of items separate from items belonging to other folders of the plurality of folders, the folder including the plurality of classes of items, the request comprising an XML message including an identification of the folder and at least one option block including synchronization options;

maintaining a schema for each class within the selected folder, wherein each schema is unique to its class such that a first class has a first schema and a second class has a second schema different from the first schema;

receiving from the mobile device a selection of the first class and the second class within the selected folder to synchronize, the first class and the second class being identified in the at least one option block;

receiving from the mobile device a selection of a first option to apply to the selected first class and a second option to apply to the selected second class, wherein the first option and the second option specify synchronization settings to apply to the first class and the second class respectively, and wherein the first option specifies different synchronization settings than the second option, the first option and the second option being included in the at least one option block and specific to the first and second schemas, the at least one option block being included within a set of synchronization settings for the selected folder within the XML message; and

responding with items for synchronization at the mobile device by applying the first option to items within the selected folder belonging to the selected first class and applying the second option to items within the selected folder belonging to the second selected class.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a server computing system, wherein the server computing system includes the processor and memory.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first class comprises an email class and the second class comprises a calendar class.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first option comprises a first body type preference and the second option comprises a second body type preference, different from the first body type preference.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the responding with the items comprises:

responding with new items and modified items; and

maintaining the unique schema of each class of items synchronized.

6. A system for synchronizing a plurality of classes of user communication items, comprising:

a processor;

a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the system to perform a method of synchronizing a plurality of classes, the method comprising;

transmitting to a server a selection of a folder to synchronize from among a plurality of folders each containing a plurality of items in a synchronization request, wherein the folder comprises a logical collection of data presented to a user as a single collection of items separate from items belonging to other folders of the plurality of folders, the folder including the plurality of classes of items, each class of the plurality of classes has an associated schema, and wherein each schema is unique to its class such that a first class has a first schema and a second class has a second schema different from the first schema;

transmitting to the server a selection of the first class and the second class within the selected folder to synchronize as part of at least one option block included in the synchronization request;

transmitting to the server a selection of a first option to apply to the selected first class and a second option to apply to the selected second class, wherein the first option and the second option specify synchronization settings to apply to the first class and the second class respectively, and wherein the first option specifies different synchronization settings than the second option, the first option and the second option being included in the at least one option block and specific to the first and second schemas, the at least one option block being included within a set of synchronization settings for the selected folder within the XML message; and

receiving items for synchronization based on application of the first option to items within the selected folder belonging to the selected first class and applying the second option to items within the selected folder belonging to the second selected class.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first option comprises a first body type preference and the second option comprises a second body type preference, different from the first body type preference.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein receiving items for synchronization includes receiving a first item having a first body type according to the first body type preference and a second item having a second body type according to a second body type preference.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first body preference type and the second body preference type are selected from among an HTML body type and a rich text format body type.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first class comprises an email class and the second class comprises a calendar class.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor and memory are included in a mobile device communicatively connected to the server.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the selection of the folder to synchronize comprises a collection identifier.

13. A method of synchronizing a plurality of classes of user communication items, comprising:

receiving from a mobile device a request including a selection of a folder to synchronize from among a plurality of folders each containing a plurality of items, wherein the folder comprises a logical collection of data presented to a user as a single collection of items separate from items belonging to other folders of the plurality of folders, the folder including a plurality of classes of items, the request comprising an XML message including an identification of the folder and at least one option block including synchronization options;

maintaining a schema for each class within the selected folder, wherein each schema is unique to its class such that a first class has a first schema and a second class has a second schema different from the first schema;

receiving from the mobile device a selection of the first class and the second class within the selected folder to synchronize, the first class and the second class being identified in the at least one option block;

receiving from the mobile device a selection of a first option to apply to the selected first class and a second option to apply to the selected second class, wherein the first option and the second option specify synchronization settings to apply to the first class and the second class respectively, and wherein the first option specifies different synchronization settings than the second option, the first option and the second option being included in the at least one option block and specific to the first and second schemas, the at least one option block being included within a set of synchronization settings for the selected folder within the XML message; and

responding with items for synchronization at the mobile device by applying the first option to items within the selected folder belonging to the selected first class and applying the second option to items within the selected folder belonging to the second selected class.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first option comprises a first body type preference and the second option comprises a second body type preference, different from the first body type preference.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first class comprises an email class and the second class comprises a calendar class.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the responding with the items comprises:

responding with new items and modified items; and

maintaining the unique schema of each class of items synchronized.