Persistent storage file change tracking

• US 20060277223A1
• Filed: 06/03/2005
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Anoop, Stelzel, William E., Hall, Gary William, Tran, Anh Phuong
• Granted Patent: US 7,657,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

Systems and methodologies that facilitate synchronization of a mobile device with a source, via employing a file change tracking database table created in non-volatile memory to designate files for synchronization. The subject invention includes a file modification logger that detects and track changes to files across multiple file systems. The file change tracking database table has a plurality of columns such as: a unique identification column that identifies a file, a file name, previous time the file was changed, and previous time the file was synchronized with a particular machine. A list of files that have changed between a current time and an earlier time can be designated for synchronization, by evaluating when was the file last changed and/or synchronized with a source device (e.g., a desktop, lap top and the like.)

Claims

1. A system that facilitates synchronization between a mobile device and a source comprising:

a file change tracking database table as part of a non-volatile storage medium, the file change tracking database table employs attributes of filing system(s) to select files for synchronization; and

a file modification logger that interacts with an operating system (OS), to supply information about modified files to the file change tracking data base.

2. The system of claim 1, the file change tracking data base table includes a column that contains unique identification for a file to be synchronized.

3. The system of claim 2, the file change tracking database table includes a column that contains a time the file was last modified.

4. The system of claim 3, the file change tracking database table includes a column that contains a previous time the file was synchronized with a first source.

5. The system of claim 4, the file change tracking database table includes a column that contains a previous time the file was synchronized with a second source.

6. The system of claim 4, the file change tracking database table indicates a value of “

1”

for a previous time the file was changed and a value of “

0”

for the previous time the file was synchronized with the first source.

7. The system of claim 1, the file change tracking data base table operatively connected to an artificial intelligence component.

8. A method of synchronizing a mobile device with a source, comprising:

creating a file change tracking database table as part of a non-volatile storage medium; and

employing attributes of a filing system to select files from the file change tracking database table for synchronization.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising indicating a last time a file was modified in the file change tracking database table.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising indicating a last time the file was synchronized with a source.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising comparing a last time the file was synchronized with the last time the file was modified.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising synchronizing the file with the source based on the comparing act.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising updating the file change tracking database table upon completion of synchronization.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising rolling back to an earlier state of the file.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising synchronizing the mobile device with another source by comparing a last time the file was synchronized with the another source, and a last time the file was synchronized with the another source.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising synchronizing back with the source.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising identifying a file as a new file to the table, if an associated path does not appear in the file change tracking database table.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising assigning a new ID to the new file for an addition to the file change tracking database table.

19. The method of claim 13 further comprising designating a file as deleted when a file system scan fails to show the file that appears in the file change tracking database table.

20. A system that facilitates synchronization between a mobile device and a source comprising:

means for selecting files for synchronization as part of a non-volatile storage medium, and

means for supplying information about modified files to the means for selecting files.