METHOD FOR SYNCHRONIZING AND UPDATING BOOKMARKS ON MULTIPLE COMPUTER DEVICES

• US 20070136305A1
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Elliott, Mark, Kelley, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 7,711,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management

Abstract

Multiple computer devices are networked, and one device is designated as a bookmark server. The bookmark server stores and maintains a master bookmark database that is available to all the networked devices. Each bookmark in the bookmark database includes a bookmark time stamp. If a bookmark is added, deleted or changed at any device, then a transaction request is sent to the bookmark server. The transaction request includes a transaction time stamp indicating the time that the transaction request was created. The bookmark server analyzes the transaction requests according to the time stamps. If multiple transaction requests are received for a single bookmark, then only the most recent transaction request is honored and other transaction requests related to the bookmark are ignored. Also, a transaction request is ignored if the transaction time stamp is older than the corresponding bookmark time stamp.

Claims

1. A method for storing bookmarks among a plurality of networked computer devices, comprising the steps of:

a) designating one of the plurality of computer devices as a bookmark server;

b) storing on the bookmark server a master bookmark database, wherein the master bookmark database includes bookmarks with each bookmark having a URL and a bookmark time stamp;

c) receiving at the bookmark server a transaction request to delete or change an existing bookmark, or add a new bookmark to the master bookmark database, wherein the transaction request includes a transaction time stamp indicating a time the transaction request was created at one of the networked computer devices;

d) comparing the transaction time stamp with the corresponding bookmark time stamp, and ignoring the transaction request if the transaction time stamp is older than the corresponding bookmark time stamp;

e) if multiple transaction requests are received for a single bookmark, then comparing time stamps of the multiple transaction requests, and ignoring all but the single most recent transaction request for each bookmark; and

f) updating the master bookmark database according to non-ignored transaction requests.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the master bookmark database identifies the computer device that created the most recent transaction request for each bookmark.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the master bookmark database from the bookmark server to at least one of the networked computer devices after step (f).

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing overwritten bookmark time stamps.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, if multiple transaction requests are received for a single bookmark, then deleting all but the single most recent transaction request for the single bookmark.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating step can be triggered manually.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating step is performed every time at least one transaction request is received by the bookmark server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, after step (c), transaction requests are stored in a transaction queue until step (d), (e), or (f).

9. A computer device for maintaining and providing a master bookmark database to other networked computer devices, comprising:

a) a computer readable memory device storing the master bookmark database, wherein the master bookmark database includes bookmarks with each bookmark having a URL and a bookmark time stamp;

b) software instructions stored in the memory device for;

1) receiving at the bookmark server a transaction request to delete or change an existing bookmark, or add a new bookmark to the master bookmark database, wherein the transaction request includes a transaction time stamp indicating a time the transaction request was created at one of the networked computer devices;

2) comparing the transaction time stamp with the corresponding bookmark time stamp, and ignoring the transaction request if the transaction time stamp is older than the corresponding bookmark time stamp;

3) if multiple transaction requests are received for a single bookmark, then comparing time stamps of the multiple transaction requests, and ignoring all but the single most recent transaction request for each bookmark;

4) updating the master bookmark database according to non-ignored transaction requests;

c) a processor device for implementing the software instructions.

10. The computer device of claim 9, wherein the software instructions stored in the memory device include instructions for transmitting the master bookmark database from the bookmark server to at least one of the networked computer devices after instruction (4).

11. A method for storing bookmarks among a plurality of networked computer devices, comprising the steps of:

a) designating one of the plurality of computer devices as a bookmark server;

b) storing on the bookmark server a master bookmark database, wherein the master bookmark database includes bookmarks with each bookmark having a URL and a bookmark time stamp;

c) receiving at the bookmark server a transaction request to delete or change an existing bookmark, or add a new bookmark to the master bookmark database, wherein the transaction request includes a transaction time stamp indicating a time the transaction request was created at one of the networked computer devices;

d) comparing the transaction time stamp with the corresponding bookmark time stamp, and ignoring the transaction request if the transaction time stamp is older than the corresponding bookmark time stamp;

e) if multiple transaction requests are received for a single bookmark, then comparing time stamps of the multiple transaction requests, and ignoring all but the single most recent transaction request for each bookmark;

f) updating the master bookmark database according to non-ignored transaction requests; and

g) after step (f), transmitting the master bookmark database from the bookmark server to at least one of the networked computer devices.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the master bookmark database identifies the computer device that created the most recent transaction request for each bookmark.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of storing overwritten bookmark time stamps.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein, if multiple transaction requests are received for a single bookmark, then deleting all but the single most recent transaction request for the single bookmark.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the updating step can be triggered manually.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the updating step is performed every time at least one transaction request is received by the bookmark server.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein, after step (c), transaction requests are stored in a transaction queue until step (d), (e), or (f).