Declarative synchronization of shared data

• US 20130166507A1
• Filed: 04/21/2006
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Staczek, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 9,898,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/625
• 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: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer systems and program products, related to declarative synchronization of shared data. One method includes receiving one or more changes to data maintained by one of multiple computer programs having respective local copies of the data, identifying an event characterizing synchronization of the data maintained by the computer program with the other computer programs (e.g., with a local copy managed by the other computer program), and initiating synchronization of the changes with one of the other programs having respective local copies (e.g., with the local copy managed by the other program) in response to the event occurring. The event can be characterized by an annotation. Identifying an event can include reading a property of a data object (e.g., in a data object graph of shared data).

Claims

1. A machine-readable device, tangibly embodying a computer program product configured to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving one or more changes to a copy of data maintained by a computer program being one of a plurality of computer programs having respective local copies of the data;

identifying an event characterizing synchronization of the copy maintained by the computer program with one or more of the plurality of computer programs, the event characterized by an annotation associated with the data; and

initiating synchronization of the changes with one or more of the plurality of computer programs having the respective local copies in response to the event occurring.

2. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

reading a property of a data object that identifies the event at which synchronization of the data object is to be initiated.

3. The machine-readable device of claim 2, wherein the data object comprises byte code executable in a runtime system in conformance with a JAVA standard for runtime systems.

4. The machine-readable device of claim 2, wherein the property of the data object comprises a result of compilation of the annotation associated with the data.

5. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein a schema of the data and the associated annotation is written in accordance with a tree-structured format and a compiler is used to generate a runtime representation of the data in accordance with the schema.

6. The machine-readable device of claim 5, wherein the tree-structured format specifies that annotations are to be written for a granularity of one or more nodes of a tree and annotations of a node apply to nodes in the tree nested within the node.

7. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the initiating synchronization of the changes comprises:

buffering the changes in an outgoing queue of changes at a client system where the computer program resides.

8. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

committing the changes to a server system from a client system where the computer program resides.

9. The machine-readable device of claim 8, wherein the committing the changes to a server system comprises:

committing the changes in response to a request from the server system to receive changes queued by the client system.

10. The machine-readable device of claim 8, wherein the committing the changes to a server system comprises:

committing the changes as a result of a push of the changes to the server system from the client system.

11. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

a first buffering of the changes at the computer program such that the changes are unavailable for being committed to a server system prior to the initiating synchronization of the changes; and

, wherein the initiating synchronization of the changes comprises a second buffering of the changes at the computer program such that the changes are available for being committed to the server system.

12. The machine-readable device of claim 11, wherein the first buffering of the changes at the computer program comprises:

marking an object graph to indicate which of one or more data objects correspond to the changes.

13. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated at an end of an interval of time if further changes fail to be detected before the end of the interval.

14. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if the changes are detected at an end of an interval of time.

15. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if the changes are to be synchronized immediately.

16. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if focus of a user interface element is changed.

17. The machine-readable device of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be postponed until an associated node defined as a master is changed.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving one or more changes to a copy of data maintained by a computer program being one of a plurality of computer programs having respective local copies of the data;

identifying an event characterizing synchronization of the copy maintained by the computer program with one or more of the plurality of computer programs, the event characterized by an annotation associated with the data; and

initiating synchronization of the changes with one or more of the plurality of computer programs having the respective local copies in response to the event occurring.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the identifying comprises:

reading a property of a data object that identifies the event at which synchronization of the data object is to be initiated.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the initiating comprises:

buffering the changes in an outgoing queue of changes at a client system where the computer program resides.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

committing the changes to a server system from a client system where the computer program resides.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the committing the changes to a server system occurs in response to a request from the server system to receive changes queued by the client.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

a first buffering of the changes at the computer program such that the changes are unavailable for being committed to a server system prior to initiating synchronization of the changes; and

, wherein the initiating synchronization of the changes comprises a second buffering of the changes at the computer program such that the changes are available for being committed to the server system.

32. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

representing a schema of the data and the associated annotation in accordance with a tree-structured format; and

using a compiler to generate a runtime representation of the data in accordance with the schema.

33. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated at an end of an interval of time if further changes fail to be detected before the end of the interval.

34. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if the changes are detected at an end of an interval of time.

35. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if the changes are to be synchronized immediately.

36. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if focus of a user interface element is changed.

37. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be postponed until an associated node defined as a master is changed.

24-31. -31. (canceled)

38. A system comprising:

a storage component storing a copy of data; and

a computing device hosting a computer program that maintains the copy of data, the computing device including one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving one or more changes to the copy of data, the computer program being one of a plurality of computer programs having respective local copies of the data;

identifying an event characterizing synchronization of the copy of data maintained by the computer program with one or more of the plurality of computer programs, the event characterized by an annotation associated with the copy of data; and

initiating synchronization of the changes with one or more of the plurality of computer programs having the respective local copies in response to the event occurring.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

reading a property of a data object that identifies the event at which synchronization of the data object is to be initiated.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

buffering the changes in an outgoing queue of changes at the computing device.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

committing the changes to a server system from the computing device hosting the computer program.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

committing the changes to the server system in response to a request from the server system to receive changes queued by the computing device.

43. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

a first buffering of the changes at the computer program such that the changes are unavailable for being committed to a server system prior to initiating synchronization of the changes; and

, wherein the initiating synchronization of the changes comprises a second buffering of the changes at the computer program such that the changes are available for being committed to the server system.

44. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

representing a schema of the data and the associated annotation in accordance with a tree-structured format; and

using a compiler to generate a runtime representation of the data in accordance with the schema.

45. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated at an end of an interval of time if further changes fail to be detected before the end of the interval.

46. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if the changes are detected at an end of an interval of time.

47. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if the changes are to be synchronized immediately.

48. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be initiated if focus of a user interface element is changed.

49. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising:

identifying that synchronization of the changes is to be postponed until an associated node defined as a master is changed.

50. A machine-readable device, tangibly embodying a computer program product configured to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving one or more changes to a copy of data maintained by a computer program being one of a plurality of computer programs having respective local copies of the data;

identifying an event characterizing synchronization of the copy maintained by the computer program with one or more of the plurality of computer programs, the event characterized by an annotation associated with the data;

buffering the one or more changes at the computer program, including marking an object graph to indicate which of one or more data objects correspond to the one or more changes; and

initiating synchronization of the buffered one or more changes with one or more of the plurality of computer programs having the respective local copies in response to the event occurring.