Trickle sync protocol

• US 8,112,537 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Guenther, Carsten, McCarthy, Brendan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Philip B
• Application Number:
  US12/240,538
• Publication Number:
  US 20100082732A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/230, 709217-219, 709223-224, 709/248
• US Class Current: 709/230
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

Among other things, techniques and systems are disclosed for providing trickle syncing. In one aspect, a system includes a data repository to store one or more data records and a server in communication with the data repository. The server is designed to access the data repository in response to a user request to perform at least one of the following: access the one or more data records, add a data record, and modify the one or more data records. The system also includes a client application in communication with the server. The client application is designed to receive the user request through a client process; encapsulate a protocol that provides communications between the client process and the server; and forward the received user request to the server using the encapsulated protocol.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a data repository configured to store one or more data records;

a server in communication with the data repository, wherein the server is configured to access the data repository in response to a synchronization request to perform at least one of the following;

access the one or more data records,

add the one or more data records, and

modify the one or more data records; and

a client application comprising a protocol library in communication with the server, the client application configured to;

receive the synchronization request through a client process,

encapsulate the synchronization request using a representational state transfer (REST) protocol that provides communications between the client process and the server,

forward the encapsulated synchronization request to the server using the REST protocol, and

determine whether the data records in the data repository has been changed by another client process and update a stored cache based on a result of the determination.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application comprises a Java application.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application is embedded within the client process.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application is configured to operate as a server-side process.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application is configured to receive the synchronization request through the client process that comprises a web browser.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein encapsulating the synchronization request enables the client process to communicate with the server without knowledge of details of the protocol.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein encapsulating the synchronization request enables the server to identify the client process as a trusted client, wherein the server assumes correctness of data provided by the trusted client.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to, in response to the forwarded request,

access the data repository;

obtain data identified in the forwarded request from the one or more data records; and

forward the obtained data identified in the forwarded request in a reply message to the client application.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the client application comprises a cache to temporarily store the data received in the reply message from the server.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the client application is configured to:

receive another request through the client process;

detect whether the temporarily stored data is valid; and

access the temporarily stored data instead of forwarding the received other request to the server when detecting that the temporarily stored data is valid.

11. A method comprising:

at a data processing apparatus, performing the following;

receiving, from a client process, a request to perform a synchronization operation comprising at least one of the following;

access one or more data records stored at a data repository,

add one or more data records to the data repository, and

modify one or more data records stored at the data repository;

encapsulating the received request using a representational state transfer (REST) protocol for communicating the received synchronization operation request to a server;

communicating the encapsulated received request to the server using the REST protocol to instruct the server to access the data repository to perform the requested synchronization operation; and

determining whether the data records in the data repository has been changed by another client process and updating a stored cache based on a result of the determination.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request at the data processing apparatus using a client application that comprises a Java application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the client application is embedded within a client process.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the data processing apparatus comprises another server.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the client application is embedded in a web browser.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the client application comprises a protocol library to encapsulate the protocol along with functionalities of the protocol.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein encapsulating the received request comprises encapsulating the protocol to guarantee correctness of data provided to the server.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

at the data processing apparatus, in response to communicating the encapsulated received request to the server, obtaining data identified in the encapsulated received request associated with the one or more data records stored in the data repository.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

temporarily storing the obtained data.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

at the data processing apparatus;

receiving another request;

detecting whether the temporarily stored data is valid; and

accessing the temporarily stored data instead of forwarding the received other request to the server when detecting that the temporarily stored data is valid.

21. A computer program product, embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request at a client application and through a client process to perform a synchronization operation comprising at least one of the following;

access one or more data records stored in a data repository,

add one or more data records to the data repository, and

modify the one or more data records stored in the data repository;

encapsulating the received request using a representational state transfer (REST) protocol for communicating the received request to a server;

communicating the encapsulated received request to the server using the REST protocol to instruct the server to access the data repository to perform the requested synchronization operation; and

determining whether the data records in the data repository has been changed by another client process and updating a stored cache based on a result of the determination.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to receive the request using a client application comprising a Java application.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to receive the request using the client application that is embedded within a client process.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus comprising another server to receive the request.

25. The computer program product of claim 22, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to receive the request using the client application embedded in a web browser.

26. The computer program product of claim 22, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to use the client application comprising a protocol library to encapsulate the protocol along with functionalities of the protocol.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to encapsulate the protocol to guarantee correctness of data provided to the server.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations, in response to communicating the encapsulated received request to the server, comprising:

obtaining data identified in the encapsulated received request associated with the one or more data records in the accessed data repository.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to temporarily store the obtained data.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to verify validity of the obtained data comprising:

receiving another request;

detecting whether the temporarily stored data is valid; and

accessing the temporarily stored data instead of forwarding the received other request to the server when detecting that the temporarily stored data is valid.