Personal information management data synchronization

• US 8,539,107 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spectrum Patents, Inc. (Brian Yates)
• Original Assignee: Rockliffe Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Henders, Michael, Fitzpatrick, Rory, Davies, John
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US13/531,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20120331178A1
• Time in Patent Office: 452 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/227, 709/230, 709/248, 709/219, 709/225, 709/228, 709/229, 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication

Abstract

A data management application that may be implemented in a mobile device to perform two-way synchronization of electronic messages and/or PIM data with a server device. The device may be a mobile device such as a mobile phone or Smartphone, as well as a personal digital assistant, notebook computer, or other mobile device communicating using any of several wireless protocols. PIM data may include PIM application objects or other data, including but not limited to calendar, contact, and task object data. The data management application may synchronize e-mail and PIM data on a client device with that of a server where the server and client utilize one or more different protocols.

Claims

1. A system for synchronizing data on a client device with data stored on a server, the system comprising:

a processor;

memory; and

an application stored in memory and executable by the processor to;

access a first data object stored on the client device and having a data format associated with the client device;

access a second data object stored on the server and having a second data format associated with the server;

map fields that correspond to the second data object stored on the server and the first data object stored on the client device as supported fields;

manage fields that do not correspond between the second data object stored on the server and the first data object stored on the client device as unsupported fields;

initiate an update request for updating the second data object stored on a server;

configure an update request object for transmission to the server; and

transmit the update request object with a data object that includes all fields in the second data object stored on the server, the update request maintaining the state of unsupported fields of the second data object stored on the server and updating the state of supported fields of the second data object stored on the server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first data object and the second data object are personal information management data objects for a user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is further executable by the processor to access a server identifier corresponding to a client identifier, and the update request transmitted to the server is associated with the server identifier.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is further executable by the processor to perform a hash on a set of data objects stored at the client device to determine changes to the set of data objects, and wherein the update request is generated based on the hash.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first data object includes fewer fields than the second data object.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the update request for the second data object includes fields stored at the client and excluded from the first data object.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is further executable by the processor to modify a queue of update requests to transmit to the server based on the number of messages in the queue.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein modifying the queue includes removing update requests based on an index for each update request.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is further executable by the processor to detect that an incomplete data object update occurred.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is further executable by the processor to match unique identifiers for client objects to unique identifiers for server objects.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the client device is a smart phone.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the application stored in memory and executable by the processor on the client device manages the state of the unsupported fields corresponding to one or more update requests by storing the unsupported fields in a separate location from the first data object stored on a client device and configuring an update request object for transmission by:

retrieving the unsupported fields corresponding to a particular update request from the separate location on the client device after an update request is initiated,

creating an update request object containing the unsupported fields corresponding to the particular update request, and

adding the supported fields corresponding to the particular update request to the corresponding update request object.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the application stored in memory and executable by the processor on the client device manages the state of the unsupported fields corresponding to one or more update requests by storing all of the fields in a separate location from the first data object stored on a client device and configuring an update request object for transmission by:

retrieving the all of the fields corresponding of the second data object to a particular update request from the separate location on the client device after an update request is initiated,

creating an update request object containing all of the fields corresponding to the particular update request, and

updating the supported fields corresponding to the particular update request to the corresponding update request object.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the application stored in memory and executable by the processor on the client device manages the state of the unsupported fields corresponding to one or more update requests and configuring an update request object for transmission by:

retrieving the second data object stored on a server associated with the server that corresponds to a particular update request and creating an update request object containing the second data object retrieved from the server after an update request is initiated, and

updating the supported fields corresponding to the particular update request with data from the corresponding first data object stored on the client device.

15. A method for synchronizing data on a client device with data stored on a server, the method comprising:

accessing a first data object stored on the client device having a first data format associated with the client device;

accessing a second data object stored on a server having a second data format associated with the server;

mapping fields from that correspond between the second data object stored on the server and the first data object with stored on the client device as supported fields;

managing fields that do not correspond between the second data object stored on the server and the first data object stored on the client device to as unsupported fields;

initiating an update request for updating the second data object stored on a server;

configuring an update request object for transmission to the server; and

transmitting the update request object with a data object that includes all fields in the second data object stored on the server, the update request maintaining the state of unsupported fields of the second data object stored on the server and updating the state of supported fields of the second data object stored on the server.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the client device manages the state of the unsupported fields corresponding to one or more update requests by storing the unsupported fields in a separate location from the first data object stored on a client device and configuring an update request object for transmission by:

retrieving the unsupported fields corresponding to a particular update request from the separate location on the client device after an update request is initiated,

creating an update request object containing the unsupported fields corresponding to the particular update, and

adding the supported fields corresponding to the particular update request to the corresponding update request object.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the client device managing the state of the unsupported fields corresponding to one or more update requests by storing all of the fields in a separate location from the first data object stored on a client device and configuring an update request object for transmission by:

retrieving the all of the fields corresponding of the second data object to a particular update request from the separate location on the client device after an update request is initiated,

creating an update request object containing all of the fields corresponding to the particular update request, and

updating the supported fields corresponding to the particular update request to the corresponding update request object.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the client device manages the state of the unsupported fields corresponding to one or more update requests and configuring an update request object for transmission by:

retrieving the second data object stored on a server associated with the server that corresponds to a particular update request and creating an update request object containing the second data object retrieved from the server after an update request is initiated, and

updating the supported fields corresponding to the particular update request with data from the corresponding first data object stored on the client device.