Smart sync—refreshing application state based on user migration patterns

• US 8,880,467 B1
• Filed: 06/14/2010
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Muthusrinivasan, Muthuprasanna
• Primary Examiner(s): HICKS, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US12/815,110
• Time in Patent Office: 1,604 Days
• US Class Current: 707/632
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/172 Caching, prefetching or hoarding of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1737 for reducing power consumption or coping with limited storage space, e.g. in mobile devices saving storage space on storage devices G06F3/0608; power saving in storage systems G06F3/0625
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding

Abstract

A method of synchronizing data is provided. An embodiment of the method includes receiving, at a server, information identifying a detected user interaction with a device, determining, at the server, a probability that a user will access a service provided by the server using the device at a time, and generating, at the server, a session signature based on the determined probability, wherein the session signature is used by the device to generate refresh requests associated with the service.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing data between a server and a plurality of devices of a user, the server configured to provide a service over a network to the plurality of devices, comprising:

receiving, at the server, user interaction information associated with at least one user interaction with each of the plurality of devices, wherein the user interaction information received includes at least one of user interaction type, time, and date when the at least one user interaction occurred;

aggregating, at the server, the user interaction information on a per-user basis and on a per-device basis;

determining, at the server, a first probability that at a first given time the user will access the service provided by the server across the plurality of devices and a second probability that the user will access the service provided by the server at a second given time using each device, wherein the first and second probabilities are determined based at least in part on frequencies associated with the at least one user interaction with each of the plurality of devices;

generating, at the server, a session signature for each device based on the the first or second probability, wherein the session signature maps the given time of each respective device to a refresh frequency;

transmitting, from the server, the generated session signature to a respective device;

receiving, at the server, a refresh request based on the generated session signature, the refresh request being associated with first data;

transmitting, from the server, only the first data associated with the refresh request to the respective device; and

receiving, at the server, a disconnect request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first or second time is an instance in time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first or second time is a time slot.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one user interaction is a first user interaction, further comprising:

determining a length of the time slot based at least on information identifying a second user interaction, wherein the second detected user interaction occurred before or after the first user interaction.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the time slot is a first time slot, further comprising:

smoothing, at the server, the session signature over the first time slot and a second time slot.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second time slot is before or after the first time slot.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein smoothing comprises:

increasing, at the server, a value of the session signature associated the second time slot and decreasing a value of the session signature associated with the first time slot.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and second slots are separate by zero, one, or two time slot periods.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, at the server, the session signature based on a load on the server.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein updating comprises:

updating the session signature based on whether the user is an enterprise user or a non-enterprise user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the session signature based on a change in a pattern of user interactions.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the refresh request is a first refresh request, further comprising:

transmitting a response to the first refresh request or a second refresh request, wherein the response includes the session signature.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, at the server, the session signature based on input received from the user using at least one of the plurality of devices.

14. A method of synchronizing data between a server and a plurality of devices of a user, comprising:

detecting, at each device of the plurality of devices, at least one user interaction with each of the plurality of devices, wherein the same user is associated with each of the plurality devices via a user identification;

sending, to a server, information about each of the at least one user interactions, wherein the information sent to the server includes at least one of user interaction type, time, and date when the at least one user interaction occurred;

receiving, from the server, a session signature for each device, wherein the session signature for each device is based on a first probability that at a given time the user will access a service provided by the server across the plurality of devices and a second probability that the user will access the service provided by the server at the given time using each device, and the session signature maps the given time to a corresponding refresh frequency;

transmitting a refresh request to the server based on the received session signature, the refresh request being associated with first data;

receiving, from the server, only the first data associated with the refresh request; and

transmitting a disconnect request to the server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the refresh frequency is an elapsed time since the at least one user interaction.

16. A server, comprising:

a storage configured to store user interaction information associated with at least one user interaction with each of a plurality of devices;

an aggregator configured to aggregate the user interaction information in the storage on a per-user basis and per-device basis; and

a pattern extractor configured to;

determine a first probability that at a given time the user will access a service provided by the server across the plurality of devices and a second probability that the user will access the service provided by the server at a second given time using each device; and

generate a session signature based on the first or second probability; and

a transmission module configured to;

transmit the generated session signature to a respective device;

receive a refresh request based on the generated session signature, the refresh request being associated with first data;

transmit only the first data associated with the refresh request to the respective device; and

receive a disconnect request.

17. A system for facilitating synchronization of data between a server and a plurality of devices, comprising:

a user interaction module to detect at least one user interaction with each of the plurality of devices by a user with a unique user identification;

a storage configured to store information regarding the at least one user interaction with each device on a per-user basis and per-device basis; and

a refresh request module configured to;

receive, from the server, a session signature, wherein the session signature is based on a first probability that at a given time the user will access a service provided by the server via any of the plurality of devices associated with the unique user identification and a second probability that the user will access the service provided by the server at the given time using each device, and the session signature maps the given time to a corresponding refresh frequency;

transmit a refresh request to the server based on the received session signature, the refresh request being associated with first data;

receive, from the server, only the first data associated with the refresh request; and

transmit a disconnect request to the server.