Partial item change tracking and synchronization

• US 9,524,329 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2011
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dun, Alec C., Warren, Joseph R., Novitskey, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): FORMAN, JAMES Q
• Application Number:
  US13/107,383
• Publication Number:
  US 20110218963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,048 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 16/278 Data partitioning, e.g. horizontal or vertical partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages

Abstract

Embodiments herein change the way item syncing is handled and tracked between two devices. Changes to items are tracked in accordance with well defined property groups and each group is tracked independently of the other. For example, one group could contain large data items, e.g., attachments, while another group could include highly volatile properties like a follow-up flag. The present invention increases the sync rates between a client and a server by syncing only select portions of an item that have changed, without monitoring the change of each individual property within the item. Accordingly, if a change is made to a small data property (e.g., follow-up flag) on a relatively large email message, such change will not trigger a large download to a client running under a cached mode, nor will there be a requirement for high storage and processing for tracking each individual property.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing electronic mail messages between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

storing an electronic mail message at the first device, the electronic mail message including a plurality of property groups, each of the property groups including one or more properties, at least one of the property groups including multiple properties;

monitoring a plurality of data items for sync purposes, the plurality of data items including the electronic mail message;

using an item change identifier to determine that the electronic mail message has changed after the last sync; and

after determining that the electronic mail message has changed after the last sync, determining which property group in the electronic mail message has changed, including using change IDs for the property groups to identify the changed group in the electronic mail message; and

performing a synchronization process that synchronizes the electronic mail message on the first device and a second device, the synchronization process including streaming the particular property group to the second device, the electronic mail message being synchronized on the first device and the second device without streaming the entire electronic mail message from the first device to the second device, the particular property group being among the property groups of the electronic mail message, one or more properties in the particular property group having changed since a last sync.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of property groups includes a follow-up property group and a read status property group.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a sync request from the first device to the second device; and

receiving the changed group from the second device as a response to the sync request.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an item token from the second device during the last sync; and

storing the item token at the first device; and

wherein the sync request comprises the item token.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the item token is usable to determine property groups within the electronic mail message that have changed since the last sync.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the changed group includes more than one of the properties of the electronic mail message.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the method further comprises:

after determining that the electronic mail message has changed after the last sync, updating the item change identifier; and

after using the change IDs for the property groups to identify the changed group, updating the change ID for the changed group.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein performing the synchronization process comprises receiving a sync item stream at the first device, the sync item stream including a marker that indicates a mapping that tells the first device what property group mapping the electronic mail message uses;

and

wherein the property group mapping maps the properties in the electronic mail message to the property groups.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the first device, a notification of item change, the notification of item change prompting the first device to sync with the second device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the property groups are determined based on relative sizes of the properties.

11. A computing device that comprises:

one or more computer storage media that store instructions and an electronic mail data item, the electronic mail data item comprising a plurality of properties, the plurality of properties divided into a plurality of property groups, each of the property groups containing one or more of the properties, at least one of the property groups containing multiple properties; and

a processing unit that reads and executes the instructions, execution of the instructions by the processing unit causing the computing device to;

determine that a property in a particular property group has changed;

update a property group change identifier for the particular property group after determining that the property in the particular property group has changed;

use the property group change identifier to identify when changes have occurred to the particular property group; and

sync a changed group in the electronic mail data item without streaming the entire electronic mail data item from another computing device, the changed group being among the property groups of the electronic mail data item, one or more properties in the changed group having changed since a last sync between the computing device and the other computing device.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein execution of the instructions by the processing unit causes the computing device to send a sync request to the other computing device after the computing device receives a notification of item change from the other computing device, the sync request being a request to sync data items that have changed since the last sync between the other computing device and the computing device.

13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the property groups are based on volatility of the properties.

14. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the property groups are configured in such a way that the property groups can be redefined.

15. The computing device of claim 11, wherein execution of the instructions by the processing unit causes the computing device to:

update an item change identifier associated with the data item based on a determination that the electronic mail data item has changed; and

determine that the electronic mail data item has changed when the item change identifier differs from an item change identifier received from the other computing device.

16. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the computing device is a client and the other computing device is a server.

17. A method of increasing sync rates for a client device, the method comprising:

transmitting a request from the client device to synchronize one or more electronic mail data items that have changed after a last synchronization, each of the one or more electronic mail data items comprising a plurality of modifiable properties, the plurality of modifiable properties in each of the one or more electronic mail data items divided into a plurality of property groups that includes at least a read property group and a follow-up flag property group, the read property group including a property that indicates whether the electronic mail data item has been read, the follow-up flag property group including a property that indicates whether a follow-up flag has been set on the electronic mail data item;

in response to the request to synchronize the one or more electronic mail data items that have changed after the last synchronization, receiving a modified property group at the client device without receiving one or more unmodified property groups in the plurality of property groups of a first electronic mail data item from among the one or more electronic mail data items, wherein none of the properties in the unmodified property groups have values changed after the last synchronization, and wherein the modified property group is identified in the plurality of property groups using a property group change identifier.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting a request from the client device includes transmitting the request to a server device.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining that a second electronic mail data item has changed, wherein the second electronic mail data item lacks the plurality of property groups; and

receiving all of the second electronic mail data item at the client device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of property groups are predefined based on volatility of the one or more properties within each of the property groups.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving the modified property group comprises receiving streamed data including the modified property group via a wired connection.

22. A method of increasing sync rates for a client device, the method comprising:

transmitting a request from a client device to synchronize one or more electronic mail data items that have changed after a last synchronization, each of the one or more electronic mail data items comprising a plurality of modifiable properties, the plurality of modifiable properties in each of the one or more electronic mail data items divided into a plurality of property groups that includes at least a read property group and a follow-up flag property group, the read property group including a property that indicates whether the electronic mail data item has been read, the follow-up flag property group including a property that indicates whether a follow-up flag has been set on the electronic mail data item;

determining that a first electronic mail data item of the one or more data items has changed after the last synchronization;

determining whether the plurality of property groups of the first electronic mail data item includes a modified property group, wherein a value of a property in the modified property group has changed after the last synchronization, and wherein the modified property group is identified in the plurality of property groups using a property group change identifier; and

synchronizing the modified property group without streaming one or more unmodified property groups in the plurality of property groups of the first electronic mail data item, wherein none of the properties in the unmodified property groups have values changed after the last synchronization.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the property groups are predefined based on typical memory size of the one or more properties within each of the property groups.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein synchronizing the modified property group comprises downloading, from the server device, the modified property group to the client device using a data link that is a wireless connection.