Synchronization system application object interface

Abstract

In one aspect, an application object for a synchronization system is provided on a network coupled processing device. The application object may comprise a plurality of objects, each object translating third party data to a universal middle format, including a root object providing an entry point into individual application databases; and at least one child object; and at least one interface object. In another aspect, an application object is provided on a server coupled to a network. In this aspect, the application object may comprise an application data function call interpreter, the interpreter being accessible to a synchronization engine and an application running on a network coupled device having user data; and a universal data record mapping formatter.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An application object for a synchronization system on a network coupled processing device, comprising:

a plurality of objects, each object translating third party data to a universal middle format, including

a root object providing an entry point into individual application databases;

at least one child object; and

at least one interface object comprising a component model interface and an item container interface.

2. The application object of claim 1 wherein the root object is specific to the application on the network coupled device to which the application object is a part.

3. The application object of claim 1 wherein a parent object of said at least one child object is the root object.

4. The application object of claim 3 wherein the child object is a store object comprising a database of individual application information.

5. The application object of claim 4 wherein the store object is a parent object of at least a second child object and said at least second child object comprises a folder object.

6. The application object of claim 5 wherein the folder object is a parent object of at least a third child object and said at least third child object comprises an item object.

7. The application object of claim 6 wherein the item object is a parent object of at least a fourth child object and said at least fourth child object comprises an attachment object.

8. The application object of claim 7 wherein the item object is a parent object of at least a fourth child object and said at least fourth child object comprises an attachment object.

9. The application object of claim 8 wherein the root object is a parent object of at least a fifth child object and said at least fifth child object comprises a variant object.

10. The application object of claim 9 wherein the variant object is a collection representing an array of variant objects.

11. The application object of claim 9 wherein the variant object is a binary data object.

12. The application object of claim 1 wherein said at least one interface object comprises an object identification interface accessible by said root object.

13. The application object of claim 1 wherein said at least one interface object comprises a read/write interface.

14. The application object of claim 1 wherein said at least one interface object comprises a logon interface to the application.

15. The application object of claim 1 further including a universal data structure mapping nodule.

16. The application object of claim 1 wherein said objects are temporarily instantiated and released by code operating on the network coupled processing device.

17. An application object on a server coupled to a network, the server capable of accessing application running on a network coupled device, the application having user data in a proprietary format, the application object comprising:

an application data function call interpreter, the interpreter being accessible to a synchronization engine and the application running on the network coupled device having user data; and

a universal data record mapping formatter, the application data function call interpreter and universal data record mapping formatter capable of translating the user data from the proprietary format into a universal format usable by the synchronization engine, and capable of mapping the user data into a plurality of classes of information for use by the synchronization engine.

18. The application object of claim 17 wherein the application data function call interpreter accesses user change data recorded by the application running on the network coupled device and interprets the function calls of the synchronization engine.

19. The application object of claim 18 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes an initialization call to perform an initialization of the device before data retrieval functions are called.

20. The application object of claim 18 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes a close database call.

21. The application object of claim 18 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes a get first mollified record call.

22. The application object of claim 21 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes a get next modified record call.

23. The application object of claim 22 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes a set device records call to forward a list of records to add to the modified records list to be retrieved by the get first modified record call and the get next modified record call.

24. The application object of claim 18 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes an add record call.

25. The application object of claim 18 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes an update record call.

26. The application object of claim 18 wherein the application data function call interpreter includes a delete record call.

27. An application object for a synchronization system on a network coupled processing device, comprising:

a plurality of objects, each object translating third party data to a universal middle format, including

a root object providing an entry point into individual application databases;

at least one child object; and

at least one interface object comprising a component model interface.

28. The application object of claim 27 wherein the root object is specific to the application on the network coupled device to which the application object is a part.

29. The application object of claim 27 wherein a parent object of said at least one child object is the root object.

30. The application object of claim 29 wherein the child object is a store object comprising a database of individual application information.

31. The application object of claim 30 wherein the store object is a parent object of at least a second child object and said at least second child object comprises a folder object.

32. The application object of claim 31 wherein the folder object is a parent object of at least a third child object and said at least third child object comprises an item object.

33. The application object of claim 32 wherein the item object is a parent object of at least a fourth child object and said at least fourth child object comprises an attachment object.

34. The application object of claim 33 wherein the item object is a parent object of at least a fourth child object and said at least fourth child object comprises an attachment object.

35. The application object of claim 34 wherein the root object is a parent object of at least a fifth child object and said at least fifth child object comprises a variant object.

36. The application object of claim 35 wherein the variant object is a collection representing an array of variant objects.

37. The application object of claim 36 wherein the variant object is a binary data object.

38. The application object of claim 27 wherein said at least one interface object comprises an object identification interface accessible by said root object.

39. The application object of claim 27 wherein said at least one interface object comprises a read/write interface.

40. The application object of claim 27 wherein said at least one interface object comprises a logon interface to the application.

41. The application object of claim 27 further including a universal data structure mapping module.

42. The application object of claim 27 wherein said objects are temporarily instantiated and released by code operating on the network coupled processing device.

43. An application object for a synchronization system on a network coupled processing device, comprising:

a plurality of objects, each object translating third party data to a universal middle format, including

a root object providing an entry point into individual application databases;

at least one child object; and

at least one interface object comprising an item container interface.

44. The application object of claim 43 wherein the root object is specific to the application on the network coupled device to which the application object is a part.

45. The application object of claim 43 wherein a parent object of said at least one child object is the root object.

46. The application object of claim 45 wherein the child object is a store object comprising a database of individual application information.

47. The application object of claim 46 wherein the store object is a parent object of at least a second child object and said at least second child object comprises a folder object.

48. The application object of claim 47 wherein the folder object is a patent object of at least a third child object and said at least third child object comprises an item object.

49. The application object of claim 48 wherein the item object is a parent object of at least a fourth child object and said at least fourth child object comprises an attachment object.

50. The application object of claim 49 wherein the item object is a parent object of at least a fourth child object and said at least fourth child object comprises an attachment object.

51. The application object of claim 50 wherein the root object is a parent object of at least a fifth child object and said at least fifth child object comprises a variant object.

52. The application object of claim 51 wherein the variant object is a collection representing an array of variant objects.

53. The application object of claim 51 wherein the variant object is a binary data object.

54. The application object of claim 43 wherein said at least one interface object comprises an object identification interface accessible by said root object.

55. The application object of claim 43 wherein said at least one interface object comprises a read/write interface.

56. The application object of claim 43 wherein said at least one interface object comprises a logon interface to the application.

57. The application object of claim 43 further including a universal data structure mapping module.

58. The application object of claim 43 wherein said objects are temporarily instantiated and released by code operating on the network coupled processing device.

Description

LIMITED COPYRIGHT WAIVER

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which the claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any person of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to the transference of data between two systems independent of the form in which the data is kept on the respective systems, and in particular to providing an efficient means of communicating data between systems and devices.

2. Description of the Related Art

The growth of computing-related devices has not been limited to personal computers or work stations. The number of personal computing devices has grown substantially in both type and format. Small, hand-held computers carry a multitude of contact, personal, document, and other information and are sophisticated enough to allow a user to fax, send e-mails, and communicate in other ways wirelessly. Even advanced cellular phones carry enough memory and processing power to store contact information, surf the web, and provide text messaging. Along with the growth in the sophistication of these devices, the need to transfer information between them has grown significantly as well.

With a multitude of different device types on the market, keeping information between the different devices synchronized has become increasingly problematic. For example, if an individual keeps a calendar of information on a personal computer in his or her office using a particular personal information manager application, the individual would generally like to have the same information available in a cellular phone, hand-held organizer a note book computer, and a home personal computer.

Until now, synchronization between both documents and personal information managers has occurred through direct connection between the devices, and generally directly between applications such as a personal information manager in one device and a personal information manager in another device or using an intermediary sync-mapping program.

One example of this is the prevalent use of the 3Com Palm® OS-based organizer, such as the 3Com Palm® series of computing devices, which uses its own calendaring system, yet lets users synchronize the data therein with a variety of different personal information manager software packages, such as Symantec's ACT!™, Microsoft's Outlook®, and other systems. In this example, an intermediary synchronization program such as Puma Technology, Inc.'s Intellisync® is required. Intellisync® is an application program which runs on both the hand-held device and the computer which stores the information data and maps data systems between non-uniform data records. In other cases, direct transfer between applications such as transfer between Microsoft's Outlook® computer-based client and Microsoft's Windows CE "Pocket Outlook" application, is possible. Nevertheless, in both cases, synchronization occurs through direct connection between a personal computer and the personal computing device. While this connection is generally via a cable directly connecting, for example, Palm® device in a cradle to the personal computer, the connection may be wireless as well.

One component of these synchronization systems is that the synchronization process must be able to delineate between when changes are made to specific databases and must make a decision about whether to replace the changed field. Normally, this is measured by a change in one database, and no-change in a second database. In some cases, both databases will have changed between syncs. In this case, the sync operation must determine which of the two changes which has been made is to "win" and replace the other during the sync. Generally, this determination of whether a conflict exists requires some means for letting the user resolve the conflict.

In a technical sense, synchronization in this manner is generally accomplished by the copying of full records between systems. At some level, a user is generally required to map data fields from one application to another and specify which data fields are assigned to which corresponding field in a different device. Less mapping is required where developers more robustly support various platforms of applications.

In many instances, the data to be synchronized is generally in the form of text data such as records of addresses, contact information, calendar information, notes and other types of contact information. In certain cases, data to be synchronized will be binary format of executable files or word processor-specific documents. In many cases where document synchronization is required, the synchronization routine simply determines whether or not the documents in question have changed, and uses a time-based representation to determine which of the two files is newer, and replaces the older file with the newer file to achieve synchronization, as long as the older of the two files was in fact not changed. This is the model used in the familiar "Briefcase" function in Microsoft Windows-based systems. If both files have changed, then the synchronization routine presents the option of conflict resolution to the user.

Such synchronization schemes are generally inefficient since they require full band-width of the document or binary file to be transferred via the synchronization link. In addition, at some level the synchronization programs require interaction by the user to map certain fields between different programs.

One of the difficulties in providing synchronization between different computing devices is that the applications and platforms are somewhat diverse.

Nevertheless, all synchronization programs generally require certain functions in order to be viable for widespread usage. In particular, synchronization programs must work with popular applications on various platforms. Sync applications must allow for conflicts resolution when changes are made to the same information on different devices between syncing events. They must provide synchronization for all types of formats of data, whether it be text data in the form of contacts, e-mails, calendar information, memos or other documents, or binary data in the form of documents or programs in particular types of formats.

In a broader sense, applications which efficiently synchronize data between disparate types of devices can provide advantages in applications beyond synchronizing individual, personal information between, for example, a personal information manager hardware device such as a Palm® computing device, and a personal computer. The same objectives which are prevalent in developing data transfer between personal information management (PIM) devices and desktop systems lend themselves to furthering applications requiring data transfer between other types of devices, on differing platforms. These objectives include speed, low bandwidth, accuracy, and platform independence.

For example, current e-mail systems use a system which is somewhat akin to the synchronization methods used for disparate devices in that an entire message or file is transferred as a whole between different systems. When a user replies to an e-mail, generally the entire text of the original message is returned to the sender, who now has two copies of the e-mail text he/she originally sent out. The same is true if an e-mail attachment is modified and returned. All of the text which is the same between both systems is essentially duplicated on the originator's system.

The invention, roughly described, comprises an application object for a synchronization system on a network coupled processing device, comprising a plurality of objects, each object translating third party data to a universal middle format, including a root object providing an entry point into individual application databases; and at least one child object; and at least one interface object. The synchronization system is useful in maintaining matching records and data for a user across multiple network coupled devices.

In a further embodiment, an application object on a server coupled to a network, comprises an application data function call interpreter. The interpreter is accessible to a synchronization engine and an application running on a network coupled device having user data; and a universal data record mapping formatter.

The invention, roughly described, comprises a difference information receiver, a difference information transmitter and a difference information synchronizer which cooperate in a system or device to update data in the device with data received from other systems, or provide data for other systems to use in updating themselves.

In one aspect, the invention comprises a system in a device having at least one application data destination having a format. The system includes a difference engine receiving difference information associated with a change to said at least one application data destination; and an application interface, applying said difference information to said at least one data destination.

The difference engine may comprise a data store reflecting application data at a state prior to receipt of said difference information; and a delta engine receiving difference information and comparing difference information to said data store to construct change information. Further, the difference information may comprises a data file containing change transactions which is combined with data in the data store.

In a further aspect, the method may comprise a method for updating data files in a system. The method may include the steps of: receiving difference information for a subset of said data files; and applying said difference information to said subset of said data files. In particular said step of receiving may comprise: receiving a change log detailing changes to data files on another system; and applying said changes to a data store containing data identical to said data files to generate changed data.

In a further unique aspect, the invention my comprise an application in a system having a data source in a source format. The application may include an application interface, extracting data from said data source; and a difference engine receiving said data and outputting difference information associated with changes to said data source. The application interface may includes a source format interface; and a converter to map said data from said source format into a universal format. In addition, the difference engine may include a data store reflecting a prior state of said data; and a delta generator comparing said data and said data store to provide change transactions.

In a still further aspect, the invention may comprise a method for updating a data source in a system. The method may include the steps of extracting difference information from at least a subset of said data source; and outputting difference information for at least the subset of said data source. The step of extracting may comprise determining whether changes have been made to the subset of data source in the system; and generating a change log detailing changes to the subset of data source on another system.

In yet another aspect, the application of the present invention includes: an extraction routine for extracting a first set of difference information resulting from changes to the data files; a differencing transmitter for transmitting said first set of difference information to an output; a differencing receiver for receiving a second set of difference information from an input; and a reconstruction routine for applying the second set of difference information to the data files.

A further method of the invention comprises a method for updating data files in a system. The method includes the steps of receiving first change transactions for a subset of said data files; applying said change transactions to said subset of said data files. subsequent to a change in said data files, generating second change transactions for said file; and outputting said second change transactions to an output.

In a particular embodiment, the invention comprises a device engine including an application object; an application object store; and a delta module.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described with respect to the particular embodiments thereof. Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the specification and drawings in which:

FIGS. 1-7 are block diagrams of various configurations of the system of the present invention utilizing the differencing routines of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an overview of one embodiment of the system architecture in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9A is a block diagram of the desktop device engine of the present invention.

FIG. 9B is a block diagram of the configuration of server side device engines utilized in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the device engine in an operating system such as Windows.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an application object incorporated into the device engine of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of storage object hierarchy of a universal data format utilized with the system of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a listing of exemplary item objects used in accordance with the routines of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a management storage server architecture for used in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating a pull synchronization in accordance with the system of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a push synchronization in accordance with the system of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram of the management server architecture in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention includes a system and a method for transferring data between two devices which require information to be shared between them. In accordance with the discussion herein, a "device" is defined as a collection of elements or components organized for a common purpose, and may include hardware components of a computer system, personal information devices, hand-held computers, notebooks, or any combination of hardware which may include a processor and memory which is adapted to receive or provide information to another device; or any software containing such information residing on a single collection of hardware or on different collections of hardware. Such software might include applications such as personal information managers, which include contact data and other such information, e-mail systems, and file systems, such as those utilized by Microsoft Windows NT operating systems, Unix operating systems, Linux operating systems, or other systems capable of storing file types having binary formats which translate to application formats of differing types.

In one embodiment, the invention comprises a set of programs specifically designed to transmit and/or receive differencing data from one device to another device, irrespective of the type of file system, data, content, or system hardware configuration.

In a further aspect, the system comprises store and forward technology which utilizes the differencing technology to implement services via a public or private network, such as the Internet.

The system of the present invention finds particular usages in synchronizing personal contact information between different systems, but it will be readily apparent to one of average skill in the art that the present invention provides advantages having broader applicability than merely synchronizing various types of systems. For example, replying and forwarding e-mail can be made more efficient by forwarding only the differences in e-mails between systems. As a further example, updates to systems software via a network can be made more efficient where, for example, instead of completely replacing different modules of an application, only the differences of the modules need be forwarded, resulting in more efficient use of existing bandwidth.

Personal Information Space

As used herein, the term "personal information space" means a data store of information customized by, and on behalf of a user including contacts, events, bookmarks, tasks, notes, and other data objects such as text files or data files which belong to the user.

System Overview

FIGS. 1-7 show various configuration alternatives of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention in a basic configuration. In FIG. 1, a first system or device, system A, and a second system or device, system B, are coupled by a communication line 110. It should be readily understood that communication line may be any direct coupling of the two systems which allows data to pass between the systems such as, for example, by means of serial ports, parallel ports, an Ethernet connection or other type of network, or an infrared link, or the like. System A includes a functional block 100 representing a differencing transmitter in accordance with the present invention. System B includes a functional block 102 representing the differencing receiver in accordance with the present invention.

The differencing transmitter 100, upon receipt of a control signal enabling operation of the transmitter, examines a specified data structure of information which is to be transmitted to system B. Differencing transmitter 100 extracts such information from System A and converts the information extracted into difference information Δ. Difference information Δ comprises only the changes to System B's data which have occurred on System B and instructions for implementing those changes. Hence, if the data to be transferred is a change to a file which exists on system B, difference information Δ comprises only the differences in such file and where such differences occur. If the data does not exist at all on System B, the difference information Δ will be the entire file. Difference information Δ received by differencing receiver 102 at System B is reconstructed at System B, and the changes reflected therein are updated on System B.

For example, if System A and System B are two computers and an update for certain binary files on System A is required, the differencing transmitter on System A will extract the differences in the file known to exist on System B and any new files, and transmit only those differences (and instructions for where to insert those differences) to the differencing receiver 102. Differencing receiver 102 will interpret the difference information (Δ) and reconstruct the binary files on System B. In this manner, the information on System B is updated without the need to transfer the entire binary files between the Systems.

FIG. 2 shows a second example of the system of the present invention. In FIG. 2, both System A and System B include functional blocks 104, each representing a differencing synchronizer. The function of the synchronizer 104 is similar to that of the transmitter and receiver combined; the synchronizer will allow difference information Δ to be both transmitted and received. For example, System A and System B are a portable computer and a desktop computer, respectively, where information such as contact information needs to be synchronized between the two, the differencing synchronizer 104 will extract changes made to the contact information on either System A or System B and at predetermined times, transmit the information Δ between the systems, and reconstruct the data on the receiving system to update information from the sending system, in order to ensure that both systems contain the same data.

FIG. 3 shows yet another alternative embodiment of the system of the present invention. In FIG. 3, System A again includes a differencing transmitter and System B includes a differencing receiver 102. In this embodiment, a storage server 300 is coupled between System A and System B. Storage server 300 may store a separate database of the difference information Δ provided by System A, which allows System A to provide its difference information Δ to the storage server 300 at a first point in time, and storage server 300 to provide the same difference information Δ to System B at a second point in time, but not the same as the first point in time. In addition, multiple sets of difference information Δ may be provided at different points in time, and stored for later retrieval by System B. Still further, the difference information sets may be maintained on server 300 to allow data on either System A or System B to be returned to a previous state.

Once again, the storage server 300 is coupled by a direct connection 110 to both System A and System B. Storage server 300 may be a server specifically adapted to receive differencing information Δ from the receiver 100 and provide it to the transmitter 102. In one embodiment, server 300 includes specific functional routines for enabling this transfer. Alternatively, server 300 comprises standard information server types which respond to standard Internet communication protocols such as file transfer protocol (FTP), or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

FIG. 4 shows yet another alternative embodiment of the system of the present invention wherein System A and System B, once again coupled directly to a storage server 300 by a direct connection line 110, each include a differencing synchronizer 104. Difference information Δ can be passed to and from System A through synchronizer 104 to and from the storage server 300 at a first point in time, and to and from System B at a second point in time. In this embodiment, storage server 300 may include routines, described below, for resolving conflicts between data which has changed on both System A and System B independently after the last point in times when the systems were synchronized.

FIG. 5 shows yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention including four systems: System A which includes a differencing synchronizer 104; System B which includes a differencing receiver 102; System C which also includes a differencing synchronizer 104; and System D which includes a differencing transmitter 100. Each is directly coupled to a storage server 300, allowing control of transmission of differencing data Δ between the various systems. Server 300 may include routines, described in further detail below, to track the various types of systems which comprise System A through System D, and which control the transmission of various components of the difference information Δ to each of the various systems. For example, since System B includes only differencing receiver 102, the difference information Δ₂ which is provided to it may be a sub-component of that which is transferred between System A in the storage server 300, or may be simply receiving broadcast information Δ₄ from System D. In one embodiment of the system of the present invention, server 300 does not itself route the difference information derived from each receiver/transmitter/synchronizer. Server 300 acts as a repository for the information, and the determination of which difference information Δ is attributed to which receiver/transmitter/synchronizer is made by each receiver/transmitter/synchronizer.

FIG. 6 shows yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, a synchronizer is provided in storage server 300. It should be recognized that a forwarder and/or receiver may be provided in server 300 as well. The particular embodiment shown herein may be advantageous where device processing power and memory are limited, such as cases where the device is a cell phone. It should be noted that the data transferred between system A and the device engine 104a in such an embodiment may or may not be difference information, depending on whether System A has the capacity to detect and output difference information. Each of the devices may include a differencing receiver, a differencing transmitter, or a differencing synchronizer. It should be understood that a portion of the differencing synchronizer 104a may reside on System A and another portion may reside on server 300.

FIG. 7 shows yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention wherein the devices shown in FIG. 6 may be coupled to a combination of public or private networks 700 such as, for example, the Internet. The network 700 may include one or more storage servers 300₁,300₂, and in such cases the difference information Δ transmitted between each such device 602-610 via intermediate storage on one of such servers. Network 700 may couple the devices to one or more specialized function servers, such as servers specifically designed to include a differencing forwarder, receiver or synchronizer. Such devices may comprise, by way of example and without limitation, a personal office PC 602, a smart telephone 604, a user's office PC 606, a personal information Palm® computing device 608, a telephone or cellular phone 604, a home personal computer 606, or a web browser 610. Each differencing receiver, differencing transmitter, or differencing synchronizer present in devices 602-610 includes means to poll the data stored on storage servers 300₁,300₂ to determine whether the data present at storage server 300₁,300₂ includes difference information which the particular receiver or synchronizer is required to have to synchronize the data on the device on which it resides.

In the following description, an embodiment wherein the differencing receiver, transmitter, and synchronizer are described will be discussed with respect to its use in synchronizing contact information, calendar information, and binary file information between a plurality of different devices in the context of data synchronization. It will be readily understood that the system of the present invention is not limited to synchronization applications, or applications dependent upon specific types of data, such as contact information or scheduling information. In particular, it will be readily understood that the transmission of data comprising only the differences in data between two systems via routines which extract the data and reassemble data on the various systems, represents a significant advancement in the efficient transmission of data. The present invention allows for optimization in terms of a reduction in the bandwidth utilized to transmit data between two systems, since only changes to data are transferred. This consequently increases the speed at which such transactions can take place since the data which needs to be transmitted is substantially smaller than it would be were entire files transferred between the systems.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, the ability of devices to connect to the Internet is leveraged to manage data transfer between the systems. In essence, each particular device which requires information access which can connect to the Internet may become part of the system of the present invention, and synchronize its data with other devices defined by a user as being part of the system.

Generally, the system comprises client software which provides the functions of the differencing transmitter 100, differencing receiver 102, and differencing synchronizer 104 in the form of a device engine. The device engine includes at least one component particular to the type of device on which the device engine runs, which enables extraction of information from the device and conversion of the information to difference information, and transmission of the difference information to the storage server. This allows the replication of information across all systems coupled to the system of the present invention. Although the storage servers 300 utilized in the system of the present invention may be any type of storage server, such as an Internet server or an FTP server, and may be provided from any source, such as any Internet service provider (ISP), particular aspects of a storage server which may be useful and which may be customized to optimize transfer of information between systems coupled as part of the present invention will be described below. Synchronization of devices utilizing the synchronization system of the present invention is possible as long as an Internet connection between the devices is available.

In a key aspect of the invention, the Internet connection between the devices or between the devices and a server, need not exist at the same point in time, and new devices may be added to the system of the present invention at any point in time without the loss of information. The system provides totally transparent access to information and the device engine on each device provides an operating system independent extension which allows seamless integration of the personal information services in accordance with the present invention.

In a particular unique aspect of the present invention, only those changes to the information which are required to be forwarded to other systems on the system of the present invention are transmitted to enable exceptionally fast response times. In a still further aspect of the invention, information which is transferred in this manner is encrypted to ensure security over the public portions of the Internet.

Architecture Overview

FIG. 8 shows an overview of the architecture of the system of the present invention utilized for synchronizing or "syncing" information on different types of devices. In the embodiment hereinafter described, the system of the present invention allows the coupling of a collection of personal devices and applications one uses when working with personal information. Nevertheless, the system may be used to broadcast public or private information to various device types. System software in the form of a device engine for each device which is declared a part of the system of the invention is distributed across the collection of devices to enable synchronization. Distribution of the device engines may occur via, for example, an installation package forwarded over an Internet connection. In essence, the device engine software of the present invention forms a distributed processing network which maintains consummate synchronization of all information in the system. The processing load associated with delivering this service is pushed to the end-point devices which provides for easy scaling of the system to ever-larger applications.

The present invention contemplates the use of two types of device engine: one totally embodied on the server which outputs change data to the server; and a second totally embodied on the server receiving device generated change information from the device. In addition, a hybrid of the two, having a portion of the device engine on the device and a portion on the server, is disclosed.

As shown in FIG. 8, any number and type of devices 802-808 may be utilized in accordance with the system of the present invention. A telephone 802 may comprise a cellular phone or a standard POTS-connected telephone. Telephone 802 may include contact information and, as is supported with a newer generation of cellular telephones, appointments and task data stored in a data structure 812. The application 812 which utilizes the application data 822 comprising such information is all stored in the telephone unit 802. Likewise, a personal digital assistant such as a Palm® computing device 804 includes application 814 and application data 824 which may include information such as contacts, appointments and tasks, and may also include file information such as documents which are created and stored on the PDA 804. Device 806 is represented as a Windows personal computer running an operating system such as Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT or 2000. Applications 816 which may be running on device 806 include the Windows operating system itself, Microsoft Outlook, Symantec's ACT Personal Information Manager, Goldmine Software's Goldmine, Lotus Organizer, Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser, Netscape's Communicator Suite, Qualcomm's Eudora e-mail, and various other programs, each of which has its own set of application data 826 which is required to be synchronized not only with devices outside the system 806, but also between devices and applications within the system itself. Finally, a dedicated web browser client 808 is shown which couples via the Internet to web portal applications 816 which have their own set of application data 828. Unlike devices 806 which store the application and application data substantially in their own hardware, web portal applications are provided on a separate server and provided to browser 808 via an Internet connection. Nevertheless, the web portal application stored on the portal application provider includes a set of application data 828 which a user may wish to synchronize. For example, a large web portal such as Yahoo! and Snap.com provide services such as free e-mail and contact storage to their users. A user may wish to synchronize this with applications running on their cellular phone, PDA, or Windows devices.

In order to access the specific application data of each of the systems shown in FIG. 8, a device engine is associated with each type of device. A cellular device engine 862 communicates and incorporates itself with the application data 822 of the cellular phone. Likewise, a PDA device engine 864 is provided, which may be based on either the Palm® operating system, Windows CE operating system, or other PDA-type operating systems as necessary. A Windows-based device engine 866 includes a mechanism, discussed below, for extracting application data 826 from supported Windows applications 816, and a web services device engine 868 incorporates to extract application data 828 from web portal applications 818.

As shown in FIG. 8, some device engines are provided entirely on the device (and are referred to herein as desktop device engines), while others include components a the back end server (which may comprise storage server 850 or a specialized server, as shown in FIG. 9B.) This is illustrated generally by lines 832, 834,836, and 838 in FIG. 8. Also, in FIG. 8, elements above dashed line 855 are provided by an administrator or service provider of the system of the present invention. Each of the device engines 862, 864, 866 and 868 is configured relative to the type of device on which it resides. For example, the Cell phone device engine 862 includes one or more components arranged on the phone while others are on server 850. Conversely, device engine 866 resides entirely on the windows device 806.

Data from each of the devices is coupled via an Internet connection 710 with a storage server 850. As noted above, storage server 850 may be a generic storage server or it may be a storage server specifically adapted for use with the system of the present invention as discussed below. One or more of the storage servers 850 are used to communicate transactions amongst the collection of systems 802, 804, 806, 808. It should be readily recognized that any number of different types of systems 802, 804, 806, 808 may be provided in accordance with the present invention and incorporated into the system. However, for brevity, not all the different types of commercially available computing devices which are currently in use or in development, in which the system of the present invention may be incorporated, are listed.

In its simplest embodiment, the storage server 850 is simply a dumb storage server and each of the device engines transmits only difference information thereto to be stored in a particular location accessible by other device engines in the system. In one embodiment, each device engine implements all processing required to keep all the systems fully synchronized. Only one device engine needs to be coupled to the storage server 850 at one particular point in time. This permits synchronization of multiple systems in a disconnected fashion. Each device engine will download all transactions encapsulating changes that have occurred since the last synchronization from the server and apply them to the particular device.

The change or difference information (Δ) is provided in one or more data packages, an example of the structure of which is described herein. Each data package describes changes to any and all transfer information across all device engines, including but not limited to application data, files, folders, application settings, and the like. Each device engine can control the download of data packages that include classes of information that apply to the specified local device 802, 804, 806 or 808 attached to that specific device engine. For example, device engine 862 will only need to work with changes to information describing contact names and phone numbers in application data 822, while device engine 866 will be required to work with changes to e-mail, changes to document files, notes, as well as contact and address information since the application data 826 is much more extensive than application data 822.

Each device engine includes compression/decompression and encryption/decryption components which allow encryption and/or compression of the data packages transmitted across Internet connection 710. It should be recognized that compression and encryption of the data packages may be optionally provided. It is not required in accordance with the present invention. Each device engine performs mapping and translation steps necessary for applying the data packages to the local format required for that type of information in the application data stores 822-828. The device engine also includes components which allow it to track ambiguous updates in cases where users have changed data to a particular data field on two different systems simultaneously since the last update. In this case, the device engine includes a mechanism for drawing this to the attention of the user and allowing the user to resolve the conflict.

Device Engine Architecture

FIG. 9A illustrates a single device engine utilized with a generic application 810 and a generic storage server 850. FIG. 9A illustrates a desktop device engine, since all processing occurs on the device and only difference information is transmitted to server 850. Nevertheless, an understanding of the desktop device engine will aid in understanding server side devices engines, hereinafter described. Shown in FIG. 9 are the functional components of a device engine in block form and their interrelationship to each other. The device engine 860 is equivalent to the functional block of a differencing sequencer 104 shown in FIGS. 1-7.

While the invention will be described with respect to the embodiment of the invention as a differencing synchronizer 104, it will be readily understood that portions of the functionality are utilized as needed in a forward-only (a differencing transmitter) or a receive-only (a differencing receiver) capacity as required by the particular application.

As noted above, a device engine exists for each and every device that makes up a user's personal information network of devices in the system. As shown in FIG. 9A, each device engine 860 includes an application object 910. The application object is specific to each particular application 810 and provides a standard interface between the device engine and the balance of the data transmission system of the invention, and the application 810. Details of the application object will be described in further detail below. The application object is a pluggable architecture which supports a wide variety of vendor-unique applications. The job of the application object is to map data from the application into a temporary or "universal" data structure by connecting to the application via any number of standard interfaces to gain access to the applications data. The data structure of the application object puts the data in a generic or "universal data" format which may be used by the device engine components to generate data packages for provision to the storage server.

Also provided is an application object store (AOS) 920 which includes a copy of the device's data at a point just after the previous data extraction and synchronization occurred. Application object store 920 is a mirrored interface which stores a snapshot of the previous state of the data from the application object 910 in the device engine. The size of the AOS will depend on the data being collected by each device engine.

The generic output of the application object is provided to a delta module 950. Delta module 950 is a differencing engine which calculates differences in data between the output of the application object 910 and the copy of the data which is provided in an application object store (AOS) 920. The actual differencing and patch routine can comprise a routine such as XDelta or YDelta. The delta module 950 will be referred to herein alternatively in certain portions of the description as "CStructuredDelta." In addition, the difference information is alternatively referred to herein as a "change log." Each change log (or set of difference information) is a self describing series of sync transactions. As described below, the change log may be encrypted and compressed before output to the network.

Hence, during a sync, the Application Object will, using a mechanism discussed below, extract the data of each application in the device and convert it to a universal data format. The delta module will then generate a difference set by comparing the output of the Application Object and the AOS. This difference information is forwarded to the encryption and compression routines for output to the storage server 850 in the form of a data package. Alternatively, the data from one application can be used to synchronize to data in another application in, for example, a windows environment, as shown by arrow 1050 in FIG. 10.

It should be specifically noted that the application object may interface directly unstructured binary data or with structured application data. The differencing routine supports both uses of the delta module 950 in comparison generation.

In some cases, operation of the application object and delta module is simplified by the fact that some applications, such as PDA's, have the ability to output changes to its data. In such cases, the delta module 950 need only provide the data into the data package, since comparison to an AOS is not required—the application already includes a mechanism for tracking changes made to its own data. However, in many cases the applications provide, at most, a standard interface to access the data, such as Microsoft's OBDC interface, the Microsoft standard Application Programming Interface (API), or other similar standard interfaces.

Device engine 860 further includes a versioning module which applies a version number per object in the data package. As explained further below, each object in the data package is assigned a universally unique ID (UUID). Hence, unlike many prior synchronization systems, the system of the present invention does not sync data solely by comparing time stamps of two sets of data. Versioning module 915 allows each device engine to check the state of the last synchronization against data packs which have been provided to the storage server to determine which data packages to apply. This allows the device engine to sync itself independently of the number of times another device engine uploads changes to the storage server. In other words, a first device engine does not care how many times a second device engine uploads data packages to the server.

An events module 925 controls synchronization initialization events. Items such as when to sync, how to sync, trigger the delta module 950 to perform a synchronization operation.

A user interface 930 is provided to allow additional functional features to a system user of the particular device to which the device engine 860 is coupled. The user interface is coupled to a conflict resolution module 940, a filtering module 945, and a field mapping module 935. Each of the modules provides the functionality both necessary for all synchronization programs, and which users have come to expect.

Filtering module 945 allows filtering for types of content based on, for example, a field level content search. The field mapping module 935 allows for the user to re-map certain interpretations of items which were provided in the document stream. For example, if the device engine 860 is operating on a personal computer, and a synchronization is occurring between the personal computer and a notebook computer, and the user has a "my documents" directory on the personal computer which he wishes to map to a different directory on the notebook computer, the field mapping module 935 allows for this re-mapping to occur. It should be recognized that the field mapping module allows for changes in directing the output of the data package. The field mapping module 935 is not necessary to map particular data fields of, for example, contact information from one application, such as Microsoft Outlook, to a different application, such as Symantec's ACT, as is the traditional use of field mapping and synchronizing applications.

Delta module 950 is further coupled to a compression module 970 and an encryption module 960. It should be recognized that the compression encryption modules need not be enabled. Any type of compression module 970, such as the popular PK Zip or Winzip modules, or those available from HiFn Corporation may be utilized in accordance with the invention. Moreover, any type of encryption algorithms, such as MD5, RCH 6, Two Fish, or Blowfish, or any other symmetric encryption algorithm, may be utilized. In one embodiment of the invention, encryption without compression is used. In a second embodiment of the invention, compression without encryption is used. In a third embodiment of the invention, neither compression or encryption is used, and in a fourth embodiment of the invention, both compression and encryption are used.

Versioning module 915 also allows the device engine 860 to support multiple users with distinct synchronization profiles. This allows multiple users accessing the same machine to each synchronize their own data set using the same device engine. For example, if the application 810 on a particular device comprises Microsoft Outlook on a personal computer, coupled to a Microsoft Exchange server, and Outlook is configured to have multiple user profiles, versioning module 915 will track the data applied through the device engine when a sync request occurs. This allows two users of the same Outlook client software which access different data sets, either in the client computer or on a separate server, to utilize the same device engine and the system of the present invention via the same machine. In a further embodiment, a particular device engine supports the use of foreign devices accessing the system via the same connection. Palm® devices, for example, use a cradle to connect to a computer and/or Internet connection. If a particular user wishes to allow another user to use his Palm® pilot cradle connection to synchronize the other user's Palm® pilot, the device engine can generate data packages to update the local application object store for the foreign device. The application object store can therefore be used as a temporary storage for cases allowing synchronization of foreign devices.

The output of the device engine 900 comprises a data package which is output to storage server 850. As noted above, only one device engine need be connected to the storage server 850 at a given time. The data package can be stored on the storage server 850 until a request is made to a particular location of the storage server by another device engine. Likewise, delta engine 900 can query alternative locations on the storage server for access to synchronized data within the system of the present invention. Access to areas of the storage server is controlled by a management server (MS) described more fully below. In one embodiment, each sync operation requires that the device engine for each device login to the management server to authenticate the device and provide the device engine with the location of the individual device's data packages on the storage server.

Data packages may be advantageously provided to the device engine from the storage server in a streaming format, allowing processing to occur using a minimum of bandwidth and storage in the devices. The device engine 860 and particularly the delta module 950 interpret data packages based on the versioning information and the mirrored data present in the application object store 920. When data is returned to the delta module 950 from the storage server 850, the delta module returns differenced data to the application object 910 for the particular application which then translates the delta information into the particular interface utilized for application 810. Once a device engine has been fully applied all data packages from an input stream, it generates a series of data packages that describe the changes made on the local system. The device engine uses the local application object store 920 to keep track of the last synchronized version of each application's actual data, which is then used for the next data comparison by the delta module on the next sync request. Generated data packages can include operations and encode changes generated from resolving ambiguous cases as described above.

FIG. 9B depicts how server based device engines may be provided in the system of the present invention. The Palm® device example is shown in this embodiment, where the Palm® device has the capability of connecting directly to the Internet and a service provider's data center 900. The data center includes a firewall 975 to prevent unauthorized communications with servers resident in the data center 900 and protect integrity of the data. The storage server 850 may communicate directly through the firewall as may the management server (MS) 1410.

Shown therein are two sync servers 982 and 984 each of which is dedicated to syncing one particular type of application. Sync server 982 is dedicated to the Palm® device, while sync server 980 is dedicated to, for example, a portal application (Portal1).

Since the Palm® Device 804a includes a mechanism for transmitting changes to its data directly, data may be transmitted using HTTP request and response via the firewall 975 to the sync server 982 where differencing and updating of data in the AOS can occur, after which changes can be downloaded to the Palm® 804a.

The synchronization server is an application handles concurrent synchronization of user's data. Each Sync Server includes plug-in support for multiple devices to be synchronized using the same sync server executable. Each device type has it's own device name that identifies which AO/AOS components will be used during the sync.

The Sync Server uses the concept of a universal data record in its internal sync differencing engine and when sending data to and retrieving from external entities such as the AOS and AO. Hence, in the Palm® application, the job of a server AO is simply to take the device-specific format of its record and convert into a universal record format.

The Sync Server has a plug-in architecture so that 3rd party application partners can easily add their services into the server. Currently, if the server is operated in a Microsoft Windows NT Server, the sync server discovers the sync components via the Windows NT registry. In alternative embodiments, this function is performed in a Component Manger which operates on each sync server to manage processing by each of the AO and AOS on the server. Each AO and AOS are implemented as a stand-alone DLL that the Sync Server loads at initialization time, or when adding a new component via the Component Manager.

Each sync server is shown as dedicated to a single application. However, a sync server may handle multiple device types.

In the embodiment of FIG. 9B, it should be noted that, depending on the device type, there are different configurations for the AOS and AO's. For example, the Palm®'s AO data store 1050 resides on the Palm® device 804a itself and a separate AOS data store 1052 exists for this configuration (an Oracle database). In the case of Portal1, the AOS and AO use the data store 1054.

Device engines can generate additional data packages intended to resolve synchronization problems in other systems. For example, interfacing with the conflict resolution module 940, if the user makes a change to a particular data store on an application object on his Palm® pilot, then makes an additional change to a personal information manager (PIM) application on his personal computer, the user can specify that the change made on the personal computer will "win" when the conflict is detected by the Δ engine and the versioning information between the two devices. This is essentially a definition that one particular set of data is correct and should replace the second set of data.

FIG. 10 shows a specific embodiment of a desktop device engine utilized in, for example, a Microsoft Windows-based operating system environment.

As shown in FIG. 10, a Windows operating system may have at least three specific applications which may require synchronization. In FIG. 10, the system includes Netscape Communicator application 1040 having data such as bookmarks 1021, contacts 1022, and e-mail 1023; a Microsoft Outlook application 1042 which includes contact information 1024, calendar information 1025, e-mail information 1026, note information 1027, and tasks information 1028; and Windows operating system 1044 information including Favorites data 1029, file system information 1030, and individual files 1031.

Each particular application 1040, 1042, 1044 has an associated application object 1010, 1012, 1014. Each of the respective application objects provides data back to delta module 950 in a generic format which is usable by the delta module in accordance with the foregoing description of the apparatus shown in FIG. 9A. From FIG. 10, it will be additionally seen how the delta module 950 may be utilized to synchronize data between applications running on the same particular server. The device engine hence does an intra-system sync such as, for example, between the contact information 1022 from Netscape and the contact information 1024 from Outlook.

FIG. 10 further illustrates the modularity of the system of the present invention allowing the device engine to include any number of different application objects to be provided on a single device to incorporate all applications run on that device.

In operation, during an installation of a device engine into a particular system, the installation program may be tailored to provide application objects which may be present on a given system. For example, and with reference to FIG. 10, the installation program for a Windows machine will carry any number of application objects for systems and applications which may be present on a Windows machine. The installer will check for the presence of given applications, and allow the user to add additional applications which may be installed in locations that are not the normal default installation areas for application support by the application objects which the installer is carrying, or de-select certain applications which, for one reason or another, the user may not wish to install an application object for and render a part of the system of the present invention.

Application Object Structure

FIG. 11 is a conceptual depiction of the structure of an application object. As noted above, the application object is a pluggable architecture which supports a wide variety of vendor-unique applications. The consistent and scalable architecture of the system of the present invention for device engines is maintained by encapsulating system-dependent knowledge in a single component, i.e. the application object. As noted above, every application object supports a standard set of interfaces that every device engine understands. Each application object maps these standard interfaces of the capabilities of a particular vendor application. Hence, there will be as many application objects as there are application types.

As noted above, there are different types of server and desktop device engines, some having application objects entirely on the server, while others have application objects entirely on the desktop.

Each application object will include a connector 1110 which may comprise a generic interface to the particular application for which the application object store has been designed. For example, when connecting to a Palm® device, the connector will be an HTTP protocol request routine which interfaces with the Palm® device's own built-in synchronization manager, which provides an output of records which have been changed on the Palm® device. As in FIG. 9B, since the Palm® outputs all the changes to its data via its own sync manager, in the Palm® application, the job of a server AO is simply to take the device-specific format of its record and convert into a universal record format.

The connector provides access for the application object to remove the data field from a particular application and convert it to a universal record structure. In the desktop AO, where, for example the application object is designed for a Windows interface, the connector may be the Windows API and the job of the AO will be to translate data from, for example, the windows file system to a universal data format. This universal data structure is then used by the delta module 950 to build data packages to be used in synchronization between components of the systems provided in the network system of the present invention.

Universal data structure mapping, used on desktop application objects, and universal data record mapping, used by the server device engines, is further detailed below.

Desktop Application Object

Each Application Object (AO) is a software component that interfaces with the third party application APIs (Application Programming Interface) to provide the programming services to the delta module for extraction and deposition of information data from and to the third party application domain during synchronization. In addition, the AO maps the third party application data fields to system's domain.

The AO service is a collection of COM (Component Object Model) objects that can be developed in conjunction with the third party Windows application APIs as a form of a DLL (Dynamic Linked Library) in C or C++. The DLL is loaded on demand at runtime during synchronization. It should be recognized that the application object need not be implemented using the COM model, but may be developed with other distributed object models.

There are a number of the related subsystems and documents that the developer must be familiar with and this document has made many references to those subsystems during the course of presenting the AO.