Method for mapping, translating, and dynamically reconciling data between disparate computer platforms5666553Abstract Traditionally, it has been difficult to share data among diverse computer applications and platforms because of underlying differences in data formats. Although the meaning or purpose of the data may be similar or identical (for example, two appointments entered using separate computer applications), the differences in data formats required by the various computer applications and platforms renders such sharing difficult. A method is disclosed for the translation of dissimilarly-formatted data between disparate computer applications and platforms. The method also provides for the dynamic reconciliation of conflicts in the data (for example, two appointments scheduled at the same time) based on both the content of the data and on specific preferences indicated by the user of the translation facility. First, the data is translated to a common format based on the user-specified mapping of data fields (identifying handheld and desktop fields to be translated) and considering the characteristics of the handheld or desktop computer application. Then, if the specific data item (such as an appointment, telephone book entry, or memo entry) already exists on the desktop computer application or platform, the user is optionally notified of the conflict and given the opportunity to replace the existing data, ignore the incoming data, or modify the incoming data. The criteria for determining the existence of conflicts is disclosed for updating schedule information and keyed databases. Claims What is claimed is: Description REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
______________________________________
Date 3 1-byte integers
Start Time 2-byte integer
End Time 2-byte integer
Alarm 1-byte integer
Description 27-byte ASCII string
Note 429-byte ASCII string
______________________________________
The preferred embodiment provides hard-coded record descriptors for the PHONE 103, SCHEDULE 105, TODO 107, DATA 109, and MEMO 111 applications provided by each of the supported handheld computers. In some cases the field names are obtained from the actual field names in the handheld computer's implementation and used as the field names for the target application. An example of this would be the DATA application in the programmable Psion Series 3 handheld computer. In a fourth method contemplated by the inventor but not implemented in the current embodiment, a data dictionary of the record structure can be coded into a text file, and the mapping step can read and interpret this text file much as it reads and interprets a database's data dictionary. Once the mapping facility has acquired an understanding of the fields of each of the two record structures, the next step is to establish the actual field mappings--for instance, to establish a correspondence between a PHONE 103 field of file format 1 and a FAX NUMBER 307 field of file format 2, and to determine the data conversion rule for mapping a datum of field PHONE to a datum of field FAX NUMBER 307, for instance "convert 3 2-byte integers to 10 ASCII characters." This is accomplished by a user, who is presented with a list of all the fields of each of the two record structures, and then asked to select corresponding names. It is sometimes preferable to not provide a mapping directly from the source application's file format to the destination application's file format, but to provide mappings from the source format to a COMMON RECORD STRUCTURE 200, and a mapping from the COMMON RECORD STRUCTURE 200 to the destination format. This case is most typical when one or both of the file formats are in the third brute-force category. The COMMON RECORD STRUCTURE 200 is typically chosen from one of the application programs' record structures. For instance, in the case of handheld computer PHONE 103 files, the program translates all PHONE 103 databases into the format used by the Sharp Wizard.RTM. handheld computer. The COMMON RECORD STRUCTUREs 300 are defined by the preferred embodiment for applications PHONE 103, SCHEDULE 105, TOD0 107, DATA 109, and MEMO 111. These formats generally are determined by the hardware characteristics of the handheld computer. They are hard-coded into the preferred embodiment for each handheld computer. PHONE 103 and DATA 109 are similar and provide for a single-keyed indexed database with multiple subfields allowed in non-indexed fields. Examples of the COMMON RECORD STRUCTUREs 300 are shown in FIG. 2 for applications PHONE 103, SCHEDULE 105, TODO 107, DATA 109, and MEMO 111. FIG. 3 shows an example of translation of data between the COMMON RECORD STRUCTURE 200, containing DATA RECORD1 361, DATA RECORD2 363,. . . DATA RECORDn 367 to various desktop applications such as a PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGER 121 containing PERSON 371 data fields (NAME 301, BUSINESS PHONE 303, HOME PHONE 305, FAX NUMBER 307, TITLE 309, COMPANY 311, STREET 313, CITY, STATE 315, ZIP 317, and NOTES 319), APPOINTMENT 373 data fields (DATE 321, START TIME 323, END TIME 325, ALARM 327, and DESCRIPTION 329), and TODO 375 data fields (DESCRIPTION 331, PRIORITY 333, DUE DATE 335, and DETAIL 337). FIG. 3 also shows the DTMAP 129 function which provides field mapping for a DATABASE MANAGER 123. The user of the preferred embodiment is allowed to specify the destination field that corresponds to each field in the handheld application database. As the translation takes place, the fields are mapped according to the user specification into the desktop application database. FIG. 4 shows an example of field mapping between an application's data 109 (FIELD1 401, FIELD2 403, FIELD3 405, FIELD4 407, FIELD5 409) of a HANDHELD COMPUTER 101, and a database manager application's data (CUSTOMER NAME 413, CUSTOMER NUMBER 415, ORDER DATE 417, QUANTITY 419, ITEM 421, and PRICE 423) of a DESKTOP COMPUTER 115. FIG. 5 shows an example of the preferred embodiment's screen display which allows the user to specify field mapping. In this example, the translation is between a handheld computer's TEL database and the PARADOX database. In FIG. 5a, the user has selected a handheld field from the TEL column, such as ADDRESS.sub.-- LINE2, and a desktop field from the PARADOX column, in this case QTY. The selection is made by clicking a mouse (or trackball, or other pointer device) on the two respective field names. In FIG. 5b, the mapping between these two fields is completed, denoted by the field name from the desktop database displayed in the middle mapping column next to the field name from the handheld database. The mapping is stored in a MAPPING database, which is referenced during the translation operation. The MAPPING database will be used during the translation process to determine where data from each field of the source application record is to be stored in the target application record. Each record of the MAPPING database describes all or part of the mapping of a single field of a handheld application's data file. In the case where a single field in the source database is to be mapped to multiple fields in the target database, multiple records will appear in the MAPPING database for that target field, with the "multiple field flag" set to TRUE. Because the mappings in the MAPPINGs database are bi-directional (i.e., the mappings are applicable both for handheld computer to desktop computer, and desktop computer to handheld computer), the appearance of multiple records in the MAPPING database with the "multiple field flag" can cause multiple fields from a source database to be combined in a single field in a target database. For instance, the example of FIG. 5 shows a case where one field in the handheld application (ADDRESS) can be mapped to eight fields in the desktop application by specifying mapping for ADDRESS.sub.-- LINE1 through ADDRESS.sub.-- LINE8. FIG. 9 shows the fields for the MAPPING database. "HH Type" specifies the handheld make/model, such as the Sharp Wizard, HP95LX Palmtop Computer, the Casio B.O.S.S., and the Psion Series 3. "HH Application" specifies the handheld application name, such as PHONE, SCHEDULE, or MEMO. "DT Application" specifies the desktop application name, such as PackRat, or dBASE. "DT File Name" specifies the name of the desktop database file, such as C:.backslash.SK2.backslash.ADDRESS.DB for the Sidekick 2.0 PHONE/ADDRESS application. "HH File Name" specifies the name of handheld database file such as C:.backslash..sub.-- DAT.sub.-- IL.PBK for the name of the file to be used by the PHONE application on the HP95LX. "Record Number" specifies the unique record id of the record in the MAPPING database which is required by the preferred embodiment for record uniqueness from a processing standpoint. "HH Field Name" specifies the name of the handheld field and subfield number for each mapping record, such as ADDRESS.sub.-- LINE3. "DT Field Name" specifies the field name within "DT File Name", such as BUSINESS PHONE. "Multiple Field flag" is an indicator that "HH Field Name" is a member of a group of multiple fields to be mapped to/from a single physical field. "Number of HH Fields" specifies the number of real handheld fields in the handheld computer, which is information needed by the preferred embodiment (manually provided in the preferred embodiment). "Field Type" specifies the field type of "DT Field Name", such as A025 for ASCII, 25 bytes. "Number of Keys", specifies the number of fields in the desktop database manager's database. The MAPPING database is created using an off-the-shelf database manager; in the preferred embodiment it is Paradox or C-Tree. At MAPPING database creation time, the above fields are defined. Each handheld application is introduced to the MAPPING database by manually entering the "HH Type", "HH Application", DT Application", "Record Number", "HH Field Name", "Multiple Field flag", "Number of HH Fields", and "Number of Fields" fields "DT File Name" and HH File Name" are created dynamically during mapping by the preferred embodiment. For some desktop applications, such as Polaris PackRat, the "DT Field Name" and "Field Type" are manually entered into the MAPPING database. For some other desktop applications such as Paradox, the Paradox Engine can be used to query a Paradox database to provide the "DT Field Name" and "Field Type". Pseudocode for the specification of field mapping of data between the handheld computers and the desktop computer is shown in TABLE 1. The code implementing this is on pages 60-65 of the microfiche appendix.
TABLE 1
______________________________________
Pseudocode for Specification of Field Mapping of Data
between Handheld and Desktop Applications
______________________________________
101 Open MAPPING database
102 Display handheld field names
103 IF mapping previously specified
104 Display previous desktop field mappings
105 DO UNTIL user presses OK button
106 IF user specifies a handheld field to re-map
107 Display desktop fields which are eligible for
mapping
108 Ask user for desktop field to map
109 Update desktop field table for specified
handheld field
110 Display new desktop field mapping
111 END IF
112 IF user specifies Cancel
113 Exit
114 END DO UNTIL user presses OK button
115 Write new MAPPING database
______________________________________
The preferred embodiment allows the use of one-to-many field mappings and many-to-one field mappings. One-to-many means that a single text field in the handheld application's data file can contain several pieces of data, delimited by special characters, which will be translated to multiple fields in the desktop applications data file. Many-to-one means that the reverse translation will take place. The one-to-many and many-to-one relationships are accomplished in the preferred embodiment by specifying multiple mapping records in the MAPPING database for a single field in either the handheld computer or the desktop application. These records are marked specially as multiple-field-mappings for the translation process. Multiple-string fields are noted in the hard-coded description of the record structure (method 3). Future implementations will allow the user to specify that a field has multiple subfields on a point-and-click menu. In the preferred embodiment, the user is presented with a screen as shown in FIG. 5 which displays the selections available for mapping. If the user wishes to establish mappings from the handheld ADDRESS 205-209 field in the PHONE 103 application to a desktop Paradox database with fields such as TITLE 309, COMPANY 311, STREET 313, CITY, STATE 315, and ZIP 317, he is presented with subfields ADDRESS.sub.-- Line1 205, ADDRESS.sub.-- Line2 207, . . ., ADDRESS.sub.-- LineN 209 fields for mapping. He then selects the subfield of ADDRESS.sub.-- Line1 205 by clicking on the ADDRESS.sub.-- Line1 205 and selects the desktop target field TITLE 309. He then selects the subfield of ADDRESS.sub.-- Line2 207 by clicking on the ADDRESS.sub.-- Line2 207 and selects the desktop target field COMPANY 311. The process is repeated for each handheld subfield and desktop target field. The above process results in six records in the MAPPING database; the first maps ADDRESS.sub.-- Line1 205 to TITLE 309, ADDRESS.sub.-- Line2 207 to COMPANY 311, ADDRESS.sub.-- Line3 to STREET 313, ADDRESS.sub.-- Line4 to CITY 315, ADDRESS.sub.-- Line5 to STATE 315, and ADDRESS.sub.-- Line6 to ZIP 317. Special coding in the preferred embodiment handles the CITY, STATE pairing. These records will be used by the translation process to map the six subfields in the ADDRESS field of each record from the handheld computer to the six desktop fields in each target record in the desktop computer. The first step in the use of the mapping and translation facilities described is to copy data from a desktop computer to a handheld, or vice-versa. FIG. 2 shows a handheld computer application HHCOMM 113 transferring PHONE 103 data fields (NAME 201, NUMBER 203, ADDRESS 205, etc.), SCHEDULE 105 data fields (DATE 211, START TIME 213, END TIME 215, ALARM 217, and DESCRIPTION 219), TODO 107 data fields (PRIORITY 221, DUE DATE 223, and DESCRIPTION 225), DATA 109 data fields (FIELD1 227, FIELD2 229, . . . FIELDn 231), and MEMO 111 data fields (DESCRIPTION 233 and TEXT 235) to desktop computer application DTCOMM 117, which reads and translates the handheld computer data to the COMMON RECORD STRUCTURE 200 containing DATA RECORD1 237, DATA RECORD2 239, . . . DATA RECORDn 243. Once the mapping has been specified and the data transferred, the translation may take place. The translation process for PHONE 103 and DATA 109 handheld data to database manager databases is controlled by the MAPPING database. Each record represents a field or subfield of the handheld computer's data. The mapping is performed to fields in the desktop application's database based on the field names of the desktop's application. The MAPPING database for the data in FIG. 4 would contain records as shown in FIG. 10. In this case, FIELD1 data from the handheld would be mapped to the CUSTNAME field of the desktop application, FIELD2 data from the handheld would be mapped to CUSTNO, FIELD3L1 data would be mapped to ITEM, FIELD3L2 data would be mapped to QTY, FIELD3L3 data would be mapped to PRICE, and FIELD3L4 data would be mapped to ORDDATE. In this mapping, FIELD3 of the handheld computer is a multiple-field mapping. FIELD3 has four subfields which are mapped to four fields in the desktop computer database. Pseudocode for typical application-specific translation of keyed PHONE 103 or DATA 109 files between handheld applications and desktop applications is shown in TABLE 2. The code implementing this in the preferred embodiment is on pages 65-66, 102-106, 179-187, 203-206, and 237-246 of the microfiche appendix.
TABLE 2
______________________________________
Pseudocode for Translating PHONE 103 or DATA 109 files
______________________________________
101 Read MAPPING database
102 Build mapping structure for translation
103 DO UNTIL last handheld input record has been read
104 Read handheld input record
105 DO FOR each handheld input field
106 Perform translations such as conversion
from handheld computer binary format to 12-
hour ASCII AM/PM format (specific to each
handheld computer)
107 Build output field or multiple fields when
there are multiple mapping records per field
(one-to-many)
108 END DO FOR each input field
109 Write output record
110 END DO UNTIL all input data records have been read
______________________________________
In Step 102 of TABLE 2, the mapping structure is an internal data structure presenting the information needed for translation from the MAPPING database, containing the name, format, mapping, and multiple-field-mapping characteristics of each field. The process of building these data structures is accomplished by reading the MAPPING database and storing its data in the structure for reference during the translation. The structure is an internal image of the MAPPING database built to facilitate processing in the preferred embodiment. Step 105 through 108 iterates through records in the mapping structure. Step 105 is performed for each field of the handheld computer's data. Each handheld computer has its own format for its application data files. The data translations of step 106 are hard-coded into the translation facility of the preferred embodiment for each pair of source and destination data formats, as discussed earlier for the HP95LX handheld computer. An example is the conversion of the three single-byte integer fields in the HP95LX date to an ASCII-formatted date of mm/dd/yyyy. The year byte in the HP95LX format is number of years since 1900, so 1900 must be added to the single-byte integer (which has a maximum value of 255). In these data format conversions, the source bits differ from the destination bits, but the information--the meaning of those bits in the context of the record structure rules--is the same. Step 107 iterates through records in the mapping structure for fields in the handheld computer which have multiple-field-mapping characteristics. In this case, multiple mapping records will exist in the mapping structure (one for each subfield). If a field in the source file has been mapped to multiple fields in the destination, the splitting occurs by recognizing tabs as subfield separators in the first file. Conversely, if several fields in the source map to a single field in the destination, the strings of the source fields are catenated together into the destination field with tab separators. The danger presented by the above-described transfer and translation facilities is the classic consistency problem. Once data has been copied to two separate computers, different--and inevitably conflicting--updates may be applied to the two separate copies of the data. The user will often update the schedule he carries in his handheld computer, and the user's secretary may make changes to the desktop computer's data while the user is away. Dynamic reconciliation allows the user of the handheld computer to make changes to the handheld computer while away from the desktop computer and discover the effect of these changes when returning to the desktop computer. The dynamic reconciliation runs on the desktop computer during the translation process from the handheld computer to the desktop computer and usually includes mapping of files of different formats. FIG. 3 also shows the DTRECON 131 (Desktop Reconciliation) function which provides optional dynamic reconciliation of application-specific conflicts between incoming (handheld) data and existing (desktop) data, with capabilities to accept, ignore, or change incoming data. If a record from the handheld computer has a key which matches a record in the desktop computer, each handheld field of the record is compared to each desktop field. If they are different, the user is queried for resolution. FIG. 11 shows an example of data for a database manager's database in FIG. 4. In this case, when a translation takes place from the handheld computer database of user DATA 109 with fields FIELD1 401, FIELD2 403, FIELD3 405, FIELD4 407, and FIELD5 409 and a desktop computer application's data CUSTOMER NAME 413, CUSTOMER NUMBER 415, ORDER DATE 417, QUANTITY 419, ITEM 421, and PRICE 423 conflicts would result during the translation of handheld data records 2 and 5 because their FIELD3L2/QTY and FIELD3L3/PRICE fields are different for the same key (which is FIELD1/CUSTNAME). The user would be prompted to choose whether to accept the data from the handheld computer. The preferred embodiment allows the user to be optionally notified during translation if any of the existing data in the desktop application are different from the data in the handheld application. FIG. 7 shows an example of the preferred embodiment's screen display which allows the user to decide what to do about conflicts. In this case, the key field is Name. If a record exists in the desktop application with the same Name, the data in each field in the desktop is compared with the data from the handheld. If the data in any given field is different, the user may accept the update to the field, ignore it, or edit part or all of the incoming data in the record and write it to the desktop application's file. Note that the final result may be to update some fields of the desktop record and not others. An example of an application-specific technique is documented in TABLE 3 for the import of handheld computer DATA 109 to a desktop computer DATABASE MANAGER 123 which contains an earlier version of the data in the handheld computer. The preferred embodiment's code for this is on pages 110-111 and 246-248 of the microfiche appendix.
TABLE 3
______________________________________
Pseudocode for Reconciliation of Data for DATA 109
Application (occurs for each record during Translation, Step
105-108 in TABLE 2)
______________________________________
101 Query desktop application for existence of
handheld record key in desktop database
102 IF there is a desktop record with the same key
103 DO UNTIL all fields in the handheld record are
checked (based on mapping)
BEGIN
104 IF the handheld and desktop fields are unequal
105 Ask user to pick the handheld field, the
desktop field, or wishes to change the
handheld data and use the changed data
106 IF user wishes to change the handheld data
107 Update handheld field with changes
108 ELSE IF user selects handheld data
109 Update desktop field with handheld data
110 END IF
111 END IF
112 END DO
113 ELSE
114 create a desktop record from the handheld data
115 END IF
______________________________________
Step 101 utilizes either a database manager query or an inter-application communication facility to determine if there is a record in the target application with the same key. Steps 102 and 103 may involve translating the information of both records into a common record structure dissimilar to the record structures of both files. This translation may involve data format conversion of the fields, but the information of the fields--the meaning of the fields as interpreted under the record structure rules--is preserved. In this case, steps 107 and 109 involve another translation of the information into the correct record structure for writing to the handheld or desktop. The preferred embodiment also performs translation from the desktop computer to the handheld computer utilizing techniques similar to TABLE 2. TABLE 2 describes the translation process for a keyed database. Some applications such as the SCHEDULE 105 application do not have unique keys and have special characteristics. In this case, a different translation process is required. For example, in the preferred embodiment a single input record can generate multiple output records, such as repeating appointments. A repeating appointment typically is daily, weekly, monthly, etc. until a specified date, and with a description, for instance, "Branch Office Meeting" every Monday at 10:30 for the next two years. Pseudocode for typical translation of data between the handheld application and the desktop application for the SCHEDULE 105 application is shown in TABLE 4. The preferred embodiment's code implementing this is on pages 97-102, 174-179, and 232-237 of the microfiche appendix.
TABLE 4
______________________________________
Pseudocode for Translation of SCHEDULE 105 files
______________________________________
101 Open handheld file obtained from handheld application
102 Establish communication with the desktop application
utilizing inter-application communication or a
database manager, as appropriate
103 DO UNTIL last handheld record has been processed
104 IF the handheld record is a repeating appointment
105 DO UNTIL all repeating appointments are created
106 Create desktop appointment record
107 END DO
108 END IF
109 Translate appointment data
110 IF the user requested notification of conflicts
111 Check SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 for conflict
112 IF conflict exists
113 Ask the user to accept/ignore/change record
114 END IF
115 END IF
116 END DO
______________________________________
Some applications such as the SCHEDULE 105 application have (possibly non-unique) range keys, rather than the unique point keys assumed in the reconciliation process of TABLE 3. In this case, the preferred implementation utilizes a special technique which performs reconciliation based upon the date and time of appointments. This type of reconciliation is not field-by-field as in a keyed database; it is based on the entire information of the appointment record being evaluated and compared to the existing overall schedule on the desktop. The technique requires a SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 which contains all existing appointments in the SCHEDULE 105 data. An example of data in the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 is shown in FIG. 6 (DATE 211, START TIME 213, END TIME 215, ALARM 217, DESCRIPTION 219). This table is searched for each incoming appointment to determine if there is a conflict in scheduling between the incoming appointment and all existing appointments in the desktop schedule. For example, if an appointment from the handheld computer had a DATE 211 of Dec. 15, 1991, a START TIME 213 of 10:00 AM, and an END TIME 215 of 11:30 AM, the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 would indicate to the preferred embodiment that there is a conflict with the second appointment in the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 which shows an appointment on Dec. 15, 1991 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. All times are converted to a 24-hour format to ease comparison. If an appointment shows an identical DATE 211, START TIME 213, END TIME 215, and DESCRIPTION 219, there is no conflict and the incoming appointment is ignored. The preferred embodiment of the SCHEDULE RECONCILIATION facility creates a SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 by requesting all appointments for today and the future from the desktop schedule application. For example, the preferred embodiment utilizes Windows 3.0's Dynamic Data Exchange facility to request all schedule items from the desktop personal information manager Polaris PackRat. This results in a complete evaluation of all existing appointments in the desktop schedule. The resultant data are then used to build the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 in the memory of the desktop computer. The SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601, an example of which is shown in FIG. 6, is used for comparison during the translation of schedule data from the handheld computer. Another method of querying schedule information from a handheld computer involves running the schedule application as a slave of the schedule reconciliation program. The reconciliation program issues requests to the schedule application, and the schedule application presents the appointments one by one to the reconciliation program. The SCHEDULE RECONCILIATION facility then requests each appointment from the handheld schedule application by whatever access method is provided by the handheld application, and compares each appointment obtained from the handheld to the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE. If the handheld appointment is a repeating appointment, then it is expanded into multiple records, as far into the future as specified by the repeating appointment record. This can result in multiple records being produced in the destination file as the image of a single repeating appointment record in the source file. Schedule conflicts (or, more generally, conflicts between two records with range keys) can be of two kinds: either an inexact overlap conflict, or a difference conflict. An inexact overlap conflict is when two range keys overlap, but are not exactly the same: for instance, an appointment in the handheld's schedule database overlaps an appointment in the desktop's schedule database, but one begins or ends earlier than the other. A difference conflict is detected when the two range keys are exactly the same--the appointments begin and end at the same time--but the text describing the appointment differs in the two databases. A third kind of discrepancy arises when a range key in one database has no overlapping range key in the other database--for instance, an appointment was added in one schedule database but not the other. FIG. 8 shows an example of the preferred embodiment's screen display which allows the user to decide what to do about conflicts. In this case, the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 has been searched to determine if there is an appointment during any of the time between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM. There was an appointment named "Announcement" from 9:30 AM until 10:30 AM. The user may accept the new appointment, ignore it, or change the time or date of the incoming appointment and accept. If the data is changed, it will be re-checked for conflicts against the SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601. Pseudocode for typical application-specific reconciliation of data between the handheld computers and the desktop computer for the SCHEDULE 105 application is shown in TABLE 5. The preferred embodiment's implementation of this is on pages 101, 177-178, 235, and 284-288 of the microfiche appendix.
TABLE 5
______________________________________
Pseudocode for Reconciliation of Data for SCHEDULE 105
Application (Steps 106-117 of TABLE 5 occur for each record
during Translation, Step 111-115 in TABLE 4)
______________________________________
101 Establish communication with the desktop application
102 DO UNTIL last desktop Schedule has been queried
103 Read desktop schedule item
104 Add desktop schedule item to SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601
105 END DO
. . .
for each iteration of TABLE 4, Step 111-115
106 Look up handheld record's date and time range in
SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601
107 IF an item exists with overlapping date and time
108 IF the description is different
109 Ask the user to select Accept, Ignore, or Change
110 IF the user changes the handheld date or time
111 Restart DO UNTIL
112 IF the user selects Accept
113 Add the item to the desktop
114 END IF
115 END IF
116 END IF
117 END IF
______________________________________
TABLE 5 expands on the reconciliation section of TABLE 4, which describes the translation process for the SCHEDULE 105 application. First, the existing appointments in the desktop computer are requested from the desktop SCHEDULE 105 application. The SCHEDULE MAP TABLE 601 is built based on those appointments. This is done before any translation takes place. Then, each appointment from the handheld computer is evaluated based on DATE 211, START TIME 213, END TIME 215, and DESCRIPTION 219 to determine if any overlapping time exists. If there is any overlap and the DATE 211, START TIME 213, END TIME 215, and DESCRIPTION 219s are not exactly equal, the user is queried for resolution. The resultant appointments are stored on the desktop via either a database manager or inter-application communication facility. The discussion of the preferred embodiment concentrated on the mapping, transfer and reconciliation of data from a handheld computer to a desktop. The same techniques can be applied to map, transfer and reconcile data from a desktop to a handheld, between two desktop computers, or between handheld computers, or between applications on the same computer. Because each model of handheld computer is slightly different in the way it communicates with a desktop, the preferred embodiment includes a small communciations component, 113 of FIG. 1, that must be customized to each handheld computer. Directions for using the preferred embodiment with each handheld computer differs; two editions of the owner's manual, for the Sharp Wizard.RTM. and the Hewlett-Packard HP95-LX, are attached as appendices one and two. Many other embodiments of the invention are within the following claims.
|
Same subclass Same class Consider this |
||||||||||