Granted Patent B1

US 8,156,074 · App. 09/491,675 · Granted Apr 10, 2012

Abstract

Claims (30)

1. A data synchronization system for a first system having a plurality of data sources each with a data source format, and a second system having a plurality of data sources each with a data source format; comprising:

a first data synchronizer on the first system transmitting at least one set of difference information to an output;

a second data synchronizer on the second system capable of receiving said at least one set of difference information; and

a network for coupling the first file system and the second file system to allow communication between the first file system and the second file system when the first and second file systems are physically remote from each other,

wherein each said data synchronizer comprises:

a data source interface;

a copy of a previous state of each said data source;

a source data constructor applying difference information to said copy; and

a difference information generator.

2. The data synchronization system of claim 1 wherein said difference information is transmitted from said first synchronizer to said second synchronizer in a universal format.

3. The data synchronization system of claim 1 wherein said data synchronizer includes a plurality of difference source interfaces, each corresponding to a data source format.

4. A data synchronization system, comprising:

a server;

a network to which the server is operatively coupled;

a first system having a plurality of data file types;

a differencing synchronizer on the first system extracting a first set of differencing data from the data files on the first system when the data files on the system are changed, outputting the differencing data to the server, and retrieving differencing data from the server and applying it to selected data files on the first system;

at least one second system having a second plurality of data file types; and

a differencing synchronizer on the second system extracting the differencing data from the data files on the second system when the data files on the system are changed, outputting the differencing data to the server via the network, and retrieving the first set of differencing data from the server via the network and applying it to the selected data files on the second system.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said systems are coupled via the Internet.

6. The data synchronization system of claim 4 wherein said first system is a server and said second system is a device capable of communicating with said server.

7. A method for synchronizing at least a first file and a second file resident on a first and a second systems, respectively, comprising:

(a) determining difference data resulting from changes to a first file on the first system, comprising comparing data from the first file to a copy of a previous state of data from the first file;

(b) transmitting the difference information to a remote second system via a network;

(c) applying the difference information to generate change data for the second file; and

(d) updating the second file on the second system with the difference data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said comparing step comprises extracting data from said first file, converting said data to a universal file format, providing said copy of said data in said universal format, and comparing said data and said copy to provide difference data in said universal format.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said step of applying comprises:

constructing new file data for said second file in said universal data format.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said step of updating comprises translating said new file data into a format of said second file.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the network is the Internet.

Assignments (9)