Content management client synchronization service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10776386-B2
Application number	US-201815868505-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2018
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

The disclosed technology relates to a system configured to compute a difference between a local tree data structure representing a file system state for content items associated with a user account on the computing system and a sync tree data structure representing a known synchronization state between a content management system and the computing system. The system is configured to generate, based on the difference, a set of operations that when performed update the content items stored on the content management system to converge a server state for content items associated the user account on the content management system and the file system state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for synchronizing modifications to content items on a client device to a user account on a content management system, the method comprising:
computing a difference between a local tree data structure representing a file system state for content items associated with the user account on the client device and a sync tree data structure representing a known synchronization state between the content management system and the client device; and
generating, based on the difference, a set of operations that when performed update the content items stored on the content management system to converge a server state represented by a remote tree data structure for content items associated the user account on the content management system and the file system state.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising executing the set of operations.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the local tree data structure and the sync tree data structure are stored on the client device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the client device, client modification data for content items stored on the client device; and
updating, based on the client modification data, the local tree.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising updating, based on the client modification data, the sync tree.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the content management system, server modification data for content items stored by the content management system; and
updating, based on the server modification data, the remote tree data structure.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising updating, based on the server modification data, the sync tree.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
computing a second difference between the remote tree data structure representing the server state for content items associated with the user account on the content management system and the sync tree data structure representing the known synchronization state between the content management system and the client device; and
generating, based on the second difference, a second set of operations that when performed on the client device update the content items stored on the client device to converge a file system state on the client device and the server state.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising managing execution of the second set of operations.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the remote tree data structure is stored on the client device.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to:
compute a difference between a local tree data structure representing a file system state for content items associated with a user account on the computing system and a sync tree data structure representing a known synchronization state between a content management system and the computing system; and
generate, based on the difference, a set of operations that when performed update the content items stored on the content management system to converge a server state represented by a remote tree data structure for content items associated the user account on the content management system and the file system state.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein instructions further cause the computing system to execute the set of operations.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the local tree data structure and the sync tree data structure are stored on the computing system.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein instructions further cause the computing system to:
receive, from the computing system, client modification data for content items stored on the computing system; and
update, based on the client modification data, the local tree.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein instructions further cause the computing system to update, based on the client modification data, the sync tree.

16. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
compute a difference between a local tree data structure representing a file system state for content items associated with a user account on the system and a sync tree data structure representing a known synchronization state between a content management system and the system; and
generate, based on the difference, a set of operations that when performed update the content items stored on the content management system to converge a server state represented by a remote tree data structure for content items associated the user account on the content management system and the file system state.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein instructions further cause the one or more processors to execute the set of operations.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the local tree data structure and the sync tree data structure are stored on the system.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
receive, from the computing system, client modification data for content items stored on the computing system; and
update, based on the client modification data, the local tree.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein instructions further cause the one or more processors to update, based on the client modification data, the sync tree.

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Goldberg Isaac
• Jayakar Sujay
• Lai John
• Ying Robert
• Koorapati Nipunn
• Gupta Gautam
• Song Geoffry
• Jubb Iv Elmer Charles

Classifications

• G06F16/27 Primary

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/11 Primary

  File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations G06F11/14) · CPC title

• H04L67/01

  Protocols · CPC title

• G06F16/1767

  Concurrency control, e.g. optimistic or pessimistic approaches · CPC title

• G06F16/1734

  Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs · CPC title