Resolving conflicts during synchronization of document objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12493586-B2
Application number	US-202218579224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2022
Priority date	Jul 15, 2021
Publication date	Dec 9, 2025
Grant date	Dec 9, 2025

Abstract

The invention relates to a method implemented by a first device (DV 1 ) cooperating with a cloud (CL) of at least one server for resolving a synchronization conflict over different versions of a document object comprising at least one content file and one object descriptor file (ODF 1 ). The method comprising obtaining a first version of the document object; performing a first synchronization phase comprising sending the first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file, independently of the first version of the content file, to the cloud (CL); performing a second synchronization phase for resolving the conflict by re-sending the first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file of the first device (DV 1 ) to the cloud (CL); performing a third synchronization phase subsequent to the second synchronization phase, comprising sending the first version of the content file to the cloud (CL) for storing said first version of content file.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method, implemented by a first device (DV 1 ), for managing different versions of a document object (DO 1 , DO 2 ) in cooperation with a cloud (CL), wherein each version of said document object comprises at least one content file and one object descriptor file, said content file comprising a content and said object descriptor file comprising at least one object descriptor defining said content, wherein said object descriptor file comprises a version history, said method comprising:
storing (S 10 ) a first version of the document object comprising a first version (CF 1 ) of the content file and a first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file, said first version of the object descriptor file comprising a first version history (H 1 ) defining at least one previous version of said document object on which basis the first version of the document object has been created; retrieving a second version history (H 2 ) comprised in a second version (ODF 2 ) of the object descriptor file currently stored as part of a second version of the document object in the cloud, said second version history defining at least one previous version of said document object on which basis the second version of the document object has been created; performing a comparison of the first and second version histories (H 1 , H 2 ) to determine whether any of the first and second versions (DO 1 , DO 2 ) of the document object originates from the other; if it is detected, based on the comparison of the first and second version histories (H 1 , H 2 ), that the first version (DO 1 ) of the document object originates from the second version (DO 2 ) of the document object while the second version (DO 2 ) of the document object does not originate from the first version (DO 1 ) of the document object, sending the first version (CF 1 ) of the content file to the cloud, independently of the first version of the object descriptor file, to cause the cloud to store said first version of the content file; determining a first unique identifier (CID 1 ) which is stored by the cloud (CL) in association with the first version (CF 1 ) of the content file; retrieving a unique identifier (CID 2 ) currently stored in the cloud (CL) in association with a version of the content file; detecting a file mismatch conflict if the retrieved unique identifier (CID 2 ) does not match the first unique identifier (CID 1 ); and resolving the file mismatch conflict by sending the first version (CF 1 ) of the content file for causing said cloud (CL) to re-store said first version of the content file.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: sending the first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file to the cloud for causing said cloud to store said first version of the object descriptor file.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
if it is detected, based on the comparison of the first and second version histories (H 1 , H 2 ), that the second version (DO 2 ) of the document object originates from the first version (DO 1 ) of the document object, obtaining a second version (CF 2 ) of the content file currently stored as part of the second version of the document object in the cloud for storing by the first device.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
if it is detected, based on the comparison of the first and second version histories (H 1 , H 2 ), that none of the first and the second versions of the document object originates from the other, performing a resolution phase comprising: retrieving the second version (DO 2 ) of the document object currently stored in the cloud; obtaining a copy of the first version of the document object (DO 1 ) by duplicating said first version of the document object and sending said copy to the cloud for causing storing of said copy by the cloud; and storing simultaneously the first and second versions (DO 1 , DO 2 ) of the document object.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
selecting, based on a user-defined instruction obtained by the first device, one of the first and second versions which is maintained in a local memory of the first device while the other non-elected version is deleted from said local memory.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the version histories of the first and second versions of the document object comprise at least one signature for authenticating a previous version of the document object.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the version histories of the first and second versions of the document object comprise, in association with said at least one signature, at least one timestamp representative of a modification time of said previous version.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein said storing a first version of the document object comprising a first version (CF 1 ) of the content file and a first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file comprises:
acquiring a first handwriting input for modifying an initial version (DOO) of the document object initially stored by the first device, said initial version of the document object comprising an initial version of the content file and an initial version of the object description file; and generating the first version (DO 1 ) of the document object by updating the initial version of the document object based on the first handwriting input.

9 . A method, implemented by a system (SY 1 ) comprising a first device and a second device (DV 1 , DV 2 ), for synchronizing different versions (DO 1 , DO 2 ) of a document object in cooperation with a cloud (CL), wherein each version of said document object comprises at least one content file and one object descriptor file, said content file comprising a content and said object descriptor file comprising at least one object descriptor defining said content,
wherein said object descriptor file comprises a version history, wherein the first and second devices (DV 1 , DV 2 ) synchronize the different versions (DO 1 , DO 2 ) of the document object by cooperating respectively with the cloud in accordance with the method of claim 1 .

10 . A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to carry out a method claimed in claim 1 .

11 . A non-transitory storage medium carrying instructions of program code for executing the method claimed in claim 1 .

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending comprises sending the first unique identifier (CID 1 ) along with the first version (CF 1 ) of the content file to the cloud to cause the cloud to store the first unique identifier in association with the first version of the content file.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining is performed by receiving, in response to the sending the first version (CF 1 ) of the content file to the cloud, the first unique identifier (CID 1 ) assigned by the cloud in association with the first version (CF 1 ) of the content file.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first unique identifier (CID 1 ) which is stored by the cloud in association with the first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file; retrieving a unique identifier (CID 2 ) currently stored in the cloud (CL) in association with a version of the object descriptor file; detecting a file mismatch conflict if the unique identifier (CID 2 ) retrieved does not match the first unique identifier (CID 1 ); and resolving the file mismatch conflict by sending the first version (ODF 1 ) of the object descriptor file version for

Assignees

• Myscript

Inventors

• Guiavarc'H Jean-Nicolas
• Potage Luc
• Aujay Guillaume
• Coulon Cédric

Classifications

• G06F16/275

  Synchronous replication · CPC title

• G06F16/219

  Managing data history or versioning (querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477) · CPC title

• G06F16/27

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

• G06F16/2358

  Change logging, detection, and notification (replication G06F16/27) · CPC title

• G06F16/1873

  Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files · CPC title