Data transport by named content synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9400800-B2
Application number	US-201213681306-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2012
Priority date	Nov 19, 2012
Publication date	Jul 26, 2016
Grant date	Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

A collection-synchronizing system synchronizes a local data collection with a remote device. During operation, the system can detect the remote device, and receives collection summaries for one or more data collections stored at the remote device. A collection summary can include at least one additive hash value that represents one or more content items of a data collection. Then, for a data collection that exists at the local device and the remote device, the system compares a remote additive hash value for the remote data collection with a local additive hash value for the local data collection. If the system determines that the local additive hash value does not match the remote additive hash value, the system synchronizes structured names for the data collection at the local device and the remote device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by a local computing device over a computer network, collection summaries for one or more data collections at a remote device, wherein a respective collection summary includes only a current additive hash value for each data collection, wherein a respective additive hash value represents a sum of hash values for two or more content items of a corresponding data collection;
comparing, for a local data collection that also exists at the remote device, a current local additive hash value for a current version of the local data collection to a current remote additive hash value for a current version of the corresponding remote data collection at the remote device;
in response to determining that the current remote additive hash value does not match the current local additive hash value, comparing the current remote additive hash value to one or more historical local additive hash values that were generated for a previous version of the local data collection; and
in response to determining that the current remote additive hash value matches a historical local additive hash value for the local collection, sending, to the remote device over the computer network, structured names for content items that have been added to the local data collection after the matching historical local additive hash value was generated.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising synchronizing structured names for the local data collection with the remote device, wherein synchronizing the structured names involves:
comparing the current remote additive hash value to one or more historical local additive hash values for the local data collection; and
responsive to determining that the received current remote additive hash value does not match a historical local additive hash value for the local data collection:
determining a set difference between hash values for content items in the local and remote data collections;
determining, based on the hash values of the set difference, structured names for content items from the local data collection that are missing from the remote device's data collection; and
sending, to the remote device, the structured names for the identified content items.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a filter from the remote device, wherein the filter indicates selection criteria for selecting content items that are desired by the remote device;
determining, from the local data collection, a set of content items that satisfy the filter's selection criteria;
generating the current local additive hash value using the content items that satisfy the filter's selection criteria; and
synchronizing structured names for the local data collection with the remote device, wherein synchronizing the structured names involves:
generating a filtered collection of content items that includes, from the content items that satisfy the filter's selection criteria, one or more content items that are missing from the remote data collection; and
sending structured names, for content items in the filtered collection, to the remote device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, to the remote device, a collection summary for the local data collection;
receiving structured names for one or more content items stored in the remote data collection that are not in the local data collection; and
storing the received structured names in the local data collection.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
sending an interest packet for at least one of the received structured names, wherein the interest packet facilitates receiving a content item identified by the structured name from any computing device of a computer network that stores the content item.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
responsive to synchronizing the structured names, generating one or more additive hash values for the local data collection based on the received structured names for the content items that are not in the local data collection.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local data collection includes one or more nested hash values, wherein a nested hash value indicates a hash value for a content item of the local data collection or for a nested collection of content items of the local data collection; and
wherein the received collection summary further includes one or more nested hash values of the remote data collection.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving, over a computer network, collection summaries for one or more data collections at a remote device, wherein a respective collection summary includes only a current additive hash value for each data collection, wherein a respective additive hash value represents a sum of hash values for two or more content items of a corresponding data collection;
comparing, for a local data collection that also exists at the remote device, a current local additive hash value for a current version of the local data collection to a current remote additive hash value for a current version of the corresponding remote data collection at the remote device;
in response to determining that the current remote additive hash value does not match the current local additive hash value, comparing the current remote additive hash value to one or more historical local additive hash values that were generated for a previous version of the local data collection; and
in response to determining that the current remote additive hash value matches a historical local additive hash value for the local collection, sending, to the remote device over the computer network, structured names for content items that have been added to the local data collection after the matching historical local additive hash value was generated.

9. The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises synchronizing structured names for the local data collection with the remote device, and wherein synchronizing the structured names involves:
comparing the current remote additive hash value to one or more historical local additive hash values for the local data collection; and
responsive to determining that the received current remote additive hash value does not match a historical local additive hash value for the local data collection:
determining a set difference between hash values for content items in the local and remote data collections;
determining, based on the hash values of the set difference, structured names for content items from the local data collection that are missing from the remote device's data collection; and
sending, to the remote device, the structured names for the identified content items.

10. The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a filter from the remote device, wherein the filter indicates selection criteria for selecting content items that are desired by the remote device;
determining, from the local data collection, a set of content items that satisfy the filter's selection criteria;
generating the current local additive hash value using the content items that satisfy the filter's selection criteria; and
synchronizing structured names for the local data collection with the remote device, wherein synchronizing the structured names involves:
generating a filtered collection of content items that includes, from the content items that satisfy the filter's selection criteria, one or more content items that are missing from the remote data collection; and
sending structured names, for con

Assignees

• Palo Alto Res Ct Inc

Inventors

• Jacobson Van L
• Mosko Marc E

Classifications

• G06F16/178 Primary

  Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems · CPC title

• H04L67/1095

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• G06F17/30174 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic