KR100467627B1 - Method of synchronizing data, and the apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data synchronization method and apparatus thereof, wherein the data synchronization method comprises: (a) a data synchronization method for synchronizing data of a terminal with data to be synchronized stored in a data table in a data synchronization device; Determining whether the first terminal is synchronized; (b) identifying a data structure of the terminal if the first synchronization is performed; (c) expanding the data structure of the data table to accommodate the data structure of the terminal; And (d) synchronizing the terminal data with data stored in the data table. The data synchronization method and apparatus according to the present invention provide an effect of easily synchronizing data even when the data structure of the terminal to be synchronized is different, and synchronizing with a terminal having no function of generating a synchronization flag. do.

Description

Method of synchronizing data, and the apparatus therefor}

The present invention relates to a data synchronization method and apparatus for synchronizing data of a terminal.

As portable personal communication devices, various terminals such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), PCS (Personal Communications Services), and portable computers have been popularized. These terminals are not only capable of data communication, but also provide convenience to users by storing personal information such as address books, telephone numbers, and schedule management. On the other hand, as these terminals become widespread, each individual may have a plurality of terminals.

However, when some of the information stored in one terminal, for example, the stored telephone number, is changed, the user must also change the telephone number by operating each terminal. It is not a problem when the number of terminals to change the telephone number is small, but when the number is large, inconvenience of the user becomes large. Therefore, there is a need for unification of data among a plurality of terminals owned by a user, that is, data synchronization, and various data synchronization technologies have been developed for this purpose.

However, data synchronization has a problem that cannot be easily achieved due to the different structure of data stored by each terminal.

In addition, conventionally, data synchronization is performed by putting a synchronization flag on data, but there is a problem that synchronization cannot be performed when the terminal does not have a function of generating a synchronization flag.

Therefore, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is a data synchronization method that can easily perform data synchronization even if the data structure of each terminal is different, and can also be performed for a terminal that does not have a function for generating a synchronization flag and To provide the device.

1 is a schematic diagram of a data synchronization system according to the present invention;

2 is a block diagram illustrating a data synchronization device according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a data synchronization method according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment for describing the detailed steps of the forty-seventh step illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment for describing the detailed steps of the forty-seventh step illustrated in FIG. 3.

6A to 6C are diagrams for describing an example in which a structure of a data table is expanded;

7A to 7C are diagrams illustrating examples of a data table and an extended data table written in XML;

8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating an example of data stored in each buffer of the data synchronization device.

In order to achieve the above object, the data synchronization method according to the present invention,

A data synchronization method for synchronizing data of a terminal with data to be synchronized stored in a data table in a data synchronization device, the method comprising: (a) determining whether the terminal is the first terminal to be synchronized; (b) identifying a data structure of the terminal if the first synchronization is performed; (c) expanding the data structure of the data table to accommodate the data structure of the terminal; And (d) synchronizing the terminal data with data stored in the data table.

In addition, the data table is created as a markup document, the data structure of the data table including a plurality of data units is a contentized,

Step (c) is preferably a step of extending the data structure of the data table by using the data table created as a markup document.

In addition, step (d3) may include: (d3-1) searching each data unit corresponding to each other to perform synchronization among data of the data table and data of the terminal; (d3-2) generating a synchronization flag indicating a change of data for each data unit of the terminal by comparing the data of the terminal with previous data of the terminal previously stored in the synchronization device; And (d3-3) synchronizing the data of the data table with the data of the terminal using the synchronization flag included in each of the data units of the data table and the data units of the terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, the data synchronization device according to the present invention,

A data synchronization device for synchronizing stored synchronization target data with data of a terminal, comprising: a database unit for storing a data table in which the synchronization target data is recorded; An interface unit for interfacing with the terminal; And receiving predetermined information including synchronization target data from the terminal through the interface unit, and if it is determined that the terminal is a terminal to be synchronized for the first time, referring to a data format file including data structure information of the terminal previously stored. And a controller for identifying the data structure of the terminal, extending the data structure of the data table to accommodate the data structure of the terminal, and then synchronizing the data stored in the data table with the terminal data.

In addition, the data table is created as a markup document, and the data structure of the data table including a plurality of data units is contentized, and the control unit uses the data table created as a markup document to form the data table. It is desirable to extend the data structure of.

The data synchronization device may further include a first buffer configured to store synchronization target data input from the terminal; And a second buffer configured to store data corresponding to data to be synchronized of the terminal among the data recorded in the data table, wherein the database unit further stores previous data of the terminal, and the controller controls the first data. Search respective data units corresponding to each other to be synchronized among the synchronization target data of the terminal and data of the data table respectively stored in the buffer and the second buffer, and the terminal previously stored in the data of the terminal and the database unit. Comparing previous data of the terminal, generating a synchronization flag indicating a change of data for each data unit of the terminal, and using the synchronization flag included in each of the data units of the data table and each of the data units of the terminal; Table data and above It is more preferably characterized in that the synchronization of data in the end.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram of a data synchronization system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the data synchronization system includes a data synchronization device 1, a terminal 3 to be synchronized, and a cable 2 connecting the data synchronization device 1 to the terminal 3.

In the data synchronization system shown in FIG. 1, the data synchronization device 1 and the terminal 3 are connected by a cable 2, but the data synchronization device 1 is connected to other data through a network such as the Internet and a LAN. The terminals 3 may be interconnected.

2 is a block diagram for explaining a data synchronization device 1 according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the data synchronization device 1 includes a first buffer 11, a second buffer 13, a database unit 15, a controller 17, and an interface unit 19.

During data synchronization, the first buffer 11 stores synchronization target data stored in the database unit 15 under the control of the controller 17 to provide a memory space for data synchronization.

The second buffer 13 stores the synchronization target data of the terminal 3 received through the cable 2 during data synchronization, and provides the memory space for data synchronization by the controller 17.

The database unit 15 stores a data table (not shown) in which synchronization data for each of a plurality of users and a plurality of terminals to be synchronized are recorded.

The controller 17 controls the first buffer 11, the second buffer 13, the database 15, and the interface 19 to perform data synchronization according to the present invention.

The interface unit 19 is connected to the terminal 3 via a cable 2 to perform an interface with the terminal 3.

Hereinafter, the data synchronization process performed by the data synchronization device shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a data synchronization method according to the present invention.

The data synchronization device 1 and the terminal 3 on which data synchronization is to be connected are connected to each other via a cable 2 (step 41).

The controller 17 of the data synchronization device 1 checks whether the terminal 3 is the first terminal connected for synchronization (step 42).

If it is the first terminal connected for synchronization, the data structure of the terminal 3 is determined (step 43). The controller 17 receives the synchronization target data stored in the terminal 3 and stores the synchronization target data in the database unit 15. The data of the stored terminal 3 is also called history. The history is later used to generate a synchronization flag in the synchronization target data of the terminal 3 upon resynchronization of the terminal 3.

The controller 17 also searches for a data format file (not shown) in which information including data structure information and sync facts of the terminal 3 prestored in the database unit 15 is recorded and the terminal 3 is searched. Data structure information and sink facts are received and stored in the database unit 15. A sync fact is an item that indicates what data fields are the same when comparing data.

The controller 17 grasps the data structure of the terminal 3 according to the data structure information recorded in the data format file of the terminal 3.

The controller 17 expands the data structure of the data table to accommodate the data structure of the terminal 3 (step 44).

6A to 6C are diagrams for describing an example in which a structure of a data table is expanded.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a data table 15a stored in the database unit 15 before the data structure is expanded by the control unit 17. FIG.

The data table 15a represents a part of the address book of a specific user. That is, the data table 15a records home telephones, cell phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of people A, B, and C, respectively. Herein, data belonging to each of A, B, and C is called a data unit, and each data unit is composed of a plurality of data fields. Data synchronization is performed on a data unit basis. Although not shown, each data unit is included in a branch indicating the type of data. The classification indicates, for example, whether the data unit represents an address book or a schedule management.

6B is a diagram illustrating synchronization target data stored in the terminal 3. Referring to FIG. 6B, the terminal 3 stores a home telephone number, an e-mail address, and an address of a person D as an address book of the specific user.

FIG. 6C is a diagram showing a data table 15b in which the data structure is extended by the controller 17 to accommodate the data structure of the terminal 3 of FIG. 6B. Each data unit of A, B, and C has a new data field indicating its address and is empty because there is no data value. D's data unit is empty because it adds a data field to represent the mobile phone and also has no data values.

If the database structure is fixed, the data structure cannot be extended to accommodate the data structure of the new terminal as shown in Fig. 6C. In the present invention, a data table is created using a mark-up document to extend the data structure. The content structure of the data structure itself can be used to create a data table using a markup document, so that the data structure can be easily extended as the content can be freely changed.

7A to 7C are diagrams illustrating examples of a data table and an extended data table written in XML (eXtended Markup Language).

7A is an example of a data table written in XML and stored in the database unit 15.

In the data table of FIG. 7A, the classification identifier is "contact", that is, an address book, and there are two data units related to Hong Gil-dong and Kim Gap-dol, and each data unit has "name", "mobilephone", "phone", and "email" fields. .

FIG. 7B is an example of data stored in the terminal 3 in which data to be added to the data table is recorded in the form of a markup document.

The data has a classification identifier of "contact" or address book, and there is a data unit related to sexual orientation, and the data unit has "name", "phone", "email" and "address" fields. Compared with the data field of the data table, there is no "mobilephone" field and there is a "address" field instead.

FIG. 7C is an XML document showing a data table whose data structure is extended to accommodate data stored in the terminal 3 of FIG. 7B.

Like the data table 15b in which the data structure shown in FIG. 6C is extended, a "address" field indicating a new address has been added to each data unit for Hong Gil-dong and Kim Gab-dol, and there is no data value. The data unit for sexual orientation has a "mobilephone" field indicating a mobile phone and no data value.

In the above example of expanding the data table, a case where a new data field is added has been described. However, when data corresponding to a new classification that does not exist in the data table is stored in the terminal 3, a new classification is generated and each data field is created. . For example, in the data table, only data relating to an address book is present, but a classification identifier relating to schedule management is present in the terminal 3.

In this way, since the data table is constructed using the markup document, the data structure can be extended and changed, so that even if the terminal has a completely new data structure, the data synchronization device according to the present invention enables data synchronization.

When the structure of the data table is expanded in step 44, the controller 17 compares the data stored in the data table with the data of the terminal 3 based on the stored sync facts, searches for the same data unit, and excludes the same data unit. The data units are stored in the data table (step 45).

To determine whether the data unit is the same, a sync fact and an identical item validity count are used. That is, when the classification identifier is an address book, the sync fact is a name, a mobile phone number and an e-mail, and the same item criterion is set to 2. Therefore, if two of the sync fact name, mobile phone number and e-mail match, the same data unit is determined. Because there may be two persons with the same name, if two of three items are satisfied, they are regarded as the same data. If the phone number and e-mail are the same and the name is wrong, the same data is used. Because cell phone numbers and e-mails are viewed as one uniquely identifying key, they are treated as the same data using different names.

On the other hand, in the case of personal schedules, the sync fact is the date, time, place and purpose, and the same item's judgment count is set to three. Even if the date and time are the same, there may be a wrong purpose.

By identifying the same data unit, data units already present in the data table are not newly added to the data table. Therefore, even if a new terminal is connected to the data synchronization device and new data is input, the number of data units is not increased in the data table by the number of data units stored in the new terminal, but the data in the data table is less than or equal to the number of data units stored in the new terminal. The number of units increases.

After operation 45, synchronization between data of the data table and data of the terminal 3 is performed under the control of the controller 17 (step 46).

4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment for describing the detailed steps of the forty-seventh step illustrated in FIG. 3.

Although not separately illustrated in the drawing, first, the controller 17 reads data corresponding to the data structure of the terminal 3 from the data table of the database unit 15, stores the data in the first buffer 11, and stores the data in the first buffer 11. The synchronization target data received from the terminal is stored in the second buffer 13.

8A and 8B illustrate an example of data stored in the first buffer 11 and the second buffer 13.

FIG. 8A illustrates data stored in the first buffer 11 by the controller 17 reading data corresponding to the data structure of the terminal having the data structure of FIG. 6B from the data table of FIG. 6C.

FIG. 8B is a diagram in which data of a terminal having the same data structure as in FIG. 6B is stored in the second buffer 13.

After storing the data of the data synchronization device 1 and the data of the terminal 3 having the same data structure in the first buffer 11 and the second buffer 13, respectively, the controller 17 corresponds to the synchronization to be performed. Search for data units (step 46a).

If the ID does not exist in the data stored in the terminal 3, the same data unit must be found to determine the synchronization state. This is because in order to exchange information between the data of the terminal and the data of the central database, it is necessary to know which data units of both are coincident with each other.

When searching for the same data unit, all fields of the data unit are searched first with the same. Thereafter, the same item is searched for using the same item criterion (comparevalidcount) and the predetermined same item criterion (vaildcount) during a predetermined synchronization. The same item judgment count is as described above. When synchronizing, the same criteria criterion (comparevalidcount) is a number that is smaller than the same criteria criterion. For example, if the same item criterion is 2, the same item criterion is 1 when synchronizing to ease the criterion of equality. This is to prevent the case in which the values of some data fields constituting the sync fact are changed for some reason and are not recognized as the same data unit.

After operation 46a, the controller 17 performs synchronization by checking the synchronization state by using the synchronization flag included in each data unit corresponding to the synchronization target stored in the first buffer 11 and the second buffer 13 ( Step 46b).

A synchronization flag is included in the head of each data unit in FIGS. 8A and 8B. Comparing the synchronization flags of both, if the "sync" both means that the data unit has completed the synchronization, even if one side of the synchronization flag is not "sync" means that the data unit that needs to be synchronized.

If a particular data unit recorded in the data table of the data synchronization device, for example, a data unit relating to A in Fig. 8A, the synchronization flag is "change". When the synchronization flag is "change", it indicates that the data value of a field of the corresponding data unit is changed or the corresponding data unit itself is added. In this case, the controller 17 replaces the corresponding data unit of the second buffer 13 with the information of the corresponding data unit stored in the first buffer 11.

Looking at the data unit for C in FIG. 8A, the synchronization flag is "remove". A synchronization flag of "remove" indicates that the corresponding data unit should be deleted. In this case, the controller 17 deletes the corresponding data unit of the second buffer 13. The controller 17 deletes the corresponding data unit of the second buffer 13, and then changes the synchronization flag of the data unit related to C stored in the first buffer 11 to "afterremoveaction". The controller 17 deletes the corresponding data units from the data table when the synchronization flags of all the terminals to be synchronized, which are recorded in the data table, are changed from "remove" to "afterremoveaction".

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment for describing the detailed steps of the forty-seventh step illustrated in FIG. 3.

Among the detailed steps illustrated in FIG. 5, steps 46c and 46e are the same as steps 46a and 46b of FIG. 4, respectively. The difference is that when the terminal does not have a function of generating a synchronization flag in the data unit, a step of generating a synchronization flag in each data unit of the terminal is added in step 46d.

Referring to step 46d in more detail, the controller 17 compares the synchronization target data of the terminal stored in the second buffer with previous data (history) of the terminal 3 prestored in the database 15 to change the data. The generated data unit is identified to generate a synchronization flag for each data unit, and the generated synchronization flag is included in each data unit of the terminal stored in the second buffer.

Although not separately illustrated in FIG. 5, after data is synchronized by exchanging information between the first buffer 11 and the second buffer 13 using a synchronization flag, the data of the first buffer 11 is transferred to the data table. The data table is updated with the synchronized data, and the data stored in the second buffer 13 is transferred to the terminal 3 to synchronize the terminal 3.

After the synchronization is completed, the controller 17 stores the terminal data stored in the second buffer 13 instead of the previous data of the terminal 3 stored in the database 15 so that the terminal is stored in the database 15. Update the previous data of (3).

The invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and the like, and may also be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet). It includes being. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

As described above, the data synchronization method and apparatus according to the present invention can easily perform data synchronization by extending the data structure even if the data structure of the terminal on which the data synchronization is to be performed is different from that of the data stored in the data synchronization device. In addition, the synchronization flag may be generated by using the previous data of the terminal stored in advance, thereby providing an effect that synchronization can be performed even for a terminal having no synchronization flag generation function.

Claims (17)

A data synchronization method for synchronizing data of a terminal with data to be synchronized stored in a data table in a data synchronization device, (a) determining whether the terminal is the first terminal to be synchronized; (b) identifying a data structure of the terminal if the first synchronization is performed; (c) expanding the data structure of the data table to accommodate the data structure of the terminal; And (d) synchronizing the data stored in the data table with the terminal data. According to claim 1, Step (c) compares the data structure of the terminal with the data structure of the data table and adds a data classification and / or data field present in the data structure of the terminal but not present in the data table. Extending the data structure of the data table. According to claim 1, The data table is created as a markup document, and the data structure of the data table including a plurality of data units is made into a content; And (c) expanding the data structure of the data table using the data table created as a markup document. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) (d1) searching for the same data unit by comparing the data stored in the data table with the terminal data; And (d2) storing remaining data units except for the same data unit in the data table; And (d3) synchronizing the data stored in the data table with the terminal data. The method of claim 4, wherein The step (d1) is a step of retrieving the same data unit according to at least two or more identical items and a predetermined number of identical items. The method of claim 4, wherein step (d3) (d3-1) searching respective data units corresponding to each other to perform synchronization among data of the data table and data of the terminal; And (d3-2) synchronizing data of the data table with data of the terminal by using synchronization flags included in each of the data units of the data table and the data units of the terminal; Synchronization method. The method of claim 4, wherein step (d3) (d3-1) searching respective data units corresponding to each other to perform synchronization among data of the data table and data of the terminal; (d3-2) generating a synchronization flag indicating a change of data for each data unit of the terminal by comparing the data of the terminal with previous data of the terminal previously stored in the synchronization device; And (d3-3) synchronizing data of the data table with data of the terminal by using synchronization flags included in each of the data units of the data table and the data units of the terminal; Synchronization method. The method of claim 7, wherein step (d3) (d3-4) storing the synchronized data of the terminal in the synchronization device, The data of the terminal stored in the synchronization device is then used to generate a synchronization flag in the step (d3-2) at the time of synchronization of the terminal. In the data synchronization device for synchronizing the data of the terminal and the stored synchronization target data, A database unit for storing a data table in which the synchronization target data is recorded; An interface unit for interfacing with the terminal; And If predetermined information including synchronization target data is received from the terminal through the interface unit, and the terminal is determined to be the first terminal to be synchronized, the data format file including the data structure information of the terminal is stored in advance. And a controller for identifying the data structure of the terminal, extending the data structure of the data table to accommodate the data structure of the terminal, and then synchronizing the data stored in the data table with the terminal data. Device. The method of claim 9, The controller compares the data structure of the terminal with the data structure of the data table and adds a data classification and / or data field present in the data structure of the terminal but not present in the data table to add the data table to the data table. And a data structure for extending the data structure of the table. The method of claim 9, The data table is created as a markup document, and the data structure of the data table including a plurality of data units is made into a content; And the controller extends the data structure of the data table using the data table created as a markup document. The method of claim 9, The controller compares the data of the terminal and the data recorded in the data table to search for the same data unit, stores the remaining data units except for the same data unit in the data table, and stores the data stored in the data table and the terminal. A data synchronization device, characterized in that for synchronizing data. The method of claim 12, And the control unit searches for the same data unit according to at least two or more identical items and a predetermined number of identical items. The method of claim 12, A first buffer configured to store synchronization target data input from the terminal; And A second buffer configured to store data corresponding to synchronization target data of the terminal among data recorded in the data table, The control unit searches for data units corresponding to each other to perform synchronization among the synchronization target data of the terminal and data of the data table respectively stored in the first buffer and the second buffer, and the data units of the data table. And synchronizing data of the data table with data of the terminal by using a synchronization flag included in each of the data units of the terminal. The method of claim 12, A first buffer configured to store synchronization target data input from the terminal; And A second buffer configured to store data corresponding to synchronization target data of the terminal among data recorded in the data table, The database unit further stores the previous data of the terminal, The control unit searches for data units corresponding to each other to perform synchronization among the synchronization target data of the terminal and data of the data table respectively stored in the first buffer and the second buffer, and the data of the terminal and the database. Comparing the previous data of the terminal previously stored in the unit, generating a synchronization flag indicating a change of data for each data unit of the terminal, and synchronizing the data units of the data table with each of the data units of the terminal And synchronizing data of the data table with data of the terminal using a flag. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to store the synchronized data of the terminal to the database unit to update previous data of the terminal. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.