Method and apparatus for synchronization of two computer systems
Contents
1. King et al CONDUIT SETUP 8 1996 Robinson et al 11 1996 Yeh 5 544 356 A 5 574 859 A List continued on next page OTHER PUBLICATIONS Cobb et al Paradox 3 5 Handbook 3 sup rd Edition Bantam 1991 pp 803 816 Alfieri The best book of Wordperfect 5 0 Hayden Books 1988 pp 153 165 and 429 435 User Manual For PC Link for the B O S S and the PC link for the B O S S Traveling Software Inc 1989 User Manual For Connectivity Pack for the HP 95LX Hewlett Packard Company 1991 Organizer Link Operation Manual Sharp Electronics Corporation No Date Open Network Computing Technical Overview Sun Technical Report Sun Microsystems Inc pp 1 32 1987 Automatically Synchronized Objects Research Disclo sure 29261 p 614 Aug 1988 No Copy Available FRx Extends Reporting Power Of Platinum Series IBM Desktop Software s Line of Accounting Software Doug Dayton PC Week v 8 No 5 p 29 2 Feb 1991 Primary Examiner Hosain T Alam 57 ABSTRACT A method and system for synchronizing two computer systems supporting multiple synchronization techniques is described In one example system a portable computer system is loaded with synchronization transport modules An application on the portable computer system is executed causing the application to automatically recognize the syn chronization transport modules The portable computer sys tem receives a selection co2. 2003 Sheet 3 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 COMBINE REGISTER VALUES TOGETHER 1e HASH MEMORY CONTENTS TOGETHER 350 FIG 3 U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 4 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 OPEN DESKTOP COMPANION PROGRAM 420 SELECT USERS MENU SELECT PROFILE ITEM 430 CREATE A NEW PROFILE AND NAME THE NEW PROFILE EDIT THE PROFILE 450 INFORMATION FIG 4 U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 5 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 PROFILES SELECT A PROFILE _ FIG 5A U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 6 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 NEW PROFILE ENTER A NEW PROFILE NAME FIG 5B U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 7 of 11 INSERT NEW PORTABLE COMPUTER IN THE CRADLE AND INITIATE A SYNCHRONIZATION 610 SELECT PROFILES FROM THE NEW USER DIALOG 620 SELECT A PROFILE TO DOWNLOAD INTO THE PORTABLE COMPUTER 630 DOWNLOAD THE PROFILE INTO THE PORTABLE COMPUTER WITHOUT ASSIGNING AN IDENTIFIER TO THE PORTABLE COMPUTER FIG 6 US 6 671 702 B2 U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 8 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 CUSTOM PROTO JIM CONDUIT DATE BOOK ADDRESS BOOK TO DO LIST MEMO PAD MAIL EXPENSE INSTALL SYSTEM ACTION SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES CHANGE SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES DEFAULT SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES ENABLED HELP PILOT OVERWRITES DESKTOP FIG 7 U S
3. computer system 11 The method of claim 1 wherein executing a synchro nization process includes performing one or more operations related to i adding the one or more records from the portable computer to the computer system ii adding one or more records from the computer system to the portable computer iii updating the one or more records one the portable computer with data from corresponding records in the set of records on the computer system and iv updating one or more records one the computer system with data from the one or more records on the portable computer 12 The method of claim 1 wherein executing a synchro nization process includes performing one or more operations 10 15 20 25 35 60 10 relating to i deleting a record in the set of records on the computer system based on the one or more records on the portable computer and ii deleting the one or more records on the portable computer based on one or more records in the set of records on the computer system 13 The method of claim 1 wherein sending data over a medium corresponding to the particular transport module includes sending data corresponding to the one or more records 14 A portable computer comprising a plurality of communication ports one or more memories wherein the one or more memo ries are configured to store instructions for executing any one of a plurality of transport modules and to store a first set of records
4. performing the following steps on the portable computer receiving a request to synchronize one or more records that reside on the portable computer with a set of US 6 671 702 B2 9 records that reside on the computer system wherein the request specifies a particular transport module from a plurality of transport modules that are available on the portable computer for exchanging data with the com puter system the plurality of transport modules includ ing at least a first wireless transport module and a direct connection transport module executing a synchronization process using the particular transport layer specified with the request and sending data over a medium corresponding to the par ticular transport module wherein the data results from executing the synchronization process on the portable computer 2 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of causing the one or more records on the portable computer to be synchronized based on the set of records on the computer system 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of comparing the one or more records on the portable computer with the set of records on the computer system in order to update anyone of the one or more records on the portable computer 4 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of comparing the one or more records on the portable computer with the set of records on the computer system in order to update anyone record in th
5. to end users FIG 6 US 6 671 702 B2 5 illustrates a flow diagram that describes how new portable computers are initialized First the system administrator places the new portable computer system in a synchroniza tion cradle connected to the personal computer storing the profile and requests a synchronization Since the portable computer system has not been used a new user dialog box will request a name for the new portable computer system Instead of entering a new name the system administrator selects a profiles button that brings up a profile dialog box The system administrator then selects the profile to down load into the portable computer The personal computer then downloads all the information associated with the profile into the portable computer However no name is assigned to the portable computer system In one embodiment the profile information may include specific configuration infor mation such as network configuration and dial up numbers as well as the set of preloaded databases such as the company s telephone directory The preconfigured portable computer system can then be give to a user It should be noted that several portable computer systems may be ini tialized using the same profile When a user that receives a preconfigured portable com puter system first synchronizes the portable computer sys tem with a personal computer system the new user dialog will appear since no name was associated wi
6. two different computer systems As the portable computer systems have been put to use out in the field some drawbacks in the current synchronization procedures have been identified It would therefore be desirable to improve the synchronization methods used with portable computer systems BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objects features and advantages of the present inven tion will be apparent to one skilled in the art in view of the following detailed description in which FIG 1 illustrates a conceptual diagram of computer synchronization system between a portable system 110 and personal computer system 150 FIG 2 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a typical computer operating system FIG 3 illustrates a flow diagram describing a method of generating a random number seed FIG 4 illustrates a flow diagram describing a method of creating a portable computer profile 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 FIG 5A illustrates a diagram of a graphical user interface dialog box for modifying profiles FIG 5B illustrates a diagram of a graphical user interface dialog box for creating a new profile FIG 6 illustrates a flow diagram describing how profile is downloaded into a portable computer system FIG 7 illustrates a diagram of a graphical user interface dialog box for modifying conduits FIG 8 illustrates a diagram of a graphical user interface dialog box for setting conduit
7. DL server Desktop link server that acts as a single unified communication interface for the synchronization application The DL server communicates a plurality of different synchronization transport adaptation layers Each synchronization transport adaptation layer handles communication for a specific type of communica tion means The architecture is designed such that the synchronization transport adaptation layer is expandable Specifically when the Synchronization application is executed the synchroni zation layer examines the creatorID and type of each appli cation installed on the portable computer system to deter mine if the application is a synchronization transport adaptation layer module Thus the synchronization program generates a list of all the synchronization transport adapta tion layer modules The synchronization program then queries each synchro nization transport adaptation layer module to determine which applications can create services for that particular synchronization transport adaptation layer module service creators A service is defined as a set of configuration parameters need to establish a connection with a particular synchronization transport adaptation layer module The ser vice creator is used to create a set of configuration param eters for a synchronization transport adaptation layer mod ule For example a service for a network synchronization transport module would include the hostname and
8. IP address of the desktop personal computer to synchronize with The service could be created by a preferences program that is used to configure several different portable computer param eters After learning which applications may create services for each synchronization transport adaptation layer module the service creators the synchronization program queries all the service creators to obtain a list of the available services After obtaining a list of all the available services for all of the available synchronization transport adaptation layer modules the synchronization program displays a list of the available synchronization transport adaptation layer mod ules and their respective services The user can then select which synchronization transport adaptation layer module and service to use when a synchronization is to be per formed Referring to FIG 10 a first synchronization transport adaptation layer module is a cradle transport The cradle 10 15 20 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 transport handles synchronization directly between a serial port on the portable computer system and a serial port on the desktop computer system The second synchronization transport is a network syn chronization transport The network synchronization trans port handles synchronization directly between the portable computer system and a desktop computer system using TCPAP networking The network synchronization use a TCP IP o
9. Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 9 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 CHANGE HOTSYNC ACTION HOTSYNC ACTION FOR TO DO LIST ha B SYNCHRONIZE THE FILES OK CANCEL m lt B O DESKTOP OVERWRITES PILOT HELP gt B PILOT OVERWRITES DESKTOP SET AS DEFAULT B NOTHING FIG 8 U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 10 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 CONDUIT SETUP SELECT THE CONDUITS TO RUN DURING MODEM HOTSYNC OK FOR PILOT DESKTOP 2 0 ONLY ADDRESS CANCEL CALC HELP COMM TEST 910 DATEBOOK HOTSYNC MAIL MEMO PAD FIG 9 U S Patent Dec 30 2003 OTHER APPLICATION 100 CRADLE SYNCHRON TRANSPORT Sheet 11 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 SYNCHRONIZATION APPLICATION 1010 DL SERVER 1030 1070 SERIAL PORT FIG 10 US 6 671 702 B2 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZATION OF TWO COMPUTER SYSTEMS BY EXECUTING A SYNCHRONIZATION PROCESS AT A PORTABLE COMPUTER This is a continuation of 09 590 541 filed Jun 8 2000 which is a continuation of 09 016 076 filed Jan 30 1998 now USS Pat No 6 205 448 This application claims benefit of and priority to the following previously filed applications The present appli cation is a continuation of U S Application No 09 590 541 entitled Method and Apparatus for Synchronization of Two Computer Systems Supporting Multiple Synchronization Techniques by Using Synchronization Transport Modules filed by Vitaly Kruglikov e
10. a United States Patent Kruglikov et al US006671702B2 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 671 702 B2 Dec 30 2003 54 75 73 21 22 65 63 50 52 58 56 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZATION OF TWO COMPUTER SYSTEMS BY EXECUTING A SYNCHRONIZATION PROCESS AT A PORTABLE COMPUTER Inventors Assignee Notice Appl No Filed Vitaly Kruglikov Mountain View CA US Roger Flores Redwood City CA US Rob Haitani San Jose CA US Monty Boyer Saratoga CA US Ron Marianetti Morgan Hill CA US Ain McKendrick Menlo Park CA US Art Lamb Tiburon CA US PalmSource Inc Sunnyvale CA US Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days 10 234 615 Sep 3 2002 Prior Publication Data US 2002 0198900 A1 Dec 26 2002 Related U S Application Data Continuation of application No 09 590 541 filed on Jun 8 2000 which is a continuation of application No 09 016 076 filed on Jan Int Cl US Cl Field of Search 30 1998 now Pat No 6 205 448 PERITA 17 30 GOGF 15 16 707 201 707 10 709 248 707 10 201 202 707 204 709 248 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 001 628 A 5 355 476 A 5 379 057 A 5 463 772 A 5 537 592 A 3 1991 10 1994 1 1995 10 1995 7 1996 Johnson et al Fukumura Clough et al Thompson et al
11. behavior FIG 9 illustrates a diagram of a screen display for setting conduit behavior on a portable computer system FIG 10 illustrates the software architecture of a portable computer system with an expandable synchronization trans port adaptation layer DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A method and apparatus for synchronizing two different computer systems is disclosed In the following description for purposes of explanation specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention However it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in order to practice the present invention For example the present invention has been described with reference to synchroni zation between a portable computer system and a desktop personal computer system However the same techniques can easily be applied to other types of computer devices General Synchronization System Architecture FIG 1 illustrates a conceptual diagram of computer synchronization system between a portable system 110 and a personal computer system 150 The portable computer system 110 may be any type of small microprocessor based computer system such as a cellular phone or a handheld personal information manager In FIG 1 both the handheld computer system 110 and the personal computer system 150 are running calendar pro gram With a synchronization system the user can alte
12. e plurality of communication ports includes at least one serial port 18 The portable computer of claim 14 wherein the processor is configured to execute the synchronization pro cess in order to cause one or more calendar records stored on the portable computer to be synchronized with one or more calendar records stored on the computer system 19 The portable computer of claim 14 wherein the one or more memories store instructions for executing a network transport module and wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions for performing the step of executing the synchronization process using a network transport module 20 The portable computer of claim 14 wherein the portable computer is configured as at least one of a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant
13. e reconciled The desktop overwrite setting allows the contents of the desktop personal computer database for the that particular conduit to overwrite the portable computer s database That setting would be useful if all updates to that particular database are performed on the desktop personal computer The portable computer overwrite setting is the opposite wherein the contents of the portable computer system over writes the desktop personal computer Finally the inactive setting prevents that particular conduit from executing This is useful when the user is not using the associate application By not performing executing a conduit the synchronization time will be reduced and memory space will be saved Referring to FIG 8 it should be noted that there is a set as default check box If the a set as default check box is 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 selected when modifying a conduit s behavior then the conduit s behavior will be modified for every future syn chronization However if the a set as default check box is not selected then the modification to the conduit s behavior will only affect the next synchronization After the first synchronization the conduit will revert back to the default synchronize setting This feature is useful if a user wishes to do a one time load of a fresh database but then synchro nize the two databases in every future synchronizati
14. e set of records on the computer system with one or more records on the portable computer 5 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving a request includes receiving the request that specifies the particular transport module as being the first wireless trans port module wherein the first wireless transport module is for sending communications over one of a wireless packet radio network or an infrared connection 6 The method of claim 1 wherein the portable computer corresponds to a pen based computer 7 The method of claim 1 wherein the portable computer corresponds to a handheld computer and or a cellular phone 8 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving a request includes receiving the request that specifies the particular transport module as being the direct connection transport module wherein the direct connection transport module utilizes a serial port that connects to the computer system 9 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving a request includes receiving the request that specifies the particular transport module as being a network transport module wherein the network transport module enables the portable computer to send communications over a network 10 The method of claim 1 wherein executing a synchro nization process includes performing one or more operations related to comparing the one or more records on the portable computer with any one of the records in the set of records on the
15. g the personal contact and calendar information from a personal computer would be to attempt synchronizing an empty portable computer system with the personal computer system The synchronization program on the personal computer would then inform the user that portable computer is empty and that a new user can be created or the name of an existing user can be used The reason for allowing the use of an existing user is to restore data lost from a portable computer due to batteries running out or damage to the portable computer An unscrupulous person may attempt to steal a persons existing data by requesting such a restoration To prevent stealing data in such a manner a user may associate a password with the data stored on a personal computer Thus when a person attempts to restore informa tion from an existing user back onto a portable computer the desktop synchronization will require the password associ ated with that user Thus the theft of personal data would not be possible without the user s password The foregoing has described methods for synchronizing a portable computer system with a desktop computer system It is contemplated that changes and modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art to the materials and arrangements of elements of the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention We claim 1 A method for synchronizing a portable computer with a computer system the method comprising
16. ion phone num ber or a new appointment The present invention proposes a method of generating random numbers in such a portable computer system Refer ring to FIG 2 a block diagram of one possible embodiment of a portable computer system is illustrated Referring to the block diagram of FIG 2 the portable computer system includes a main processor for performing processing instruc tions The processor is coupled to volatile memory system a battery backed memory system and a display through a computer bus When the portable computer is turned off the contents of the battery backed memory is retained for future reference Other implementations may use flash memory to store information when the portable computer system is turned off However the contents of the volatile memory begin to decay once the portable computer system is turned off When the portable computer is turned back on the volatile memory will contain modified version of what volatile memory contained when the battery was turned off Since different memory cells decay at different rates the contents of the volatile memory will be somewhat random If a sufficient number of locations from the volatile memory are logically combined then a random value can be created One method of logically combining the data would be to exlcusive OR XOR the data together Another method of creating a random value would be to add the data together such that overflows create a random patte
17. leted The Users button allows the user to move directly to the dialog box listing all the known users if that is what the user really wanted Referring to FIGS 4 and 5 the user selects the new button to create a new profile This causes a pop up dialog box to request a name for the new profile as illustrated in FIG 5B A name such as salesperson profile is entered and a new empty profile is created with that name A profile is very similar to a user in that it is associated with a set of data files used during synchronization except that profile is not asso ciated with any specific user or portable computer system The system administrator then returns to the main desktop companion program and edits the information associated with the new profile Information from existing users can be copied into the new user profile For example if the system administrator has already entered all the company phone numbers into his own account he can copy the address information from his own address database into a address database associated with the profile Furthermore informa tion can be imported from external sources into the profile database Thus if the system administrator has a list of the company s customers this customer database can be imported into the profile for sales people After a profile has been created the profile can be used to initialize new portable computer systems before the portable computer systems are distributed
18. n a host personal computer system to connect with a target desktop personal computer connected across a computer network Alternatively the network synchroniza tion may use a TCP IP and PPP stack on the portable computer such that a modem connected to the serial port of the portable computer system establishes a PPP link with TCP IP network coupled to the target desktop computer system Specific information on network synchronization can be found in the U S patent application Method And Apparatus for Synchronizing A Portable Computer System With a Desktop Computer System filed Jan 30 1997 with Ser No 08 792 166 which is hereby incorporated by refer ence If an infrared device is coupled to the serial port of the portable computer system then the synchronization applica tion can use the infrared synchronization transport module The infrared synchronization transport module implements the necessary IrDA standards needed to communicate with a personal computer having an IrDA compliant infrared port Synchronization Password Protection The information stored within a person s desktop personal computer is very valuable Of particular relevance to the present invention the personal contact and calendar infor mation stored within a desktop personal computer is very valuable The personal contact and calendar information is also very personal such that a user may not want others to be able to steal this information One method of stealin
19. number Corresponding records on the personal computer system and the portable computer system will have matching identification numbers Thus to quickly locate corresponding records during a synchronization the synchronization program only needs to find records having matching identification numbers Referring to the synchronization system of FIG 1 it is apparent that in the time between synchronizations new records may be created on both the personal computer system and the portable computer system To prevent an incorrect correlation new unique record identifiers must be assigned to new records created on either system To prevent the same record identifier from being created on both the personal computer system and the portable computer system a series of random numbers are needed for both systems Methods of generating a series of random numbers exist however an initial random number seed is required Thus a robust random number seed is needed for both the portable and desktop computer systems There are many known methods of generating random number seeds on personal computers such as counting the time that passes between successive keystrokes However in a pen based portable computer system it is not as easy to generate random numbers The problem is compounded by the fact that the very first action which a user may perform after turning on a portable computer system is to enter a new record to store a recently acquired informat
20. on As set forth in the patent Method And Apparatus for Synchronizing A Portable Computer System With a Desktop Computer System filed Jan 30 1997 with Ser No 08 792 166 the portable computer system can be synchronized with a desktop personal computer system across a telephone line This can be performed by directly connecting to the desktop personal computer with a modem or connecting to the desktop computer through a LAN connection made with a modem based PPP connection In such a situation the speed of the synchronization will be limited by the modem com munication speed To minimize the synchronization time the present invention also provides a method of altering the synchronization behavior when the synchronization is being performed across a modem link This feature is configured on the portable computer system since the remote desktop personal computer is not accessible FIG 9 illustrates a modem synchronization configuration screen that may be displayed on a portable computer system The configuration screen of FIG 9 allows the user to select which conduits will be executed during a modem based synchronization When a remote synchronization begins the remote desktop personal computer will query the portable computer system as to which Thus the user can shorten time needed to perform a synchronization by only selecting the conduits that synchronized the desired information Remote Dialog Box Dismissing As described in
21. ox If the dialog box is dismissed by a user then the timer that was set will be killed Synchronization Transport Adaptation Layer Different users of portable computer systems synchronize their portable computers with personal computers in differ US 6 671 702 B2 7 ent ways For example one user may always synchronize their portable computer with their desktop personal com puter using a cradle coupled to the desktop personal com puter Another user may always be travelling and synchro nizes with his desktop personal computer using a modem or a direct connection through a computer network Yet another user may wish to synchronize using an infrared ports that are available on both the portable computer system and the desktop personal computer In the future wireless packet radio networks may become pervasive allowing a new method of remote synchronization to become available To accommodate all these different synchronization methods the present invention introduces a synchronization transport adaptation layer The synchronization transport adaptation layer provides a single consistent interface between a synchronization pro gram residing on a portable computer system and a plurality of different methods of external communication FIG 10 illustrates the architecture of a portable computer system implementing a synchronization transport adaptation layer Referring to FIG 10 the synchronization application communicates with a
22. r seed is only initialized after a processor reset All subsequent ran dom numbers are created by applying a random number algorithm to the random number seed Synchronization Profiles When a company adopts a particular computer technology for company wide usage system administrators need tools to quickly configure the newly adopted computer technol ogy For example when a new program is adopted for use on companies personal computers system administrator desire the ability to install and configure the new program across the company s local area network LAN The same principal applies to portable computer systems When a company adopts a portable computer system for company wide usage system administrators need to be able to quickly configure such portable computer systems The present invention introduces the concept of a user profile for allowing a number of portable computer systems to be initialized with the same information FIG 4 describes the steps of setting up a user profile Initially the system administrator opens up a desktop com panion program on a personal computer system The admin istrator then selects a users menu where new users may be created Instead of creating a new user the administrator selects a button for profiles to open a profiles dialog FIG 5A illustrates one possible embodiment of a profiles dialog box The profiles dialog box allows profiles to be created new renamed and de
23. r the data on both the calendar program 115 and on the handheld computer system 110 or the data on the desktop personal computer system calendar program 155 on the personal computer system 150 Then at some later point the user should be able to reconcile the two different calendar data bases by coupling the two computer system together using communication link 140 and requesting a synchronization The synchronization process combines the data from the modified personal computer calendar 155 and the data from the modified hand held calendar 115 into a single reconciled calendar The reconciled calendar is then placed into both the handheld computer system 110 and the personal com puter system 150 Details on implementing a basic synchronization system are set forth in the patents Method And Apparatus for Synchronizing Information On Two Different Computer Systems filed Oct 18 1995 with Ser No 08 544 927 Extendable Method And Apparatus For Synchronizing Multiple Files On Two Different Computer Systems filed Oct 13 1995 with Ser No 08 542 055 and Method And Apparatus for Synchronizing A Portable Computer System With a Desktop Computer System filed Jan 30 1997 with Ser No 08 792 166 which are hereby incorporated by reference Random Number Generation To simplify the synchronization process each record on both the personal computer system and the portable com US 6 671 702 B2 3 puter system has an identification
24. rn in the accumu lator To further randomize the value the contents of the processor s internal registers can be combined to generate a final random number seed In one embodiment of a portable computer system all the memory is battery backed such that there is no memory decay to cause random values In such a system an area of memory that is used to store temporary variables can be used to provide semi random values Specifically an area of memory that is used to store temporary values is defined as dynamic memory The dynamic memory area is shared by all the different applications Since area is shared by several different applications and stores miscellaneous temporary 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 variables its contents are semi random This semi random area of memory can be logically combined to produce a random seed FIG 3 illustrates a summary of a method of generating a random number seed in a portable computer system that has just been turned on First the contents of the processor s internal register are logically combined The registers are combined first such that their initial state at power up is preserved Next the register based value is then logically combined with the contents of a portion of the memory that contains semi random values The result is a random number seed that can be used to generate a series of random numbers In one embodiment the random numbe
25. rresponding to one of the two synchronization transport modules The selection could be from a user and would indicate that the user prefers to synchronize with the second computer system using a par ticular method of external communication After the selection the portable computer system synchronizes with the other computer system using the selected method of external communication 20 Claims 11 Drawing Sheets SELECT THE CONDUITS TO RUN DURING MODEM HOTSYNC OK FOR PILOT DESKTOP 2 0 ONLY ADDRESS CALC COMM TEST DATEBOOK HOTSYNC MAIL MEMO PAD 910 CANCEL HELP US 6 671 702 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 696 702 A 12 1997 Skinner et al 5 729 452 A 3 1998 Smith et al 5 592 669 A 1 1997 Robinson et al t ndn 5 598 536 A 1 1997 Slaughter III et al 9993507 UA 91999 Chenn etal 5 630 081 A 5 1997 Rybicki et al 6 205 448 B1 3 2001 Kruglikov et al 707 200 5 666 530 A 9 1997 Clark et al 6 330 018 B1 12 2001 Hawkins et al U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 1 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 sy guod 0009 agogr 3aoo ooo FIG 1 COMMUNICATION LINK 110 U S Patent Dec 30 2003 Sheet 2 of 11 US 6 671 702 B2 PROCESSOR 215 REGISTER 1 BATTERY 217 REGISTER 2 BACKED 219 REGISTER 3 etd FLAT PANEL VOLATILE DISPLAY MEMORY 220 FIG 2 U S Patent Dec 30
26. t al on Jun 8 2000 and issuing as U S Pat No 6 505 215 which is a continuation of U S Application No 09 016 076 entitled Method and Appara tus of Synchronizing Two Computer Systems Supporting Mutiple Synchronization Techniques By Using Synchroni zation Transport Modules filed by Vitaly Kruglikov et al on Jan 30 1998 and issuing as U S Pat No 6 205 448 FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of portable computer systems In particular the present invention dis closes improved methods for synchronization of two differ ent computer systems BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Portable computer systems have become valuable infor mation appliances that provide important information when ever and wherever the user needs it It has become apparent that one of the most important features of portable computer systems is the ability to share data with larger desktop personal computers Several earlier patents such as Method And Apparatus for Synchronizing Information On Two Different Computer Systems filed Oct 18 1995 with Ser No 08 544 927 Extendable Method And Apparatus For Synchronizing Multiple Files On Two Different Computer Systems filed Oct 13 1995 with Ser No 08 542 055 and Method And Apparatus for Synchronizing A Portable Com puter System With a Desktop Computer System filed Jan 30 1997 with Ser No 08 792 166 have addressed some of the issues involved in the synchronization of
27. th the portable computer system Synchronization Control As set forth in the patent Extendable Method And Apparatus For Synchronizing Multiple Files On Two Dif ferent Computer Systems filed Oct 13 1995 with Ser No 08 542 055 a synchronization system is can be designed wherein different applications or databases are synchronized using individually tailor synchronization conduits However it has been determined that not all the installed conduits should be handled in the exact same manner A revised synchronization system has been proposed wherein each conduit may be treated differently Specifically a user may adjust the conduit execution to suit his individual needs To adjust the conduit execution the user opens a custom synchronization control dialog box as illustrated in FIG 7 The custom synchronization control dialog allows a user to change the synchronization control of an individual conduit or to restore default synchronization settings To modify the behavior of a specific conduit the user selects the conduit and selects the change button to bring up a conduit change dialog FIG 8 illustrates one possible conduit change dialog box The change dialog box allows the conduit to behave in four different ways synchronization desktop overwrite portable overwrite and inactive The synchronization setting is the default method of operation wherein the corresponding databases on both the desktop and portable ar
28. that can be synchronized wherein the plurality of transport modules include at least one wireless transport module and a processor configured to access the one or more memo ries and execute at least some of the instructions in order to perform the steps of responding to a request to synchronize the first set of records with a second set of records that reside on a computer system identifying a particular transport module from the plu rality of transport modules that is to be used to perform a synchronization process in response to the request the particular transport module being asso ciated with a first port in the plurality of communi cation ports executing a synchronization process using the particu lar transport module and causing data to be transmitted from the portable com puter using the first port wherein the data results from executing the synchronization process on the portable computer 15 The portable computer of claim 14 wherein the plurality of communication ports includes at least a wireless radio port wherein the wireless transport module is config ured for when the portable computer sends data using the wireless radio port 16 The portable computer of claim 14 wherein the plurality of communication ports includes an infrared port wherein the wireless transport module is configured for when the portable computer sends data over the infrared radio port 17 The portable computer of claim 14 wherein th
29. the previous section a portable computer can be remotely synchronized with a desktop personal computer system using a modem Alternatively a portable computer may also remotely synchronize with a desktop personal computer system across a LAN using network protocols In both situations the user is physically far from the desktop personal computer In the patent Extendable Method And Apparatus For Synchronizing Multiple Files On Two Different Computer Systems filed Oct 13 1995 with Ser No 08 542 055 the main synchronization control program resides on the desk top personal computer If a problem occurs during the synchronization the synchronization conrol program will normally display a dialog box on the desktop personal computer However if the portable computer user is syn chronizing from a remote location the user will not be able to respond to dialog boxes displayed on the remote personal computer system To prevent a deadlock due to dialog boxes that are not acted upon the present invention introduces dynamic dialog boxes Such dynamic dialog boxes are designed to auto matically dismiss themselves if there is no response within a predetermined time period To dismiss itself a dynamic dialog box sets a timer that will execute a callback routine in the dialog box If a dialog box is not dismissed by a user at the desktop personal computer then the timer will even tually pop and the callback routine will dismiss the dialog b
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