Palm, Incorporated

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.p.

Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Rik Sagar

Srikiran Prasad

Frank Judge

Gurmeet Singh Kalra

A system enables data synchronization for data files shared between or among multiple devices. When a shared data file is modified on one of the computing devices, metadata describing or otherwise enabling recreation of that modification are generated. To enable synchronization of the shared data file, the metadata&#x2014;rather than the modified shared data file&#x2014;are transmitted to other devices. These other systems can then use the metadata to recreate the modification of the shared data file and thus achieve data synchronization without requiring retransmission of the shared data file after each modification thereto.

Data synchronization by communication of modifications

To enable the peer-to-peer synchronization among multiple devices, each device in the peer network keeps track of the changes it makes to any shared data and also keeps track of its own knowledge of the changes made by other devices. When two or more peer devices communicate, they share with each other their information about any changes made to the shared data by them or by other devices. This allows the devices to synchronize with each other to the extent that each of the devices knows what changes have been made by it or by other devices in the peer network.

Peer-to-peer data synchronization architecture

When a user reserves guest accommodations the user programmable settings of the appliances of the user's home network are transferred to the appliances of the guest accommodations. The settings can be stored in a file on the user's computer system or on an accessible external system such as the internet. Alternatively, or in addition, when the user makes a reservation, the home network can query appliances connected to the home network to determine the user programmable settings of such appliances.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Rik Sagar