Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Shaoyu Zhou

Lev Novik

Yunxin Wu

Fei Cao

Tomas Talius

Michael Elizarov

Siddhartha Roy

Sijian Zhang

Irena Hudis

Hanumantha Rao Kodavalla

Douglas Brian Terry

Ashish B Shah

Robin Dhananjay Dhamankar

Martin J Sleeman

Vivek Jawahir Jhaveri

Sudarshan Anand Chitre

Vishal Kathuria

Muhunthan Sivapragasam

Lei Jin

James Zhang

Rafik Robeal

Ehr-Chun Yeh

Tao Di

Shaojian He

Zhuoqing Wu

Jason Zhu

Zhuoqing Wu, Jr

Jeremie E Sartor

Jin He

Mark Scurrell

Techniques and technologies for mapping user identifiers between different device ecosystems are described. In at least some embodiments, a system includes a processing component, a memory, and a mapping engine configured to map a first identifier associated with a user with a second identifier, at least one of the first or second identifiers being associated with a first device ecosystem; and map a third identifier associated with a second device ecosystem with at least one of the first identifier or the second identifier, the second device ecosystem different from the first device ecosystem, based at least partially on (i) a plurality of first co-location occurrences of the third identifier with the first identifier, and (ii) a plurality of second co-location occurrences of the third identifier with the second identifier. The mapping engine may provide an indication of an association of the third identifier with the user.

Mapping user identifiers between different device ecosystems

Systems, methods, and computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that maintain a targetable user inventory for digital advertising. In embodiments, a request is made for user data associated with a user identification. If the user data or user identification is not available, a list of alternative user identifications is ranked according to various criteria based on identification signals. A match is selected from the list of alternative user identifications and user data associated with the alternative user identification is communicated in response to the request.

Maintaining targetable user inventory for digital advertising

Systems and methods for mapping identifiers are provided. Activity logs illustrate activities and/or events associated with a plurality of identifiers. The identifiers may be registered identifiers, unregistered identifiers, or a combination thereof. When at least two identifiers share a linking attribute, the at least two identifiers may be mapped to one another, along with information associated therewith (if any) such as a user profile. Each subsequent line of an activity line may also be mapped to the identifiers of the initial single line when a linking attribute or an overlapping identifier is present. A number of identifiers associated with each other may be increased by mapping identifiers and, thus, a targeted audience for a customized advertisement may, in turn, be increased.

Mapping identifiers

Methods and systems for maintaining user privacy preferences based on one or more user identifications across a plurality of applications are provided. Two or more user identifications are received with associated user privacy preferences. The received user identification is compared against other user identifications to determine if the user identifications relate to the same user. It may be determined that two user identifications are related if they have at least one browser property in common. A consolidated data stream of the user privacy preferences for the related user identifications is created. The consolidated data stream is communicated to one or more applications and propagated to maintain the user privacy preferences across the applications relating to the user identification.

Propagating user privacy preferences across multiple applications

Large sets of unorganized data may provide little value in identifying useful observations from such data. For example, an online merchant may maintain a database of millions of user IDs (e.g., a cookie ID, a login ID, a device ID, a network ID, etc.) along with content viewed and/or actions taken with the user IDs, where minimal associations are known between user IDs. It may be advantageous to link together user IDs of respective users to capture a comprehensive view of respective users' activities. Accordingly, one or more systems and/or techniques for identifying a cluster of nodes based upon transforming a set of node pairings (e.g., pairings of related nodes) one or more times are disclosed herein. Iterative transformations may be performed until respective nodes are paired with merely their smallest neighboring node and are paired with no other node. In this way, node clusters may be identifiable.

Node clustering

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to synchronization utilizing one or more optimizations through the utilization of metadata. For several embodiments of the present invention, one method for optimizing synchronization is to reduce the overhead required for said synchronization by having each peer only tracking changes for itself and other peers within its change community (or communities) (a.k.a., 'Intra-Community-Only Change Tracking Optimization'). For certain embodiments of the present invention, another method for optimizing synchronization is to not create synchronization overhead until required. For numerous embodiments of the present invention, yet another method for optimizing synchronization is to minimize redundant use of a partner's unique global ID&#x2014;a large and cumbersome number&#x2014;and to instead maintain a table that cross-references each partner (and its unique global ID) with a smaller and much less cumbersome partner key.

Systems and methods for the utilization of metadata for synchronization optimization

The subject invention pertains to data synchronization across replicas. Disclosed are systems and methods of detecting and handling constraint-based conflicts that occur during a synchronization session. In accordance with one particular aspect of the invention, name-constraint violations can be detected. These violations can be resolved by generating a single merged identity that can be utilized to refer to data units, for example on different replicas that had the same name. A property of the merged identity can be merge history, which specifies the identifiers subsumed by the merge.

Constraint-based conflict handling for synchronization

Described is a technology in which an anchor value is determined, for example to synchronize a destination database or data store with modifications made to a source database. The new anchor value is determined in a manner that excludes modifications corresponding to any uncommitted transactions. The new anchor value may be based on a counter value or a date and time value stored with each modification. The new anchor value may be determined by comparing a first set of committed modifications that do not include uncommitted modifications against a second set of modifications that includes committed modifications and uncommitted modifications. Alternatively, the new anchor value may be determined from the earliest start date and time among the modifications that are part of any uncommitted transactions. The anchor may be used (e.g., via queries) to enumerate modifications for synchronization, and also for detecting conflicts between the source and destination databases.

Anchor for database synchronization excluding uncommitted transaction modifications

The subject invention relates to systems and/or methods that perform an authoritative and/or a non-authoritative restore of items in a data store. Backups are provided that include data associated with items and metadata related to the items that can include a history of operations and previous synchronizations to enable replications to converge after restoration. The operations that can be performed on the items include, for example, create, delete, update, move, etc. The items in the backups can be restored along with the metadata, which can be utilized to enable synchronization partners to converge based on a desired type of restoration.

Authoritative and non-authoritative restore

Extending hierarchical synchronization (sync) scopes to non-hierarchical scenarios may involve a method for synchronizing differently organized data stores comprising mapping different physical organizations to similar logical organizations and utilizing an organization-based synchronization algorithm to synchronize the differently organized stores. Also, the uniqueness constraints of the organizations may be preserved as well as the parent-child ordering constraints of the organizations.

Extending hierarchical synchronization scopes to non-hierarchical scenarios

Systems, methods, and computer program products for synchronizing items at replicas within a topology is disclosed. Items are stored in physical tables at the replicas. The physical table layouts at each replica can differ but are mapped to a common logical view. When a replica receives an indication that synchronization should be performed, the replica determines if changes have been made at the replica that should be mapped to the logical views. Replicas can facilitate this by comparing local change enumerations for changes made in physical tables to synchronization local change enumerations for changes in the logical views. Any changes that need to be synchronized are sent through the logical views to other replicas in the topology.

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Issaquah, WA, United States of America

Shaoyu Zhou