Data Synchronization from Hand-held Device to Web via Internet Protocol

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the area of preserving and maintaining data, more particularly data stored in wire-less communicable hand-held personal instruments / devices such as mobile phones, note pads, palm tops, digital organizers, etc., for future use in cases of loss of data, and more particularly to a method and system for data synchronization from such wire-less communicable hand-held personal instruments including mobiles / palm top devices to web application via Internet Protocol ("IP").

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

These days, wire-less personal hand-held communicable instruments / devices such as mobile phones ("mobiles") are amongst the most popular communication mediums. Such instruments are hence now available with other functional features such as their ability to store personal data such as contact lists, phone numbers, addresses, reminders, appointments, camera, etc. People have been equally using such devices for non- communicating purposes such as for personal organizational activities, apart from communication purposes. Features such as storing contact details of friends, relatives, businesses or emergency help lines, tasks for the day, appointments (date book) and reminders, sending pictures via MMS; sending short message (SMS) from mobiles, listening to radio, etc., are predominantly used and marketed. Thus, in recent times, instruments such as mobiles are being popularly used for such activities.

Due to the availability of such features in a single hand-held instrument, important practical difficulties and limitations, such as carrying different books, diaries for different purposes, are resolved, thus making people dependent on such devices. However, due to such dependability, every thing goes fine as long as one has his / her contacts, tasks and appointments and such other data readily available on one's hand-held. Situation, however, worsens when the device is mishandled and broken, lost, or like, causing loss of

the entire data, of which most of the people do not have back-ups. Getting back such relevant data is a very difficult task.

Due to the growing dependability and usage of such devices, plethora of inventions and progresses have taken place in the mobile / hand-held devices' technology. Technologies such as attaching a photo or specific tune to a particular contact, flashing the caller's photo or a predetermined tune for his / her incoming call, calling one of the contacts using voice tag, etc., are known in the art.

Some hand-held devices, including mobiles, that support synchronization from the device to computer via conduits or even via Infra red or even Bluetooth are know to the inventor. However, such methods have their own limitations. Not everyone has a computer at home, and even if they have, how often does one synchronize their data? This makes this method and or system computer dependent. In a situation where one is abroad, the data is lost, and does not have his / her computer or Laptop with him / her, getting personal data becomes a difficult task.

In light of the limitations in the prior art, it has occurred to the inventor that a comprehensive method and system is needed to preserve, maintain, and store the relevant data, with more ease, from time to time so as to enable the user to retrieve the data lost as immediately as possible.

Therefore, what is clearly needed is a method and system that would enable storing and synchronizing the personal data of the user at a place, which could be accessed by the user from anywhere, for future use in cases of loss of data. This invention intends to alter the way personal data is managed, stored and retrieved. Through the delivery platform described below, the inventor intends to deliver an efficient system that enable the users to store and synchronize their personal data stored on their hand-held to make it available immediately at appropriate times independent of mobile service provider or mobile manufacturer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method and system to store and synchronize personal data such as contact details, tasks and appointments on a web application so that the data can be accessed and retrieved by the user from anywhere for future use in cases of loss of data. The present invention also enables downloading and synchronizing of personal data from the web application to the hand-held device.

It is a feature and object of the present invention to make most of the functionalities on the web application similar to the hand-held devices so that it becomes one's Virtual Mobile / Hand-held device.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a solution for preserving, maintaining, storing, and synchronizing personal data at a central location, which can be accessed by the user from anywhere and the personal data so stored and synchronized can be retrieved.

It is yet another object of the present invention to enable uploading all or any of the selected personal data including pictures, SMS messages, to the web application, downloading all or any of the selected personal data on the hand-held devices such as mobiles, ability to search specific information in the personal data, automatic synchronization of personal data from hand-held devices to the web application and vice versa.

hi effect, the present invention is a method and system to provide and create a Virtual Mobile / Hand-held device so that the personal data of the hand-held devices stored onto the web application can be retrieved and regained at any point of time from anywhere.

The other additional objects, advantages, and or novel features of the present invention, which can be more apparent to those skilled in the art, are set forth in following description of the present invention.

The foregoing, and other features and advantages of the invention, as well as the invention itself, will be more fully understood from the description, drawings, and claims which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aspects and features of the invention can be better understood with reference to the drawings described below, and the claims. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the drawings, like numerals are used to indicate like parts throughout the various views. The drawings associated with the disclosure are addressed on an individual basis within the disclosure as they are introduced.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system for practicing one or more aspects of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the system.

Fig. 3.1 is a screenshot illustrating an aspect of the system relating to a log-on screen displayed.

Fig. 3.2. is a screenshot illustrating an aspect of the system relating to options to choose amongst the personal data.

The claimed invention will be more completely understood through the following detailed description, which should be read in conjunction with the attached drawings. In this description, like numbers refer to similar elements within various embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description, at appropriate places, refer to the accompanying drawings that illustrate certain embodiments of the invention. Other embodiments are possible and modifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and

scope of the invention. Therefore, the following detailed description is not meant to limit the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

It should be understood that the order of the steps of the methods of the invention is immaterial so long as the invention remains operable. Moreover, two or more steps may be conducted simultaneously or in a different order than recited herein unless otherwise specified.

The inventor provides a unique method and system of preserving, storing and maintaining personal data such as contact details, tasks and appointments stored in wireless communicable hand-held personal instruments / devices such as mobile phones, note pads, palm tops, digital organizers, etc., on a web application so that the data can be accessed and retrieved from anywhere for future use in cases of loss of data. It is a feature of the present invention that data synchronization from such wire-less communicable hand-held personal instruments including mobile / palm top devices to web application or vice versa via Internet Protocol is conducted automatically at predetermined intervals. It is yet another object of the present invention to make most of the functionalities on the web application similar to the hand-held devices so that it becomes one's Virtual Mobile / Hand-held device.

Typically, the systems and methods described herein are implemented using software, memory elements, and associated processing elements. The data repositories and user interfaces described herein can be local or networked in various embodiments. The present invention can be explained and illustrated with reference to figures.

Prior to considering the details relating specific examples and implementations of the invention, it is advantageous to establish a general framework by which a particular embodiment operates. A general overview of the components of an exemplary system suitable for preserving, storing, maintaining and synchronizing the personal data stored in the Hand-held devices is depicted in Fig. 1.

In particular, Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system 100 for practicing one or more aspects of the invention. As described in more detail below, the

system 100 is suitable for use by the users to store, preserve, maintain, synchronize and retrieve the personal data so stored, preserved and maintained at appropriate times. Typically, embodiments of the system 100 illustrates components including a data storing, a data retrieving, and a data processing component.

In reference to Fig. 1, the system 100 includes a wire-less communicable hand-held personal instruments / devices such as mobile phones, note pads, palm tops, digital organizers, etc. ("mobiles"), identified as MD 105 in the figure, being capable of connecting to the WAS 115 through the Internet 110.

System 100 could be better illustrated with the aid of Fig. 2. In reference to the Flow Chart Fig. 2, System 100 has a Personal Data Repository ("PDR") 125 accessible from the hand-held devices 105 with the aid of the Internet 110. PDR 125 can be an optical storage drive, a disk drive, a magnetic drive, or any other suitable repository for storing various Personal Data ("PD") 130. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, PDR 125 is maintained at a remote location from the hand-held devices 105, however, being accessible through the Internet 110. In an embodiment of the present invention, PDR 125 is a portion of a large Web Application Server ("WAS") 115 for data access and processing enabled with appropriate database access software capable of synchronization functionality. WAS 115 can be of any type of repository as was described with reference to repository 125. In accordance with one of the embodiment of the present invention, the PDR 125 or the WAS 115 is enabled hi a manner to provide functionality of a MD 105. WAS 115 in Fig 1 is just to represent the repository 125 of PDR 125. This gets deployed on one or many WAS 115 to increase the load carrying capacity.

PDR 125, or such portion of WAS 115, comprises of PD 130. PD 130 comprises of various types of personal data such as contact lists, phone numbers, addresses, reminders, appointments, date books, photographs, tunes, etc. For the purposes of implementation of the present invention PD 130 is categorized and identified by appropriate means into two classes i.e. Synchronized Personal Data ("SPD") 130a, and New Personal Data ("NPD") 130b. In accordance with the present invention, changes could be made in the

PD 130 in the PDR 125 or the WAS 115, as the case may be, by a user by accessing such PDR 125 or the WAS 115, as the case may be, from a computer or like instruments.

As described above, system 100 includes MD 105 enabled with appropriate database access software for the purposes of accessing PDR 125 or WAS 115, as the case may be, and synchronization. MD 105 comprises in it a Mobile Data Repository ("MDR") 135. MDR 135 can be an optical storage drive, a disk drive, a magnetic drive, or any other suitable repository for storing various PD 130 onto the mobile ("PD-M") 140. For the purposes of implementation of the present invention PD-M 140 is categorized and identified by appropriate means into two classes i.e. Synchronized Personal Data in the mobile ("SPD-M") 140a, and New Personal Data in the mobile ("NPD-M") 140b. For the purposes of clarification it is stated that SPD 130a and SPD-M 140a, in accordance with the object of the present invention are the same. However, they have been separately identified for the purposes of description and proper explanation.

In accordance with the present invention, SPD 130a and SPD-M 140a are obtained with the aid of the synchronization personal data process ("SPD process) 150. In accordance with the present invention, the SPD process 150 can be of two types. In order to synchronize the NPD 130b in the PDR 125 or WAS 115 with the PD-M 140 comprising of the resultant SPD-M 140a, a mobile synchronization process ("MS process") 150a is followed. In MS process 150a the NPD 130a is synchronized with the PD-M 140, to result in SPD-M 140a. Similarly, in order to synchronize the NPD-M 140b in the MDR 135 with the PD 130 comprising of the resultant SPD 130a, a Server synchronization process ("SS process") 150b is followed. In SS process 150b the NPD-M 140b is synchronized with the PD 130, to result in SPD 130a.

In accordance with the present invention, a flag identification marks or such other suitable symbols are used to identify and link PD-M 140 or PD 130 on the MDR 135 and PDR 125 respectively, as SPD-M 140a and NPD-M 140 b, and SPD 130a and NPD 130b respectively.

Synchronization Personal Data Process

It is re-stated that one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a solution for preserving, maintaining, storing, and synchronizing personal data at a central location, which can be accessed by the user from anywhere and the personal data so stored and synchronized can be retrieved at appropriate times.

To enable a user to do so, the data on the mobile or the data on the central location / server needs to be synchronized so that the data that is to be retrieved later is upto date personal data. In order to enable this object of the present invention, the present invention prescribes, as identified above, the SPD process 150 comprising of MS process 150a and SS process 150b.

In reference to Fig. 2, in an SPD process 150, MS process 150a synchronizes the NPD 130b in the PDR 125 or WAS 115 with the PD-M 140 to result in SPD-M 140a. It is noteworthy that all such processes can be performed only if the MD 105 is connected to the Internet 110. Synchronization takes place with the aid of known automated processing tools for such purposes. Similarly, the SS process is similar to the MS process, but for that the NPD-M 140b in the MDR 135 is synchronized with the PD 130 to result in SPD 130a. In MS process 150a synchronization is performed by downloading the NPD 130b onto the MDR 135. Whereas, in the SS process 150b synchronization is performed by uploading the NPD-M 140b into the PD 130. In accordance with one of the embodiment of the present invention, both these processes can be performed automatically at a pre-determined times and or intervals, depending upon the implementer's choice.

Server Synchronization Process:

Further aspects of the present invention can be explained with the aid of Fig. 3.1., which is a screenshot illustrating an aspect of the system relating to a user being enabled to upload and synchronize the personal data onto the PDR 125 or WAS 115 (refer Fig. 2).

In reference to Fig. 3.1 a log-on screen is displayed for the user to login to upload all or selected personal data onto the PDR 125 or WAS 115 (refer Fig. 2). This screen prompts

the user to enter his / her User Name and Password, which can be remembered for future communications. The login details are then authenticated by the WAS 115 or PDR 125, as the case may be. Following description assumes that the user has logged in to the PDR 125 or the WAS 115.

In reference to Fig. 3.2 a user is enabled and provided with options to choose amongst the personal data to be uploaded and or synchronized. A user is also provided to select all or any of the selected data such as all contact addresses, or selected contact addresses, etc. AU such selected personal data is sent in a specific format like CSV (Comma Separated Value) to the PDR 125 or WAS 115 via the Internet 110 (refer Fig. 1). Only fixed numbers of personal data at a time can be configured if required. The personal data so synchronized is identified by appropriate manner as described above and is the resultant SPD 130a (refer Fig. 1). In accordance with the present invention, these synchronized SPD 130a will not be considered for synchronization the next time, unless specified otherwise by the user. In accordance with one of the objects of the present invention, this communication can happen in a secure way by using protocols like HTTPS.

hi accordance with one of the objects of the present invention, the SS process 150b can be performed in an automated manner. By placing and choosing the auto synchronization mode of the application, the uploading of the personal data onto the PDR 125 or the WAS 115 can be performed automatically after a pre-determined intervals, hi such mode, however, only NPD-M 140b (refer Fig. 1) will be synchronized to the PDR 125 or WAS 115 using the Internet 110. The user, however, can anytime change the flag identification marks or such other symbols used to identify unsynchronized personal data if required by logging on directly to the PDR 125 or the WAS 115.

As described above, automatic synchronization happens at predefined times without any manual intervention i.e. MD 105 application will get the default connection to access the Internet 110 and synchronize the NPD-M 140b with the PD 130.

Mobile Synchronization Process

The MS process 150a is substantially similar to the SS process 150b except that in MS process 150b the NPD 130b in the PDR 125 or WAS 115 is downloaded on the MD 105 in PD-M 140 to result in SPD-M 140a.

Various preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in fulfillment of the various objects of the invention. It should be recognized that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

It should be appreciated that various aspects of the claimed invention are directed to subsets and sub steps of the techniques disclosed herein. Further, the terms and expressions employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed. Accordingly, what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is the invention as defined and differentiated in the following claims, including all equivalents.