GB2438881A

GB2438881A - Data transfer in a network

Info

Publication number: GB2438881A
Application number: GB0609042A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James David Smith
Original assignee: Siemens PLC
Current assignee: Siemens PLC
Priority date: 2006-05-09
Filing date: 2006-05-09
Publication date: 2007-12-12
Anticipated expiration: 2026-05-09
Also published as: GB0609042D0; GB2438881B

Abstract

Updating of data across networks can cause congestion. In the method of the invention, data is categorised and each category provided with a triggering event. The event may be a timing or a number of changes threshold being crossed or a mixture of these. When that occurs the data in all categories is updated. Important data is placed in a category which has a short timing threshold or a low number of changes threshold. The data may be mobile phone 2 data in database 5 (e.g. user profile data) which is synchronised with data in a database 6 (e.g. mobility server 3) when a triggering event occurs. The data in the user profile is categorised to reduce the volume of updates and hence reduce the load on the network and the mobility server 3. As data is updated on the phone's 2 local memory the update events are triggered according to their category.

Description

DATA TRANSFER METHODS AND APPARATUS

This invention relates to data transfer methods and apparatus particularly, but not exclusively, involving network entities in a network.

There is a requirement for data changed on one device or entity on a network to be updated on other networked devices. The updating between the devices causes a load on the network It is desirable to reduce the load since it may have an affect on network performance.

According to the invention there is provided a method of updating a copy of data at a first location in a network following a change in data at a second location comprising: categorising data at the second location into categories; for each category defining a trigger; monitoring for the occurrence of a triggering event; and in response to the detected triggering event updating the copy of the data at the first location with the data from the second location.

By providing priority categories and associated trigger conditions updates to the data take place in an ordered way to better manage the load on the network.

In the specific embodiment, there are trigger conditions refered to as "simple timer", "guard timer" and "peg count or count completed".

A simple timer condition triggers a data update after an interval for a timer has passed.

The guard time condition will trigger an update after the interval defined for the timer has passed. It will be restarted if data in the category is changed.

The peg count or count completed condition is triggered by an update after a count of changes to the data has reached or exceeded a threshold.

Other trigger conditions may be defined.

When a trigger condition is reached, the device experiencing the data change will send all its changed data items regardless of the triggering conditions.

Preferably, data is marked as changed. The marking is removed after a successful update. This confers the advantage that, if an update fails due to network conditions it may be updated at the next trigger condition being met.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a network of two devices each having a database of data; Figure 2 shows a categonsation table for data in the database; As is shown in figure 1, a network 1 includes a first device 2 and a second device 3 linked together by a communication link 4 operating in accordance with a particular networking protocol. The devices are computers and in practice there may be a greater number operating on the network. The devices have associated databases 5 and 6 holding data items. The devices include a database update manager 7,8.

The data items are each allocated a category I to 4. In accordance with the allocated category the database update manager monitors for trigger conditions. The table 20 of figure 2, illustrates the allocation of categories to the data of the database and associated timers.

Data Dl is of category 1, data D2 is of category 2, data D3 is of category 3 and data D4 is of category 4.

The data Dl is relatively important data that requires updating from database 5 to database 6. Thus, upon a change a guard timer is set. In this case the guard timer is set to two units of time. When the time has elapsed an update is triggered. This causes an update to be performed by the update manager 7. In this data is transmitted across the link 4 to the device 3. The update manager 8 then updates the data on the database 6.

It will be seen that category 2 data does not have a guard timer set. It has a simple timer set to a time count of 300 and a peg count or count completed of 10. This means that for an update event to be triggered the timer has to cross a threshold of 300 time intervals before an update is triggered or if the data has been changed more than 10 times. If a trigger condition is reached all the data is updated as before.

For data D3 of category 3, the guard timer is not set, the simple timer is set to a time of 900 intervals and the peg count or count completed is set to 50. This means that a trigger condition occurs if the data is changed and the time interval of 900 is exceeded or if the change is the fifty first change to the data.

For data D4, there are no triggering events. This data relies upon the revision of the other data and consequential triggering events to be updated.

The invention may be applied to a communications network. For example, to a network having SIP phones (Session Initiation Protocol). The phone may be device 2 of figure 1 and it updates a mobility server being device 3. As data is updated on the phone's local memory the update events are triggered according to their category as described before.

Thus, if a user is logged on a particular SIP phone and changes their profile those changes may be updated to the mobility server. The data in the profile will be categorised as before to reduce the volume of updates and hence reduce the load on the network and the mobility server.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A method of updating a copy of data at a first location in a network following a change in data at a second location comprising: categorising data at the second location into categories; for each category defining a trigger; monitoring for the occurrence of a triggering event; and in response to the detected triggering event updating the copy of the data at the first location with the data from the second location.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein timers are set for the data such that when a time threshold is crossed a trigger event occurs.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the timer is restarted when data is changed.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein a count of changes made to the data is made such that a trigger event occurs when a count threshold is crossed.

5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the second location accommodates mobile users and at the second location the data includes mobile user-related data which is synchronised to data at the first location.

6. A communications network operating in accordance with a method as claimed in claims I to 5.

7. A communication device comprising: a database of categorised data which categories defining triggering events; means to monitor for the occurrence of triggering events and for initiating an update of a database associated with a second communications device.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the triggering events are the crossing of at least one of; a time threshold and a number of changes threshold.

9. A communication device as claimed in claim 7 or 8 comprising means to enable a mobile user to log-on to the communications network and in response to the log-on to retrieve data specific to the mobile user from the second communications device and to synchronise data in the data-base at the second communications device with changes made by the user whilst logged on.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A method of updating a copy of data at a first location in a communication network following a change in data at a second location comprising.

categorising data at the second location into categories of different priorities; for each category defining a trigger; monitoring for the occurrence of a triggering event, and in response to the detected triggering event updating over the network the copy of the data at the first location with the data from the second location such that data in a category of a high priority is updated more frequently than data of a lower priority.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein timers are set for the data such that when a time threshold is crossed a trigger event occurs.

1 5 3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the timer is restarted when data is changed.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein a count of changes made to the data is made such that a trigger event occurs when a count threshold is crossed. S S * 5

5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the second location accommodates mobile users and at the second location the data includes mobile user-related data which is synchronised to data at the first location.

6. A communications network operating in accordance with a method as claimed in claims 1 to 5 7. A communication device comprising: a database of data categorised into categories of different priorities, each category defining a trigger; means to monitor for the occurrence of triggering events and for initiating an update of a database associated with a second communications device such that data in a category of high priority is updated more frequently than data of a lower priority.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the triggering events are the crossing of at least one of; a time threshold and a number of changes threshold 9. A communication device as claimed in claim 7 or 8 comprising means to enable a mobile user to log-on to the communications network and in response to the log-on to retrieve data specific to the mobile user from the second communications device and to synchronise data in the data-base at the second communications device with changes made by the user whilst logged on.

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