Flexible Conflict Resolution Policies for Data Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current synchronization systems face challenges in managing conflicts and maintaining data consistency across multiple loosely coupled devices, particularly when devices become disconnected and reconnect, leading to inefficiencies in conflict resolution and data propagation.
Innovation Solution
The system implements flexible conflict resolution policies such as 'Most Frequent Updater', 'Priority', '% Change', 'Deadlock Resolution', 'Highest Degree', and 'Highest Centrality Closeness' to handle conflicts, allowing for deferred logging and rollback of synchronization states, enabling devices to maintain collective knowledge and resolve conflicts efficiently across a network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If devices are loosely coupled and can become disconnected, then system flexibility and device independence are improved, but conflict resolution difficulty and synchronization complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes conflict resolution policies and knowledge representation structures before conflicts occur. Each device maintains a knowledge base with version vectors and conflict policies predefined, enabling automatic conflict resolution upon reconnection without requiring complex real-time negotiation mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary knowledge representation structure that mediates between disconnected devices. This structure includes version vectors, conflict policies, and resolution rules that act as a common language and framework for resolving conflicts when devices reconnect, simplifying the synchronization process.
2Quantity of substance
If the number of synchronizing devices increases, then system functionality and data sharing capability are improved, but conflict proliferation and tracking difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Each device maintains a copy of the knowledge representation structure including version vectors and conflict policies. This copying mechanism allows devices to independently track changes without central coordination, enabling scalable synchronization where each node has the information needed to resolve conflicts autonomously.
Solution Approach 2:
The knowledge representation structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: tracking version changes, identifying conflicts, determining resolution policies, and guiding data propagation. This multi-functionality reduces the overhead of maintaining separate tracking mechanisms for each purpose.
3Ease of operation
If static conflict resolution measures are enforced, then conflict handling simplicity is improved, but system flexibility and adaptability to changing topologies deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic conflict resolution where policies and rules can be adjusted based on the specific conflict situation, device roles, and network topology. Rather than enforcing a single static measure, the system selects and applies appropriate resolution strategies from a set of predefined policies based on current conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
A variety of flexible conflict resolution policies are provided for loosely coupled devices to implement according to a variety of different synchronization scenarios. Choosing a conflict resolution policy, such as “Most Frequent Updater,”“Priority,”“PerCent Change,”“Arbiter Deadlock Resolution,” etc., enables devices to select how and when to resolve such synchronization conflicts. In addition, with reference to a conflict log, a user or synchronizing application can roll back synchronization state to a time before a conflict may have arisen, so that the user or application can undo a resolution of a conflict and/or the user or application can apply an alternative conflict resolution policy moving forward from that time.