Service Broker System for Multi-Device Data Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of multiple devices face challenges in accessing and synchronizing data across different devices without the need for each device to access services independently, leading to complex data reconciliation and increased communication traffic.
Innovation Solution
A service broker system that stores credentials and accesses services on behalf of multiple devices associated with a single account, providing a consistent data set to all devices and simplifying synchronization by acting as an intermediary for authentication, data access, and delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each device accesses services independently with its own credentials, then each device can access services directly, but data synchronization complexity and communication traffic increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service broker as an intermediary component that mediates between multiple devices and services. The broker stores credentials centrally and provides data to devices, eliminating the need for direct device-service authentication. This intermediary approach resolves the contradiction by centralizing data access while maintaining device independence, thus improving synchronization reliability without increasing reconciliation complexity at device level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges credential storage and data distribution functions into a single service broker component. Instead of each device maintaining separate credentials and accessing services independently, all credentials are merged into one centralized location (the broker), and data is merged into a single authoritative copy that is distributed to all devices. This merging eliminates data reconciliation complexity while maintaining reliable synchronization.
2Ease of operation
If each device stores credentials to access services, then devices can independently access services, but security risks and credential management complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The service broker acts as a secure intermediary that holds credentials centrally, eliminating the need for each device to store sensitive authentication information. Devices communicate with the broker using simpler identifiers rather than full credentials. This maintains device independence for data access while significantly reducing security risks associated with credential storage and transmission across multiple devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts credentials from individual devices and places them in a dedicated secure location (the service broker). This extraction removes the security vulnerability of having credentials distributed across multiple devices while preserving the ability of each device to access services independently through the broker's mediation.
3Speed
If multiple devices access services directly, then each device gets real-time data, but communication traffic and service load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges data access operations through the service broker, which maintains a single authoritative copy of data. Instead of multiple devices independently querying services (creating redundant traffic), all data requests are funneled through the broker, which serves consolidated responses. This maintains fast data access for all devices while dramatically reducing communication traffic and service load by eliminating redundant data retrieval operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The service broker creates and maintains copies of data for distribution to multiple devices, rather than having devices directly access the service repeatedly. The broker holds a cached copy of service data and distributes it to devices as needed, reducing the frequency and volume of communication between devices and services while maintaining fast local access speeds.
Data Source
AI summary
In one implementation, a service broker system includes an authentication module to authenticate a plurality of devices with an account from a plurality of accounts of the service broker system based on a unique identifier of each device from the plurality of devices. Each device from the plurality of devices is associated with the account. The service broker system also includes a service access module to access data at a plurality of services using credentials stored at the account, and a delivery module to provide the data to each device from the plurality of devices.