System and method for synchronizing objects between data collections

Abstract

A system for facilitating the information transfer and processing associated with home construction and home sales. Various discrete software modules are disclosed each handling a specific task associated with home construction and sales. Also, a system for communicating between separate data bases is disclosed wherein separate and distinct sales offices, each having their own data base, may communicate with a parent, market office having its own data base wherein the data bases of the sales offices and the market office are synchronized according to the method of the present invention so that any data updates in any of the sales offices would be automatically updated in the associated market offices. This aspect of the present invention allows a corporation responsible for home construction and sales amongst various regional, market, and sales offices to coordinate a plurality of discretely separate data bases in a way such that they are all synchronized with one another at a predetermined time.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A method for synchronizing the values of equivalent objects contained in multiple data collections that are in communications with one another, the method comprising:
 receiving information altering the value of an object contained in one of the data collections;   altering said value of the object based on the receiving information by addition, change, deletion, or replacement of a portion thereof;   identifying the altered values of the objects that have been altered since the previous synchronization method was completed;   transferring the altered values of the objects that have been altered since the previous synchronization method was completed from the one data collection to a second data collection that contains equivalent objects;   receiving said altered values of said altered objects by a second data collection;   replacing the values of the altered objects in a second data collection corresponding to the altered values received for the equivalent objects from the transfer;   wherein each object in the data collections has a unique identifier, and   wherein transferring the altered values of said altered objects further includes,   transferring the unique identifiers of the altered objects of the one data collection to permit the matching with the equivalent objects in a second data collection for replacing the values of said equivalent objects.   
     
     
         18 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein the communications between the multiple data collections may be intermittent. 
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein a data collection may also be referred to as a data store or a store or a data class or a database or a file or a folder. 
     
     
         20 . The method as recited in  claim 19  wherein each data collection may be a data object that functions as a container of other data objects. 
     
     
         21 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein the objects contained in the multiple data collections may be data records. 
     
     
         22 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein the objects contained in the multiple data collections may be data fields. 
     
     
         23 . The method as recited in  claim 22  wherein the equivalent data fields in the multiple data collections contain replica of data. 
     
     
         24 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein the previous synchronization is identified with a synchronization anchor. 
     
     
         25 . The method as recited in  claim 24  wherein the synchronization anchor is updated after completion of the method as recited in  claim 17 . 
     
     
         26 . The method as recited in  claim 25  wherein the synchronization anchor reflects a date/time stamp. 
     
     
         27 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein at least one modification identification is associated with the altered value of each object that has been altered since the previous synchronization method was completed. 
     
     
         28 . The method as recited in  claim 27  wherein at least one modification identification can result in identifying the type of alteration to the value of the object as an addition, change, deletion, or replacement of a portion thereof. 
     
     
         29 . The method as recited in  claim 27  wherein at least one modification identification that is associated with the altered object may be referenced to the synchronization anchor in determining whether the altered object was altered after the last synchronization method was completed. 
     
     
         30 . The method as recited in  claim 29  wherein at least one modification identification that is associated with the altered object and that is referenced to the synchronization anchor comprises a date/time stamp. 
     
     
         31 . The method as recited in  claim 27  wherein at least one modification identification is updated when an object is altered. 
     
     
         32 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein transferring the altered values of the objects that have been altered along with the unique identifiers of the altered objects comprises collecting a copy of said altered values and said object identifiers in a data collection and transferring that new data collection from one of the multiple data collections containing equivalent objects to another data collection containing equivalent objects that have not yet been altered by said alterations. 
     
     
         33 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein transferring the altered values of the objects that have been altered along with the unique identifiers of the altered objects thereby eliminates the need to copy the entire data collection from one of the multiple data collections in which alterations have occurred to another data collection containing equivalent objects that have not yet been altered by said alterations. 
     
     
         34 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein each object has a unique identifier such that each data collection can match its objects to each of the other data collection objects in order to maintain equivalency after the synchronization method is complete. 
     
     
         35 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein the transfer of information further comprises sending data collection identification information. 
     
     
         36 . The method as recited in  claim 35  wherein the transferring of alterations from one data collection and the sending of data collection identification information further comprises:
 receiving altered values and unique identifiers of objects that have been altered in the other data collection; and 
 modifying the equivalent objects in the one of the data collection with the corresponding altered values from the other data collection. 
 
     
     
         37 . The method as recited in  claim 36  wherein receiving altered values and unique identifiers of objects that have been altered further comprises receiving a confirmation message from the other data collection to which the alterations to the one of the data collections was sent. 
     
     
         38 . The method as recited in  claim 37  wherein receiving the confirmation message further comprises updating the last synchronization anchor. 
     
     
         39 . The method as recited in  claim 36  wherein receiving altered values and unique identifiers of objects includes receiving alterations that have not occurred at the one of the data collections based on the data collection identification information. 
     
     
         40 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein replacing the values of the altered objects in the second data collection further comprises determining if any of the objects have been deleted from the one of the data collections, and if so, removing such objects from the other data collection. 
     
     
         41 . A system for synchronizing information among one or more first data collections in communication with a second data collection, each data collection having at least some equivalent objects with equivalent values contained in at least one of the other data collections, the system comprising:
 an input device associated with each of the first data collections for receiving information altering the value of an object contained in one of the first data collections;   a central processing unit associated with each of the first data collections for altering said values of objects based on the receiving information by addition, change, deletion, or replacement of a portion thereof;   a central processing unit associated with each of the data collections for identifying the altered values of the objects that have been altered from a previous state, transferring a copy of the alterations and the unique identifiers of the altered objects from one of the first data collections to the second data collection that has the equivalent unaltered objects stored therein, and for modifying the values of said objects in the second data collection corresponding to the altered values received for the equivalent objects from the transfer.   
     
     
         42 . The system as recited in  claim 41  wherein the identification of the alteration of an object from a previous state is based on utilization of a synchronization anchor. 
     
     
         43 . The system as recited in  claim 42  wherein the central processing unit does not update the synchronization anchor until after completion of the system as recited in  claim 41 . 
     
     
         44 . The system as recited in  claim 43  wherein the synchronization anchor reflects a date/time stamp. 
     
     
         45 . The system as recited in  claim 41  wherein at least one modification identification is associated with the altered value of each object that has been altered since the previous synchronization method was completed. 
     
     
         46 . The system as recited in  claim 45  wherein the central processing unit operates such that at least one modification identification can result in identifying the type of alteration to the value of the object as an addition, change, deletion, or replacement of a portion thereof. 
     
     
         47 . The system as recited in  claim 45  wherein at least one modification identification that is associated with the altered object may be referenced by the central processing unit to the synchronization anchor in determining whether the altered object was altered after the last synchronization method was completed. 
     
     
         48 . The system as recited in  claim 47  wherein at least one modification identification that is associated with the altered object and that is referenced by the central processing unit to the synchronization anchor comprises a date/time stamp. 
     
     
         49 . The system as recited in  claim 45  wherein at least one modification identification is updated by the central processing unit when an object is altered. 
     
     
         50 . The system as recited in  claim 41  wherein each object has a unique identifier such that the central processing unit for each data collection can match its objects to the copy of the transferred objects from each of the other data collections in order to maintain equivalency after the system for synchronizing objects has completed. 
     
     
         51 . The system as recited in  claim 41  wherein the central processing unit, in transferring the altered values of the objects that have been altered along with the unique identifiers of the altered objects, is further operative to transfer such alterations and unique identifiers to eliminate the need to copy the entire data collection from one of the first data collections in which alterations have occurred to the second data collection containing equivalent objects that have not yet been altered by said alterations. 
     
     
         52 . The system as recited in  claim 41  wherein the central processing unit, in transferring the altered values of the objects that have been altered along with the unique identifiers of the altered objects, is further operative to collect a copy of said altered values and said object identifiers in a data collection and transfer that new data collection from one of the first data collections to the second data collection containing equivalent objects that have not yet been altered by said alterations. 
     
     
         53 . The system as recited in  claim 52  wherein the central processing unit is further operative to transfer data collection identification information for the one of the first data collections. 
     
     
         54 . The system as recited in  claim 53  wherein the central processing unit, in transferring alterations and object identifiers from the one of the first data collections and the sending of data collection identification information, is further operative to:
 receive altered values and unique identifiers of objects that have been altered in the second data collection; and 
 modify the equivalent objects in the one of the first data collections with the corresponding altered values from the second data collection. 
 
     
     
         55 . The system as recited in  claim 41  wherein the central processing unit, in replacing the values of the altered objects in the second data collection, is further operative to determine if any of the objects have been deleted from the one of the first data collections, and if so, removing such objects from the second data collection. 
     
     
         56 . A method to permit the synchronizing of the values of equivalent objects contained in multiple data collections that are in communications with one another, the method comprising:
 receiving information consisting of one or more new objects and said new objects' values;   appending said one or more new objects with said new objects' values to one of the data collections;   identifying the one or more new objects with said new objects' values that have been appended to the one of the data collections since the previous synchronization method, if any, was completed;   transferring a copy of the one or more new objects with said new objects' values that have been appended to the one of the data collections, from the one data collection to another data collection;   receiving said one or more new objects with said new objects' values by the other data collection;   appending said one or more new objects with said new objects' values to the other data collection;   wherein each of the one or more new objects is assigned a unique identifier, and   wherein transferring the said one or more new objects further includes,   transferring the unique identifiers of said one or more new objects of the one data collection to the other data collection to permit the matching for synchronization when the equivalent objects in the one or other data collections are altered in the future.   
     
     
         57 . The method as recited in  claim 17  wherein the steps of receiving information altering the value of an object and altering said value of the object based on the receiving information, may be repeated continuously and periodically except for interruptions that may include, but are not limited to, initiation of the subsequent steps as recited in  claim 17 . 
     
     
         58 . The method as recited in  claim 57  wherein initiation of the next steps is based on a predetermined activator.