Patent ID: 7457631
Filing Date: 2008-11-25
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. Apparatus for a radio communication system comprised of a network part at which a network-copy database is maintained, a plurality of base transceiver stations (BTSs) coupled to the network part, each BTS of the plurality of BTSs defining a corresponding communication coverage area cell, within which at least one BTS provides data communications service to mobile nodes located therein and, a mobile node capable of being positioned in different cells at successive times and at which a mobile-copy database is maintained, said apparatus being located at the network part and facilitating synchronization of data stored at the network-copy database that changes relative to data stored in the mobile-copy database, the synchronization of data occurring through a relay device that couples the network part to a base transceiver station, the coverage area of which the mobile node is operating, said apparatus being located at the network part of the communication system and communicating with a plurality of base transceiver stations and a plurality of mobile nodes through said relay and comprising: a mapper, selectably operable to form a map between fields of a data record of a network-copy database, the network-copy database having a network-copy schema and, fields of a corresponding data record of the mobile-copy database, the mobile-copy database having a mobile schema, the mobile-copy database schema being different than the network-copy database schema, the map indexing together the fields of the data record of the network-database with the fields of the corresponding data record of the mobile-copy database, said mapper forming the map upon detection of change to the data record of the network-copy database; a synchronization request generator that receives the map, generates a synchronization request from the map, and which provides the synchronization request to a synchronization server, the synchronization server including a filter that filters out of a synchronization request to a mobile node, a request to update data for a field of a data record in the mobile-copy database for which a corresponding field of a corresponding data record does not also exist in the network-copy database; wherein the synchronization server generates a synchronization request to be sent to a mobile node through a BTS in whose coverage area in which the mobile node is operating, the synchronization request including data for a record in the network-copy database that is to be copied into a record to be updated in the mobile node, the mobile node record to be updated being identified within the synchronization request by an integer generated from the map and identifying to both the mobile node and to the network part, the mobile node record to be updated, and wherein the mobile-copy database and the network-copy database are capable of being synchronized uninterruptedly as the mobile node travels through successive ones of communication coverage area cells.