Patent ID: 6192416
Filing Date: 2001-02-20
Classification: H04L,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of propagating data throughout a computer system having mobile computers, and a respective computer server device at each of a plurality of fixed sites, said method comprising providing relevant data at said computer server device to be transferred to said mobile computers, making a data exchange connection between a mobile computer and said computer server device when a mobile computer visits said site, providing authorisation checking when said data exchange connection is made to determine if said mobile computer is an authorised computer, conducting software checking to determine if relevant data resident in said computer server device is more recent than the relevant data in said mobile computer, invoking further software to transfer the relevant data from said computer server device to said computer if it is more recent than the relevant data in said mobile computer, and if the relevant data in said mobile computer is more recent than the relevant data in said computer server device, invoking said further software to transfer the relevant data from said mobile computer to said computer server device, so that the more recent of said relevant data is resident in both said mobile computer and said computer server device and repeating the process with further mobile computers when they visit said site whereby said relevant data can be propagated, and wherein when relevant data is required to be propagated it is only introduced to a computer server device at one of said fixed sites, and that it is propagated to a further one of said plurality of fixed sites by being transferred to a mobile computer visiting said one site and then to said further one of said plurality of sites when said mobile computer visits said further one of said plurality of sites, thereby providing said further one of said plurality of sites with the relevant data for propagation to further mobile computers which visit said further one of said plurality of sites.