Patent ID: 6938070

Claim:
A method of maintaining consistency of a plurality of data objects, each data object being maintained by a different one of a plurality of computers that are operatively connected to each other by a network, the method comprising, at a first one of the computers in response to a received user input: executing a current operation modifying a first one of the data objects that is maintained by the first computer; formatting a synchronization message, the message comprising: a current operation parameter comprising data identifying said current operation, data enabling another computer to execute said current operation in a manner enabling synchronization of the first computer and the other computer, and execution stage data identifying an operational stage for execution of the current operation, and a previous operation parameter comprising data identifying a preceding operation executed by the first computer and execution stage data identifying an operational stage at which said preceding operation was executed by the first computer, a parameter identifying a unique priority level of the first computer with respect to others of the plurality of computers; and transmitting the synchronization message from the first computer to others of the plurality of computers.