Patent ID: 8700569

Claim:
A method for merging a first database with a second database, the method comprising the steps of: providing first and second computing devices having respective first and second databases stored thereon, the first and second databases each comprising one or more records containing data, each of the one or more records having a unique identifier and a timestamp associated therewith; utilizing the first computing device for making a backup copy of the first database, the first computing device storing the backup copy of the first database on a form of electronic media or a shared device; making the backup copy of the first database stored on the electronic media or the shared device available to the second computing device so that the second computing device is capable of reading the first database; attaching the backup copy of the first database to the second database as a supplementary database thereto; comparing, by using the second computing device, a first listing comprising one or more unique identifiers associated with the one or more records in the first database to a second listing comprising one or more unique identifiers associated with the one or more records in the second database without performing any type of conflict detection or determination for the data in the one or more records; determining, by using the second computing device, whether each of the one or more unique identifiers in the first listing exists in the second listing; when it is determined that one or more unique identifiers in the first listing do not exist in the second listing, copying one or more records associated with the one or more unique identifiers that do not exist from the first database to the second database; when it is determined that one or more unique identifiers in the first listing also exist in the second listing, further determining, by using the second computing device, a most recent version of one or more records associated with the one or more unique identifiers existing in both listings by comparing one or more timestamps in the first listing to one or more timestamps of one or more corresponding records in the second listing, wherein the one or more timestamps of the one or more records having common unique identifiers are compared only once during the performance of the merge procedure; when it is determined that one or more records in the first listing have a more recent timestamp than one or more corresponding records in the second listing with matching unique identifiers, copying the one or more records having more recent timestamps from the first database to the second database without first checking the data in the one or more records for conflicts and without making any determination as to whether or not a conflict exists in the data; and making no determination during the merge procedure as to whether any of the one or more timestamps of the one or more records in the first database is equal to any of the one or more timestamps of the one or more records in the second database.