Patent ID: 8533154

Claim:
A method, comprising: establishing a connection between a server and a synchronization client, wherein a handheld device comprises the synchronization client, the server comprises a first database, the first database comprises a plurality of groups of data, and the handheld device comprises a second database; receiving, from the synchronization client, filter information, wherein the filter information indicates a first group of the plurality of groups of data; filtering data from the first database using the filter information to obtain first data, wherein the filtering comprises selecting the first group of data in accordance with the filter information; and providing the first data to the synchronization client to update the second database, wherein the first data comprises the first group of data; receiving, from the synchronization client, information of transactions performed on the second database via the handheld device; and providing metadata to the synchronization client to update an application on the handheld device when the application has not been updated since a previous synchronization operation.