Patent ID: 7437484

Claim:
A method for optimizing a slow synchronization between a client and a server, the method comprising: receiving, at the server, a synchronization package having missing or corrupt synchronization anchors; sending, by the server, a request to the client to initiate a slow synchronization process; receiving a slow synchronization package, at the server, wherein the slow synchronization package comprises summary data associated with documents stored at the client; determining, by the server, if the slow synchronization package was received from a client designated proprietary by examining a header field of the slow synchronization package, the proprietary client departing from the slow synchronization process by sending the slow synchronization package comprising the summary data associated with documents stored at the client rather than sending the documents themselves; processing, by the server, the received summary data associated with documents stored at the client, if the client is so designated, wherein processing the received summary data further comprises: comparing a unique identifier and a timestamp, obtained from the summary data, for each document stored at the client with a unique identifier and timestamp for each document stored at the server; and determining if said unique identifiers and said timestamps match for the client document and server document wherein: if said unique identifiers do not match, sending a status to the client indicating a document that needs to be sent by the client.