Patent ID: 7991740

Claim:
A method performed at a server, the method comprising: processing a request to initiate a sync session from a client to update one or more data records that include one or more data items; updating data records in a datastore associated with the server using field level differencing, that sends only changed data items included in the one or more data records, when the client is selectively identified as a trusted client type based on one or more properties of the sync session, wherein the trusted client type is configured to support a schema defined by the server for the one or more data records, wherein the schema corresponds to predetermined data types; and updating data records in the datastore associated with the server at least by performing a conversion from record level differencing, that sends all of the data items included in the one or more data records, to the field level differencing to identify the changed data items in the one or more data records, when the client is selectively identified as an untrusted client type based on one of more properties of the sync session, wherein the untrusted client type is not configured to support the schema.