Patent ID: 7548923

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for synchronizing data objects having an application specific format without requiring the first application to register the configuration information with a centralized service, the method comprising: a first application creating a partnership at a local location to facilitate synchronization between a first data object at the local location and a second data object at a remote location, wherein the first data object is formatted according to a first format corresponding to the first application, and wherein the partnership comprises a schema that describes the configuration information that is required to interpret the first data object in the first format such that by creating the partnership, the first application provides the configuration information without having to register the configuration information with a centralized service, wherein the first application includes a graphic user interface that consists of at least the following fields for receiving user input: a name field for specifying a name of the partnership, a local file path field for specifying the local location, a remote file path field for specifying the remote location, and a sync type field for specifying the type of synchronization to perform between the first and second data object; a second application running at a remote location searching for the created partnership at the local location; the second application discovering the created partnership and extracting the configuration information from the created partnership such that the second application receives the configuration information from the created partnership rather than receiving the configuration information from the centralized service; and the second application using the configuration information from the created partnership to initiate, at the remote location, a synchronization operation to synchronize the second data object to the first data object, wherein the second application uses the configuration information to interpret the first data object in the first format.