Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention is in the field of cloud computing, and more particularly in the field of real-time synchronization of data between disparate cloud data sources such as using a database that uses primary and foreign key pairs to represent relationships between tables with a database system that uses another form of metadata to denote that relational data. 
         [0003]    Discussion of the State of the Art 
         [0004]    The use of computerized databases by business had its beginnings in the 1960s with the development of the SABRE system by IBM for American Airline&#39;s reservation system. At that time the database consisted of large sets of flat files that had been individually developed for a specific purpose and the application interface too was extremely complex and specifically developed to manipulate the data expected by a single project The next two decades saw significant advancement in database technology with databases progressing from a large series of files with hard coded relationships to a single file of hierarchically interconnected information or network connected information in the late 1960&#39;s to the development of the relational data model in the early 1970s and the resultant database packages such as INGRES, System R, and Oracle that arose from the relational model in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of possibly greater importance, however, was that these relational database packages were introduced with languages such as Structured Query Language (SQL) for interacting with the database engines they contained, which greatly simplified the initial set-up of databases, retrieving information from databases and updating data when needed. These packages also came with data storage and maintenance functions pre-programmed allowing end use developers to focus solely on design of database structure rather than the minutia data storage and retrieval. While all significant steps forward, the absence of standardized application programming interface type support for database connectivity still relegated the use of databases to only large projects by large corporations as significant programming specific to the project database by a developer with highly specialized knowledge was still required. The release of such standardized application interfaces for interaction with database management systems such as open database connectivity language and java database connectivity extension which both allow applications to interface with databases largely independent of the database management system vendor in the early 1995 corresponded with the rise of the internet and internet commerce to create a large upturn in database use by small medium a large businesses. This large expansion in database use in turn drove the improvement of tools within programming languages such as C C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, and HTML, among others, further reducing the time and cost required for development of applications using databases as a part of their back ends. Currently databases are used in most aspects of business operations; sales, human resources, inventory, product support, research and development to name some examples, all have multiple commercial software packages available to serve small, medium and large business needs. 
         [0005]    A second trend that has participated in significant increase in the availability of database driven applications to all levels of business is the rise of “cloud computing.” In cloud computing, a business, instead of buying their software as a product that they then receive in whole, place on their own hardware and run locally, instead buys the software as a service, paying a monthly or yearly fee to make use of the software much like a subscription to it. In this model, the subscribing business does not have to pay for the purchase and upkeep of their own computer infrastructure, they don&#39;t need to perform their own regular back ups of the data they are generating and they do not need to be concerned about software upgrades, especially security upgrades because the could software company or “cloud service provider” performs all of those tasks on the cloud provider&#39;s infrastructure as part of the service. The great appeal to the subscribing businesses is the extremely low equipment overhead, equipment space savings, greatly reduces the size of the IT department needed and scalability, the ability to subscribe a small number of users on the system early on, and add users as growth in the business requires it, or ability to reduce users relatively quickly as needed. An example of a well established cloud service provider that has made great inroads into the field is SalesForce. SalesForce is a cloud service provider that offers a complete, generalized customer relationship management system that completely resides in the cloud. Businesses subscribe to number of seats, or users, and in return they receive the use of an instance of SalesForce&#39;s customer relationship database specific for the business&#39; company developed by SalesForce over their 15 years of operation to have all the needed tables, field and user facing resources to encompass the needs of customer relationship management which include, general new sales lead acquisition, general sales lead tracking, generalized sales relationship handling, generalized equipment contract tracking, general customer support ticket management system, business telephony system, generalized intra business messaging. More recently, SalesForce also offers limited programming capabilities to allow the subscribing business to change somewhat the look, feel and function of the stock database and user facing interface of their SalesForce service. Some of these new programming routines allow the direct manipulation of the SalesForce database from outside of their interface. This progression is typical of the current state of cloud computing. 
         [0006]    As one knowledgeable in the art will recognize, a serious issue which serves as an obstacle to the improvement of the usefulness of both databases and cloud service products that use them by businesses is that, once entered over time, the company&#39;s data is restricted to that database and, if present the cloud service provider the business is using preventing the business from using the data in novel or alternative ways. Since the data in question is in constant use by the business and it being up to date at all times critical to the function of the business, simply making a copy of the data for use and either then keeping two separate copies of the data or reconciling the data occasionally is not a viable remedy. What is needed is a system that can maintain the synchronization of data from a plurality of data sources in real time. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The inventor has developed a system for real-time synchronization of data from a plurality of data sources where the design of one or more of the data sources differs from that of the others. 
         [0008]    According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system for real-time synchronization of data between disparate cloud data sources, comprising a local database, a database data conversion software module, an initial remote database acquisition software module, a steady state database synchronization software module and a failsafe database synchronization module. The local database: receives and stores data from a plurality of sources which includes at least one other database of heterogeneous design; and retrieves then supplies data to a plurality of destinations which includes at least one other database of heterogeneous design. The database data conversion software module: receives data records from source database; applies one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes and table assignment changes based upon parameters established for translation of data between the source database and the destination database; and outputs modified data records for incorporation into the destination database. The initial remote database acquisition software module: retrieves data from the remote database using application programming interface calls made available by the developers of that database; and tracks start and end times of the transfer to enable reconciliation of data transferred to the local database with data in the remote, source database that has changed during the transfer just prior to production use. The steady state database synchronization software module: monitors local database for changes to data, reconciles any local change with changes to the same data in remote database and forwards reconciled data to conversion software module for eventual incorporation into destination database; and monitors messages announcing that data in remote database has changed, retrieves changed data, reconciles change with changes to the same data in local database and forwards reconciled data to conversion software module for eventual incorporation into local database. Finally, the failsafe database synchronization software module: waits a predetermined amount of time, polls the remote database for list of changes made in that time period, compares changes made to remote data and changes made to local data, outstanding changes are reconciled then applied to local and remote databases as determined; and detects loss of communication between local and remote databases, tracks start time and end time of communication outage, polls the remote database for list of changes made in that time period, compares changes made to remote data and changes made to local data, outstanding changes are reconciled then applied to local and remote databases as determined. 
         [0009]    According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, a method for a system for the real-time synchronization of data between disparate cloud data sources, the method comprising the following steps: To download entire data set from a remote database using an initial database acquisition module. To convert data from the remote database in a database data conversion module by applying one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes and table assignment changes based upon a plurality of parameters established for translation of data between the remote database and a local database. To incorporate converted data set from the remote database into the local database of disparate design. To maintain synchronization of remote and local databases under steady state conditions employing a steady state synchronization software module that uses a plurality of application programming interface functions provided by the remote database. To maintain synchronization of remote database and local database under both time recurring conditions and conditions of communication outage between the remote database and local database employing a failsafe synchronization software module that uses a plurality of application programming interface functions provided by the remote database. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         [0010]    The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention according to the embodiments. 
           [0011]    One skilled in the art will recognize that the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are merely exemplary, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware architecture of a computing device used in various embodiments of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical architecture for a client device, according to various embodiments of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architectural arrangement of clients, servers, and external services, according to various embodiments of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary overview of a computer system as may be used in any of the various locations throughout the system 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system where the local database is managing data from the database of another cloud service vendor as part of the local cloud service according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system where the local database is managing data from the databases of a plurality of cloud service vendors as part of the local cloud service according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system where the local database is one of a plurality of cloud service based databases managed within a centralized database which might host the data employed by a plurality of additional cloud based services according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is a diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system where the local database and client software package database are two of a plurality of databases managed within a centralized database which might host the data employed by a plurality of additional cloud based services according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is a process flow diagram of a method for download, conversion, and maintenance of a remote database by a local database using a system of the invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is a process flow diagram of a method for steady state maintenance of synchronization between remote database and local database using a system of the invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  is a process flow diagram of a method for steady state maintenance of synchronization between local database and remote database using a system of the invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  is a process flow diagram of a method for timed failsafe maintenance of synchronization between remote database and local database using a system of the invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 13  is a process flow diagram of a method for failsafe maintenance of synchronization between remote database and local database after a communications outage using a system of the invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 14  is a diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system where the local cloud service replies to a query that requires information not present in the local database by issuing derived queries to the databases of a plurality of cloud service vendors as part of the local cloud service according to an embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0026]    The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, various systems and methods for real-time synchronization of data between disparate cloud data sources. 
         [0027]    One or more different inventions may be described in the present application. Further, for one or more of the inventions described herein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should be understood that these are presented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments are not intended to be limiting in any sense. One or more of the inventions may be widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as is readily apparent from the disclosure. In general, embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of the inventions, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the particular inventions. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will recognize that one or more of the inventions may be practiced with various modifications and alterations. Particular features of one or more of the inventions may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments or figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of one or more of the inventions. It should be understood, however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures with reference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments of one or more of the inventions nor a listing of features of one or more of the inventions that must be present in all embodiments. 
         [0028]    Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the title of this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way. 
         [0029]    Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, logical or physical. 
         [0030]    A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. To the contrary, a variety of optional components may be described to illustrate a wide variety of possible embodiments of one or more of the inventions and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects of the inventions. Similarly, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work in alternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in this patent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of described processes may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring sequentially (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one or more of the invention(s), and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred. Also, steps are generally described once per embodiment, but this does not mean they must occur once, or that they may only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm is carried out or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some embodiments or some occurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a given embodiment or occurrence. 
         [0031]    When a single device or article is described, it will be readily apparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of a single device or article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described, it will be readily apparent that a single device or article may be used in place of the more than one device or article. 
         [0032]    The functionality or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly described as having such functionality or features. Thus, other embodiments of one or more of the inventions need not include the device itself. 
         [0033]    Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, it should be noted that particular embodiments include multiple iterations of a technique or multiple manifestations of a mechanism unless noted otherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of embodiments of the present invention in which, for example, functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art. 
       Definitions 
       [0034]    As used herein, “data source” is any remote system that transmits information that is structured in such a way that rules can be applied to insure the reliable and accurate storage of that information in a local database. The “data source” as used here will most often be another, remote, database, but could also be a set of text files on a file server or extensive complex spreadsheet data from within a small sized, medium sized or large sized corporation without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed. 
         [0035]    A “database” or “data storage subsystem” (these terms may be considered substantially synonymous), as used herein, is a system adapted for the long-term storage, indexing, and retrieval of data, the retrieval typically being via some sort of querying interface or language. “Database” may be used to refer to relational database management systems known in the art, but should not be considered to be limited to such systems. Many alternative database or data storage system technologies have been, and indeed are being, introduced in the art, including but not limited to distributed non-relational data storage systems such as Hadoop, column-oriented databases, in-memory databases, and the like. While various embodiments may preferentially employ one or another of the various data storage subsystems available in the art (or available in the future), the invention should not be construed to be so limited, as any data storage architecture may be used according to the embodiments. Similarly, while in some cases one or more particular data storage needs are described as being satisfied by separate components (for example, an expanded private capital markets database and a configuration database), these descriptions refer to functional uses of data storage systems and do not refer to their physical architecture. For instance, any group of data storage systems of databases referred to herein may be included together in a single database management system operating on a single machine, or they may be included in a single database management system operating on a cluster of machines as is known in the art. Similarly, any single database (such as an expanded private capital markets database) may be implemented on a single machine, on a set of machines using clustering technology, on several machines connected by one or more messaging systems known in the art, in a peer to peer arrangement or in a master/slave arrangement common in the art. These examples should make clear that no particular architectural approaches to database management is preferred according to the invention, and choice of data storage technology is at the discretion of each implementer, without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed. 
       Hardware Architecture 
       [0036]    Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented on hardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, they may be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate user process, in a library package bound into network applications, on a specially constructed machine, on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card. 
         [0037]    Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on a programmable network-resident machine (which should be understood to include intermittently connected network-aware machines) selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in memory. Such network devices may have multiple network interfaces that may be configured or designed to utilize different types of network communication protocols. A general architecture for some of these machines may be disclosed herein in order to illustrate one or more exemplary means by which a given unit of functionality may be implemented. According to specific embodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on one or more general-purpose computers associated with one or more networks, such as for example an end-user computer system, a client computer, a network server or other server system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tablet computing device, mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, and the like), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or any other suitable electronic device, router, switch, or the like, or any combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in one or more virtualized computing environments (e.g., network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted on one or more physical computing machines, or the like). 
         [0038]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary computing device  100  suitable for implementing at least a portion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computing device  100  may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listed in the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capable of executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to one or more programs stored in memory. Computing device  100  may be adapted to communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such as clients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide area network a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wireless network, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols for such communication, whether wireless or wired. 
         [0039]    In one embodiment, computing device  100  includes one or more central processing units (CPU)  102 , one or more interfaces  110 , and one or more buses  106  (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU  102  may be responsible for implementing specific functions associated with the functions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. For example, in at least one embodiment, a computing device  100  may be configured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU  102 , local memory  101  and/or remote memory  120 , and interface(s)  110 . In at least one embodiment, CPU  102  may be caused to perform one or more of the different types of functions and/or operations under the control of software modules or components, which for example, may include an operating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like. 
         [0040]    CPU  102  may include one or more processors  103  such as, for example, a processor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families of microprocessors. In some embodiments, processors  103  may include specially designed hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, for controlling operations of computing device  100 . In a specific embodiment, a local memory  101  (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/or read-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels of cached memory) may also form part of CPU  102 . However, there are many different ways in which memory may be coupled to system  100 . Memory  101  may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. 
         [0041]    As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to those integrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobile processor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller, a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, an application-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmable circuit. 
         [0042]    In one embodiment, interfaces  110  are provided as network interface cards (NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of data packets over a computer network; other types of interfaces  110  may for example support other peripherals used with computing device  100 . Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types of interfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus (USB), Serial, Ethernet, Firewire, PCI, parallel, radio frequency (RF), Bluetooth, near-field communications (e.g., using near-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fast Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speed serial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces, fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, such interfaces  110  may include ports appropriate for communication with appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include an independent processor and, in some instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM). 
         [0043]    Although the system shown in  FIG. 1  illustrates one specific architecture for a computing device  100  for implementing one or more of the inventions described herein, it is by no means the only device architecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniques described herein may be implemented. For example, architectures having one or any number of processors  103  may be used, and such processors  103  may be present in a single device or distributed among any number of devices. In one embodiment, a single processor  103  handles communications as well as routing computations, while in other embodiments a separate dedicated communications processor may be provided. In various embodiments, different types of features or functionalities may be implemented in a system according to the invention that includes a client device (such as a tablet device or smartphone running client software) and server systems (such as a server system described in more detail below). 
         [0044]    Regardless of network device configuration, the system of the present invention may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example, remote memory block  120  and local memory  101 ) configured to store data, program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, or other information relating to the functionality of the embodiments described herein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions may control execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. Memory  120  or memories  101 ,  120  may also be configured to store data structures, configuration data, encryption data, historical system operations information, or any other specific or generic non-program information described herein. 
         [0045]    Because such information and program instructions may be employed to implement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least some network device embodiments may include nontransitory machine-readable storage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed to store program instructions, state information, and the like for performing various operations described herein. Examples of such nontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as optical disks, and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM), flash memory, solid state drives, memristor memory, random access memory (RAM), and the like. Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as may be produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by an assembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by for example a Java compiler and may be executed using a Java virtual machine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scripts written in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language). 
         [0046]    In some embodiments, systems according to the present invention may be implemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a block diagram depicting a typical exemplary architecture of one or more embodiments or components thereof on a standalone computing system. Computing device  200  includes processors  210  that may run software that carry out one or more functions or applications of embodiments of the invention, such as for example a client application  230 . Processors  210  may carry out computing instructions under control of an operating system  220  such as, for example, a version of Microsoft&#39;s Windows operating system, 
         [0047]    Apple&#39;s Mac OS/X or iOS operating systems, some variety of the Linux operating system, Google&#39;s Android operating system, or the like. In many cases, one or more shared services  225  may be operable in system  200 , and may be useful for providing common services to client applications  230 . Services  225  may for example be Windows services, user-space common services in a Linux environment, or any other type of common service architecture used with operating system  210 . Input devices  270  may be of any type suitable for receiving user input, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone (for example, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball, or any combination thereof. Output devices  260  may be of any type suitable for providing output to one or more users, whether remote or local to system  200 , and may include for example one or more screens for visual output, speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory  240  may be random-access memory having any structure and architecture known in the art, for use by processors  210 , for example to run software. Storage devices  250  may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor, or electrical storage device for storage of data in digital form. Examples of storage devices  250  include flash memory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or the like. 
         [0048]    In some embodiments, systems of the present invention may be implemented on a distributed computing network, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers. Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary architecture for implementing at least a portion of a system according to an embodiment of the invention on a distributed computing network. According to the embodiment, any number of clients  330  may be provided. Each client  330  may run software for implementing client-side portions of the present invention; clients may comprise a system  200  such as that illustrated in  FIG. 2 . In addition, any number of servers  320  may be provided for handling requests received from one or more clients  330 . Clients  330  and servers  320  may communicate with one another via one or more electronic networks  310 , which may be in various embodiments of the Internet, a wide area network, a mobile telephony network, a wireless network (such as WiFi, Wimax, and so forth), or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in the art; the invention does not prefer any one network topology over any other). Networks  310  may be implemented using any known network protocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols. 
         [0049]    In addition, in some embodiments, servers  320  may call external services  370  when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additional data concerning a particular call. Communications with external services  370  may take place, for example, via one or more networks  310 . In various embodiments, external services  370  may comprise web-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. For example, in an embodiment where client applications  230  are implemented on a smartphone or other electronic device, client applications  230  may obtain information stored in a server system  320  in the cloud or on an external service  370  deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise&#39;s or user&#39;s premises. 
         [0050]    In some embodiments of the invention, clients  330  or servers  320  (or both) may make use of one or more specialized services or appliances that may be deployed locally or remotely across one or more networks  310 . For example, one or more databases  340  may be used or referred to by one or more embodiments of the invention. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that databases  340  may be arranged in a wide variety of architectures and using a wide variety of data access and manipulation means. For example, in various embodiments one or more databases  340  may comprise a relational database system using a structured query language (SQL), while others may comprise an alternative data storage technology such as those referred to in the art as “NoSQL” (for example, Hadoop, MapReduce, BigTable, and so forth). In some embodiments variant database architectures such as column-oriented databases, in-memory databases, clustered databases, distributed databases, key-value stores, or even flat file data repositories may be used according to the invention. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that any combination of known or future database technologies may be used as appropriate, unless a specific database technology or a specific arrangement of components is specified for a particular embodiment herein. Moreover, it should be appreciated that the term “database” as used herein may refer to a physical database machine, a cluster of machines acting as a single database system, or a logical database within an overall database management system. Unless a specific meaning is specified for a given use of the term “database”, it should be construed to mean any of these senses of the word, all of which are understood as a plain meaning of the term “database” by those having ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0051]    Similarly, most embodiments of the invention may make use of one or more security systems  360  and configuration systems  350 . Security and configuration management are common information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the art now or in the future may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the invention without limitation, unless a specific security  360  or configuration  350  system or approach is specifically required by the description of any specific embodiment. 
         [0052]      FIG. 4  shows an exemplary overview of a computer system  400  as may be used in any of the various locations throughout the system. It is exemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Various modifications and changes may be made to computer system  400  without departing from the broader scope of the system and method disclosed herein. CPU  401  is connected to bus  402 , to which bus is also connected memory  403 , nonvolatile memory  404 , display  407 , I/O unit  408 , and network interface card (NIC)  413 . I/O unit  408  may, typically, be connected to keyboard  409 , pointing device  410 , hard disk  412 , and real-time clock  411 . NIC  413  connects to network  414 , which may be the Internet or a local network, which local network may or may not have connections to the Internet. Also shown as part of system  400  is power supply unit  405  connected, in this example, to ac supply  406 . Not shown are batteries that could be present, and many other devices and modifications that are well known but are not applicable to the specific novel functions of the current system and method disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that some or all components illustrated may be combined, such as in various integrated applications (for example, Qualcomm or Samsung SOC-based devices), or whenever it may be appropriate to combine multiple capabilities or functions into a single hardware device (for instance, in mobile devices such as smartphones, video game consoles, in-vehicle computer systems such as navigation or multimedia systems in automobiles, or other integrated hardware devices). 
         [0053]    In various embodiments, functionality for implementing systems or methods of the present invention may be distributed among any number of client and/or server components. For example, various software modules may be implemented for performing various functions in connection with the present invention, and such modules may be variously implemented to run on server and/or client components. 
       Conceptual Architecture 
       [0054]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system  500  for real-time synchronization of data between disparate data sources. According to the embodiment, a client enterprise  570  is subscribed to a cloud service provider  510 , an example of which might be SalesForce.com, which, among other things, provides data storage  513  for all of enterprise&#39;s customer relationship information. As part of the cloud service  510  subscription, the enterprise uses applications provided by the cloud service  511  linked to the database of enterprise customer information  513  within the cloud service provider&#39;s infrastructure  510  and served over the internet  580  by the cloud service provider&#39;s web servers  512  as the enterprise&#39;s repository of potential and existing customer contact information, to track sales leads, to track products and related contracts sold by them to customers, and for customer problem management. As such, the information in this database  510  is used to some extent by all employees within the enterprise  570  through the enterprise&#39;s web interface  571  whether the employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  572  or laptop computers  573  or the employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  574 , laptop computers  575 , desktop computers  576  or tablet devices  577  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  580  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0055]    As the cloud based computer model has matured, it has become increasingly possible that an enterprise will depend on more than one cloud service provider which in turn rely on the same enterprise data to provide the optimal set of tools for their business needs. Using the customer relationship management example introduced above, the enterprise may use one cloud service provider&#39;s package to track all existing customers&#39; previous sales, problem tickets and to receive inquiries for equipment or services sales that come in through the enterprise&#39;s customer support line but to use the software package of another cloud service provider  540  for the capture and cultivation of all new sales leads as that second package is specialized for those tasks and therefore offers many useful features for those operations. One familiar with the art will immediately realize that the function of both cloud software packages depends on the data set that they are both drawing from being functionally identical and that having both services use the same data source, for example, a single database, could serve to noticeably slow the usefulness of both packages and would rely on levels of cooperation that do not exist between the two cloud service providers  510 ,  540 . In this embodiment of the invention, the concurrent use of the same data set by both cloud service providers  510 ,  540  while maintaining the integrity of the enterprise&#39;s  570  master data source  513  is accomplished by the incorporation of the enterprise&#39;s entire customer data set into database storage system  542  of the second, local cloud service provider  540 . At initial set up of the local cloud provider&#39;s service, the provider&#39;s local application server  541  uses an initial master database acquisition software module  545  to request the bulk transfer of the enterprise&#39;s  570  entire customer data set  513  from the first cloud service provider  510  over the internet  580  through the local cloud service provider&#39;s web server interface  544 . This initial acquisition task might use a specialized bulk download call provided by the first cloud service&#39;s application programming interface  511 , if one is available. This task may also make use of REST based, SOAP based, or other, proprietary type requests provided by the first cloud service provider for smaller data downloads to transfer the entire remote data set  513  either at initial set up of the novel cloud service database, or during the course of transactions where the data needed is present in the master database but not yet present in the novel cloud service&#39;s local database, as necessary and desired. Indeed, any method of electronic data transfer from the first cloud service provider to the local cloud service provider known to those familiar to the art, could be used as the invention does not depend on any specific protocol. As the designs of two independently developed data sources are invariably heterogeneous, often related to the specific use to which they are employed, it is expected that a database conversion module  543  will be used to convert all data flowing between the local cloud service&#39;s database  542  and the first cloud service&#39;s database  513 , both during the initial local database acquisition operation and during the subsequent synchronization operations required to insure data integrity of both databases  542 ,  513  in production use. Once in production, it would be expected that use of the local cloud service  540  applications  541  by the employees  572 ,  573 ,  574 ,  575 ,  576 ,  577  of the enterprise will introduce a plurality of changes to the local cloud provider&#39;s  540  representation of the enterprise&#39;s data  542  while continued use of the first cloud provider&#39;s  510  applications  511  by the enterprise&#39;s employees  572 ,  573 ,  574 ,  575 ,  576 ,  577  will lead to non-matching changes to the first cloud provider&#39;s representation of the enterprise&#39;s data  513 . A system of robust synchronization software has been developed to insure that both the remote database  513  and the local database  542  have the same data in real time. The steady state database synchronization software module  546  monitors for and uses messages issued by other cloud service providers  510  that announce changes to their database  513 , to incorporate those changes into the local database  542 . If those messages include the data record that has changed, that is used by the database data conversion software module  543  in the local database integration process. Otherwise, if the changed data is not included with the change message sent by the other cloud service provider  510 , the steady state database synchronization software module  546 , upon receiving the message, will request the changed data from the source  510  and upon receipt, that data will be converted  543  and incorporated into the local database  542 . While the steady state database synchronization software module  546  is used by the invention to process change messages from other cloud service providers  510  and incorporate the data into the local database is present, this should not be interpreted to mean that the invention is dependent on the other cloud service providing such messages, the invention can use other means to obtain changes made to the remote database  513  and is not dependent on messages being sent. Conversely, changes made to the local database  542  during production use are converted to the design of the remote cloud provider&#39;s data source  513  and then incorporated into the other cloud service provider&#39;s  510  database  513  by application programming interface call. In rapidly changing stateless communications like those just outlined, information can be lost as messages are not delivered, due to packets being dropped  580 , server workload  511 ,  512 ,  513 ,  541 ,  542 ,  543 ,  544  or complete outages of either communication hardware or server hardware. It is the function of the failsafe database synchronization software module  547  to insure that both databases are current. The failsafe database synchronization module  547  possesses routines for both the timed confirmation of database synchronization and recovery of synchronization after functional communication failure of unforeseen period. The timed confirmation routine repetitively waits a predetermined interval of time, for example  30  minutes, and then polls both databases  513 ,  542  for all changes made during that period. Changes supplied by both databases are then compared and corresponding, incorporated changes are removed. Remaining changes to either the remote database  513  or local database  542  are then reconciled in case of multiple changes to the same records and the net changes incorporated as determined. In the case of communication loss between the two databases, the failsafe database synchronization software module  547  records the start time of the outage and then the time that functional communications are restored. As with the recurring timed process, changes made to either the remote database  513  or the local database  542  are compared to remove any changes that have been resolved and the remaining changes reconciled at the record and field level to insure the incorporated data reflects the most current status as determined by the process. 
         [0056]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a preferred architecture for a system  600  for real-time synchronization of data between disparate data sources. According to the embodiment, a client enterprise  670  is subscribed to a plurality of cloud service providers  610 ,  620  which, among other things, provide data storage for all of enterprise&#39;s customer relationship information for their heavy equipment division  613  and their hazardous material response equipment division  623 . As part of the cloud service  610  subscription, the enterprise&#39;s heavy equipment division uses applications provided by the cloud service  611  linked to the database of heavy equipment division&#39;s customer information  613  within the cloud service provider&#39;s infrastructure  610  and served over the internet  680  by the cloud service provider&#39;s web servers  612  as the heavy equipment division&#39;s repository of potential and existing customer contact information, to track sales leads, to track products and related contracts sold by them to customers, and for customer problem management. As such, the information in this database  610  is used to some extent by all employees within the heavy equipment division within the enterprise  670  through the enterprise&#39;s web interface  671  whether the those employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  672  or laptop computers  673  or those employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  674 , laptop computers  675 , desktop computers  676  or tablet devices  677  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  680  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0057]    Likewise, as part of the cloud service subscription with cloud service provider B  620 , the enterprise&#39;s hazardous materials response division uses applications provided by second cloud service  621  linked to remote database B of hazardous materials response division&#39;s customer information  623  within the second cloud service provider&#39;s infrastructure  620  and served over the internet  680  by the cloud service provider&#39;s web servers  622  as the hazardous materials response division&#39;s repository of potential and existing customer contact information, to track sales leads, to track products and related contracts sold by them to customers, and for customer problem management. As such, the information in this database  620  is used to some extent by all employees within the hazardous materials response division within the enterprise  670  through the enterprise&#39;s web interface  671  whether the those employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  672  or laptop computers  673  or those employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  674 , laptop computers  675 , desktop computers  676  or tablet devices  677  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  680  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0058]    As the cloud based computer model has matured, it has become increasingly possible that an enterprise will depend on more than one cloud service provider which in turn rely on the same enterprise data to provide the optimal set of tools for their business needs. Using the customer relationship management example introduced above, one division of the enterprise may use one cloud service provider&#39;s package to track all existing customers&#39; previous sales, problem tickets and to receive inquiries for equipment or services sales that come in through the enterprise&#39;s customer support line  610  while a second division uses another cloud service provider for the same purposes  620  for a plurality of reasons. It may then become highly advantageous for the entire enterprise to use the software package of a third cloud service provider  640  for example, the capture and cultivation of all new sales leads as that third package is specialized for those tasks and therefore offers many useful features for those operations. One familiar with the art will immediately realize that the function of the three cloud software packages depends on the entire data set that the third cloud provider draws fully from and the other cloud providers draw partially from being functionally identical and that individual portions derived from the provider A  610  and provider B  620  in the local database  642  mirror the remote data sources  610 ,  620  exactly. In the embodiment, the concurrent use of the same data set by three cloud service providers  610 ,  620 ,  640  while maintaining the integrity of the enterprise&#39;s  670  remote data sources  613 ,  623  is accomplished by the incorporation of both portions of the enterprise&#39;s entire customer data set into database storage system  642  of the local cloud service provider  640 . At initial set up of the local cloud provider&#39;s service, the provider&#39;s local application server  641  uses an initial remote database acquisition software module  645  to request the bulk transfer of the enterprise&#39;s  670  entire customer data set  613 ,  623  from cloud service provider A  610  and cloud service provider B  620  over the internet  680  through the local cloud service provider&#39;s web server interface  644 . This initial acquisition task might use a specialized bulk download call provided by the cloud services&#39; application programming interfaces  611 ,  621 , if one is available. This task also make use of REST, SOAP, stream-based, or other similar API/protocol requests provided by the other cloud service providers for smaller data downloads to transfer the entire remote data set  613 ,  623  if necessary. Indeed, any method of electronic data transfer from the first cloud service provider to the local cloud service provider known to those familiar to the art, could be used as the invention does not depend on any specific protocol. As the designs of two independently developed data sources are invariably heterogeneous, often related to the specific use to which they are employed, it is expected that a database conversion module  643  will be used to convert all data flowing between the local cloud service&#39;s database  642  and the other cloud services&#39; databases  613 ,  623  both during the initial local database acquisition operation and during the subsequent synchronization operations required to insure data integrity of all three databases  642 ,  613 ,  623  in production use. Once in production, it would be expected that use of the local cloud service  640  applications  641  by the employees  672 ,  673 ,  674 ,  675 ,  676 ,  677  of the enterprise will introduce a plurality of changes to the local cloud provider&#39;s  640  representation of the enterprise&#39;s data  642  while continued use of the other two cloud providers&#39;  610 ,  620  applications  611 ,  621  by the enterprise&#39;s employees  672 ,  673 ,  674 ,  675 ,  676 ,  677  will lead to non-matching changes to the first two cloud providers&#39; partial representations of the enterprise&#39;s data  613 ,  623 . A system of robust synchronization software has been developed as part of the invention to insure that both the remote databases  613 ,  623  and the local database  642  have the same data in real time. The steady state database synchronization software module  646  monitors for and uses messages issued by other cloud service providers&#39;  610 ,  620  that announce changes to their databases  613 ,  623  to incorporate those changes into the local database  642 . If those messages include the data record that has changed, that is used by the database data conversion software module  643  in the local database integration process. Otherwise, if the changed data is not included with the change message sent by the other cloud service providers  610 ,  620  the steady state database synchronization software module  646 , upon receiving the message, will request the changed data from the sources  610 ,  620  and upon receipt, that data will be converted  643  and incorporated into the local database  642 . While the steady state database synchronization software module  646  is used by the invention to process change messages from other cloud service providers  610 ,  620  and incorporate the data into the local database is present, this should not be interpreted to mean that the invention is dependent on the other cloud service providing such messages, the invention can use other means to obtain changes made to the remote databases  613 ,  623  and is not dependent on messages being sent. Conversely, changes made to the local database  642  during production use are converted to the design of the remote cloud providers&#39; data sources  613  and then incorporated into the other cloud service provider&#39;s  610 ,  620  database  613 ,  623  by application programming interface call. In rapidly changing stateless communications like those just outlined, information can be lost as messages are not delivered, due to packets being dropped  680 , server workload  611 ,  612 ,  613 ,  621 ,  622 ,  623 ,  641 ,  642 ,  643 ,  644  or complete outages of either communication hardware or server hardware. It is the function of the failsafe database synchronization software module  647  to insure that both databases are current. The failsafe database synchronization module  647  possesses routines for both the timed confirmation of database synchronization and recovery of synchronization after functional communication failure of unforeseen period. The timed confirmation routine repetitively waits a predetermined interval of time, for example  30  minutes, and then polls all three databases  613 ,  623 ,  642  for all changes made during that period. Changes supplied by the databases are then compared and corresponding, incorporated changes are removed. Remaining changes to either remote database  613 ,  623  or local database  642  are then reconciled in case of multiple changes to the same records and the net changes incorporated as determined. In the case of communication loss between the any two or all three databases, the failsafe database synchronization software module  647  records the start time of the outage and then the time that functional communications are restored. As with the recurring timed process, changes made to either remote database  613 ,  623  or the local database  642  are compared to remove any changes that have been resolved and the remaining changes reconciled at the record and field level to insure the incorporated data reflects the most current status as determined by the process. 
         [0059]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of another preferred architecture for a system  700  for real-time synchronization of data between disparate data sources. According to the embodiment, a client enterprise  770  is subscribed to a plurality of cloud service providers  710 ,  720  which, among other things, provide data storage for all of enterprise&#39;s package shipment tracking information for their heavy freight division  713  and their rapid delivery division  723 . As part of the cloud service  710  subscription, the enterprise&#39;s heavy freight division uses applications provided by cloud service A  711  linked to the database of heavy freight division&#39;s container information  713  within the cloud service provider&#39;s infrastructure  710  and served over the internet  780  by the cloud service provider&#39;s web servers  712  as the heavy freight division&#39;s repository of shipper and recipient contact information, to track scheduled pickups, to track shipments and related shipper paperwork, and for shipment problem management. As such, the information in this database  710  is used to some extent by all employees within the heavy freight division within the enterprise  770  through the enterprise&#39;s web interface  771  whether the those employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  772  or laptop computers  773  or those employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  774 , laptop computers  775 , desktop computers  776  or tablet devices  777  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  780  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0060]    Likewise, as part of the cloud service subscription with cloud service provider B  720 , the enterprise&#39;s rapid delivery division uses applications provided by second cloud service  721  linked to remote database B of rapid shipment division&#39;s shipping information  723  within the second cloud service provider&#39;s infrastructure  720  and served over the internet  780  by the cloud service provider&#39;s web servers  722  as the rapid shipment division&#39;s repository of shipper and recipient contact information, to track scheduled pickups, to track shipments and related shipper paperwork, and for shipment problem management. As such, the information in this database  720  is used to some extent by all employees within the hazardous materials response division within the enterprise  770  through the enterprise&#39;s web interface  771  whether the those employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  772  or laptop computers  773  or those employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  774 , laptop computers  775 , desktop computers  776  or tablet devices  777  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  780  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0061]    As the cloud based computer model has matured, it has become increasingly possible that an enterprise will depend on more than one cloud service provider which in turn rely on the same enterprise data to provide the optimal set of tools for their business needs. Using the shipping information example introduced above, one division of the enterprise may use one cloud service provider&#39;s package to track all existing shippers and recipients, shipments, problem tickets and to receive new pickup requests that come in through the enterprise&#39;s customer support line  710  while a second division uses another cloud service provider for the same purposes  720  for a plurality of reasons. It may then become highly advantageous for the entire enterprise to use the software package of a third cloud service provider  730  for example, to capture and store pictorial data which the two original databases were ill equipped to handle and provide select public facing data on all packages as part of an emergency response initiative. Instead of having closed, local, data storage hardware, this third cloud service provider, C, uses their standalone database service to which they act as a client  740  and which may or may not also serve the same data to other cloud service providers that the enterprise  770  uses. One familiar with the art will immediately realize that the function of the three cloud software packages depends on the entire data set, which the third cloud provider draws fully from and the other cloud providers draw partially from being functionally identical and that individual portions derived from the provider A  710  and provider B  720  in cloud service C′s standalone database system  742  mirror the remote data sources  710 ,  720  exactly. In the embodiment, the concurrent use of the same data set by three cloud service providers  710 ,  720  while maintaining the integrity of the enterprise&#39;s  770  remote data sources  713 ,  723  is accomplished by the incorporation of both portions of the enterprise&#39;s entire customer data set into standalone database storage system  742  of the cloud service provider C  740 . At initial set up of the local cloud provider&#39;s service, the standalone data storage system&#39;s database controller  741  uses an initial master database acquisition software module  744  to request the bulk transfer of the enterprise&#39;s  770  entire customer data set  713 ,  723  from cloud service provider A  710  and cloud service provider B  720  over the internet  780  through the standalone data storage system&#39;s web server interface  743 . This initial acquisition task might use a specialized bulk download call provided by the cloud services&#39; application programming interfaces  711 ,  721 , if one is available. This task also make use of REST based, SOAP based, or streaming API-based (or any other appropriate protocol known in the art) requests provided by the cloud service providers A or B for smaller data downloads to transfer the entire remote data set  713 ,  723  if necessary. Indeed, any method of electronic data transfer from the first cloud service provider to the standalone data storage system known to those familiar to the art, could be used as the invention does not depend on any specific protocol. As the designs of three independently developed data sources are invariably heterogeneous, often related to the specific use to which they are employed, it is expected that a database conversion module  747  will be used to convert all data flowing between the standalone data storage system&#39;s database  742  and the other cloud services&#39; databases  713 ,  723  both during the initial local database acquisition operation and during the subsequent synchronization operations required to insure data integrity of all three databases  742 ,  713 ,  723  in production use. Once in production, it would be expected that use of the standalone data storage system  740  by applications of cloud storage provider C  731  by the employees  772 ,  773 ,  774 ,  775 ,  776 ,  777  of the enterprise will introduce a plurality of changes to cloud service provider C&#39;s  740  representation of the enterprise&#39;s data  742  while continued use of the other two cloud providers&#39;  710 ,  720  applications  711 ,  721  by the enterprise&#39;s employees  772 ,  773 ,  774 ,  775 ,  776 ,  777  will lead to non-matching changes to the first two cloud providers&#39; partial representations of the enterprise&#39;s data set  713 ,  723 . A system of robust synchronization software has been developed as part of the invention to insure that both the remote databases  713 ,  723  and the standalone database  742  have the same data in real time. The steady state database synchronization software module  745  monitors for and uses messages issued by other cloud service providers&#39;  710 ,  720  that announce changes to their databases  713 ,  723  to incorporate those changes into the standalone database  742 . If those messages include the data record that has changed, that record is used by the database data conversion software module  747  in the standalone data storage system&#39;s integration process. Otherwise, if the changed data is not included with the change message sent by the other cloud service providers  710 ,  720  the steady state database synchronization software module  745 , upon receiving the message, will request the changed data from the sources  710 ,  720  and upon receipt, that data will be converted  747  and incorporated into the standalone database  742 . While the steady state database synchronization software module  745  is used by the invention to process change messages from other cloud service providers  710 ,  720  and incorporate the data into the local database is present, this should not be interpreted to mean that the invention is dependent on the other cloud service providing such messages, the invention can use other means to obtain changes made to the remote databases  713 ,  723  and is not dependent on messages being sent. Conversely, changes made to the standalone database  742  during production use are converted to the design of the remote cloud providers&#39; data sources  713 ,  723  and then incorporated into the other cloud service provider&#39;s  710 ,  720  database  713 ,  723  by application programming interface call. In rapidly changing stateless communications like those just outlined, information can be lost as messages are not delivered, due to packets being dropped  780 , server workload  711 ,  712 ,  713 ,  721 ,  722 ,  723 ,  741 ,  742 ,  743 , or complete outages of either communication hardware or server hardware. It is the function of the failsafe database synchronization software module  746  to insure that all databases are current. The failsafe database synchronization module  746  possesses routines for both the timed confirmation of database synchronization and recovery of synchronization after functional communication failure of unforeseen period. The timed confirmation routine repetitively waits a predetermined interval of time, for example  30  minutes, and then polls all databases  713 ,  723 ,  742  for all changes made during that period. Changes supplied by the databases are then compared and corresponding, incorporated changes are removed. Remaining changes to either remote databases  713 ,  723  or standalone database  742  are then reconciled in case of multiple changes to the same records and the net changes incorporated as determined. In the case of communication loss between the any two or all three databases, the failsafe database synchronization software module  746  records the start time of the outage and then the time that functional communications are restored. As with the recurring timed process, changes made to either remote database  713 ,  723  or the standalone system database  742  are compared to remove any changes that have been resolved and the remaining changes reconciled at the record and field level to insure the incorporated data reflects the most current status as determined by the process. 
         [0062]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram of another preferred architecture for a system  800  for real-time synchronization of data between disparate data sources. According to the embodiment, a client enterprise  870  is subscribed to a cloud service provider  820  which, among other things, provides data storage for all of enterprise&#39;s package shipment tracking information for their heavy freight division  813 . The enterprise&#39;s rapid delivery division uses an in-house system  872  and attached database  871  to provide the same information. As part of the cloud service  820  subscription, the enterprise&#39;s heavy freight division uses applications provided by cloud service A  821  linked to the database of heavy freight division&#39;s container information  823  within the cloud service provider&#39;s infrastructure  820  and served over the internet  880  by the cloud service provider&#39;s web servers  822  as the heavy freight division&#39;s repository of shipper and recipient contact information, to track scheduled pickups, to track shipments and related shipper paperwork, and for shipment problem management. As such, the information in this database  820  is used to some extent by all employees within the heavy freight division within the enterprise  870  through the enterprise&#39;s web interface  873  whether the those employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  874  or laptop computers  875  or those employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  876 , laptop computers  877 , desktop computers  878  or tablet devices  879  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  880  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0063]    Similarly, as part of the in-house shipment tracking application  872 , the enterprise&#39;s rapid delivery division uses data stored in the attached remote database A as their repository of shipper and recipient contact information, to track scheduled pickups, to track shipments and related shipper paperwork, and for shipment problem management. As such, the information in this database  871  is used to some extent by all employees within the hazardous materials response division within the enterprise  870  through the enterprise&#39;s network whether the those employees are at the enterprise&#39;s facilities employing devices that include traditional desktop computers  874  or laptop computers  875  or those employees are remote out in the field using devices such as smart phones  876 , laptop computers  877 , desktop computers  878  or tablet devices  879  connected using the various available gateways to the internet  880  known to the art and the database is subject to continuous data changes which are vital to the function of the enterprise. 
         [0064]    As the cloud based computer model has matured, it has become increasingly possible that an enterprise will depend on more than one cloud service provider which in turn rely on the same enterprise data to provide the optimal set of tools for their business needs. Using the shipping information example introduced above, one division of the enterprise may use one cloud service provider&#39;s package to track all existing shippers and recipients, shipments, problem tickets and to receive new pickup requests that come in through the enterprise&#39;s customer support line  820  while a second division uses internal software for the same purposes  872 ,  873  for a plurality of reasons. It may then become highly advantageous for the entire enterprise to use the software package of a third cloud service provider  830  for example, to capture and store pictorial data which the two original databases are ill equipped to handle and provide select public facing data on all packages as part of an emergency response initiative. Instead of having closed, local, data storage hardware, this third cloud service provider, C, uses their standalone database service to which they act as a client  840  and which may or may not also serve the same data to other cloud service providers that the enterprise  870  uses. One familiar with the art will immediately realize that the function of the three cloud software packages depends on the entire data set, which the third cloud provider draws fully from and the other cloud providers draw partially from, being functionally identical and that individual portions derived from the provider A  820  and the internal database  871  in cloud service C&#39;s standalone database system  842  mirror the remote data sources  820 ,  871  exactly. In the embodiment, the concurrent use of the same data set by three data storage systems  820 ,  871 ,  840  while maintaining the integrity of the enterprise&#39;s  870  remote data sources  871 ,  823  is accomplished by the incorporation of both portions of the enterprise&#39;s entire customer data set into standalone database storage system  842  of the cloud service provider C  840 . At initial set up of the local cloud provider&#39;s service, the standalone data storage system&#39;s database controller  841  uses an initial remote database acquisition software module  844  to request the bulk transfer of the enterprise&#39;s  870  entire customer data set  871 ,  823  from cloud service provider A  820  and the internal data storage system  871  over the internet  880  through the standalone data storage system&#39;s web server interface  843 . This initial acquisition task might use a specialized bulk download call provided by the cloud service&#39;s application programming interface  821 , and the application programming interface of the internal software  872 , if one is available. This task also make use of REST based, SOAP based or streaming based requests provided by the cloud service provider A or the internal software package  872  for smaller data downloads to transfer the entire remote data set  872 ,  823  if necessary. Indeed, any method of electronic data transfer from the first cloud service provider to the standalone data storage system known to those familiar to the art, could be used as the invention does not depend on any specific protocol. As the designs of three independently developed data sources are invariably heterogeneous, often related to the specific use to which they are employed, it is expected that a database conversion module  847  will be used to convert all data flowing between the standalone data storage system&#39;s database  842  and the databases  872 ,  823  both during the initial local database acquisition operation and during the subsequent synchronization operations required to insure data integrity of all three databases  842 ,  872 ,  823  in production use. Once in production, it would be expected that use of the standalone data storage system  840  by applications of cloud storage provider C  831  by the employees  874 ,  875 ,  876 ,  877 ,  878 ,  879  of the enterprise will introduce a plurality of changes to cloud service provider C′s  840  representation of the enterprise&#39;s data  842  while continued use of the other two  871 ,  820  applications  871 ,  821  by the enterprise&#39;s employees  874 ,  875 ,  876 ,  877 ,  878 ,  879  will lead to non-matching changes to the two other databases&#39; partial representations of the enterprise&#39;s data set  871 ,  823 . A system of robust synchronization software has been developed as part of the invention to insure that all remote databases  871 ,  823  and the standalone database  842  have the same data in real time. The steady state database synchronization software module  845  monitors for and uses messages issued by other software packages  872 ,  821  that announce changes to their databases  871 ,  823  to incorporate those changes into the standalone database  842 . If those messages include the data record that has changed, that record is used by the database data conversion software module  847  in the standalone data storage system&#39;s integration process. Otherwise, if the changed data is not included with the change message sent by the other software packages  872 ,  820  the steady state database synchronization software module  845 , upon receiving the message, will request the changed data from the sources  870 ,  820  and upon receipt, that data will be converted  847  and incorporated into the standalone database  842 . While the steady state database synchronization software module  845  is used by the invention to process change messages from other software packages providers  870 ,  820  and incorporate the data into the local database is present, this should not be interpreted to mean that the invention is dependent on the other cloud service providing such messages, the invention can use other means to obtain changes made to the remote databases  871 ,  823  and is not dependent on messages being sent. Conversely, changes made to the standalone database  842  during production use are converted to the design of the remote data sources  871 ,  823  and then incorporated into the other databases  871 ,  823  by application programming interface calls. In rapidly changing stateless communications like those just outlined, information can be lost as messages are not delivered, due to packets being dropped  880 , server workload  871 ,  872 ,  873 ,  821 ,  822 ,  823 ,  841 ,  842 ,  843 , or complete outages of either communication hardware or server hardware. It is the function of the failsafe database synchronization software module  846  to insure that all databases are current. The failsafe database synchronization module  846  possesses routines for both the timed confirmation of database synchronization and recovery of synchronization after functional communication failure of unforeseen period. The timed confirmation routine repetitively waits a predetermined interval of time, for example  30  minutes, and then polls all databases  871 ,  823 ,  842  for all changes made during that period. Changes supplied by the databases are then compared and corresponding, incorporated changes are removed. Remaining changes to either remote databases  871 ,  823  or standalone database  842  are then reconciled in case of multiple changes to the same records and the net changes incorporated as determined. In the case of communication loss between the any two or all three databases, the failsafe database synchronization software module  846  records the start time of the outage and then the time that functional communications are restored. As with the recurring timed process, changes made to either remote database  871 ,  823  or the standalone system database  842  are compared to remove any changes that have been resolved and the remaining changes reconciled at the record and field level to insure the incorporated data reflects the most current status as determined by the process. 
         [0065]    Those skilled in the art will realize that, although aspects of customer relationship management have been used above as an example of one area where the invention could be used, the invention is in no way limited in usefulness to this exemplary area. The examples could equally well have been inventory and occupancy of rooms on ships in a cruise ship line or to manage facets of airline reservations and operations. 
         [0066]      FIG. 14  is a block diagram of another preferred architecture for a system  1400  for real-time synchronization of data between disparate data sources. According to the embodiment, a client enterprise  1470  is subscribed to multiple cloud service providers  1410 ,  1420 ,  1440  each with its own database  1413 ,  1423 ,  1442  each of which maintains the information needed to carry out the functions the cloud services provide. Those knowledgeable in the art will agree that these individual cloud service databases are likely to possess some amount of data in common and a plurality of data that is unique to one of the databases alone. It can be easily imagined that over time in business needs will arise for retrieving existing data using novel methods or parameters that were not preplanned and for which a single database schema does not exist. As an extremely simple illustrative example, the database  1413  of cloud service A  1410  may have, as part of the data tracked, the names and addresses of all customers and prospects for a subscribing business  1470 . The database  1423  of cloud service B  1420  may, as part of the data tracked, have the names of all customers as well as all of the purchases and the promotional purchase discount each of the customers have made from the subscribing business  1470 . The marketing department, which uses cloud service provider C  1440  and its database  1442 , an embodiment of the invention, develops a sales campaign where customers who purchase products from the business  1470  at or above a certain dollar amount which varies by the state in which the company resides. This information is not available from a single cloud service provider&#39;s database, it requires the ability of the invention issue derivative queries to cloud service provider A  1410  to get the address of each customer based on name and the purchases each customer has made from the database of cloud service provider B  1420 . Taking this one step further using the invention&#39;s  1440  ability to update the data in remote databases  1413 ,  1423 , the marketing department could change the promotional purchase discount of each company based upon their total purchases made in the past three months compared to the other customers in the same state. This task would, of course, involve not only the ability of the invention to perform inter-database joins on the databases of cloud service A  1413  and cloud service B  1423 , but also the ability to then accept changes made to some of that data and to perform updates on the data of the foreign databases  1413 ,  1423 . I should be remembered that the above examples are extremely oversimplified, easily manipulated examples used solely to explain certain capabilities of the invention, not as a reflection of the level of ability of the invention. Indeed, it is fully expected that actual manipulations performed by the invention will be significantly more complex than those discussed here and it is those complex manipulations for which the invention is designed. 
       Description of Method Embodiments 
       [0067]      FIG. 9  is a process flow diagram of a method  900  for the download of the data set from a client enterprise&#39;s cloud service based master data source  510  to the second cloud service&#39;s local database  542 . Ideally, this initial download  901 , which has the potential to be very large in terms of data can be done using a bulk data transfer call provided by the remote master data source&#39;s application programming interface (API) found on their application server  511  as such a provision would result in the largest possible quantity of data transferred per request and the fastest possible transfer. In the absence of a specialized, bulk protocol, other API calls, based on common internet protocols such as REST or SOAP, possibly available for the download of smaller portions of the data source could be used to retrieve the entire data set over time. It should be clear that while this step of the local database initialization method relies on some means to download the data in the remote data source, the invention does not rely on any specific protocol or process and any protocol that allows the secure transfer of data over the internet could be used for this purpose, indeed data from the remote data source can be incorporated into the local as the data is used during production transactions if circumstances require such a method. Virtually all independent data repositories or sources differ in the design and manner in which the data is structured and represented due to data administrator&#39;s preference as well as the specific use to which the data is to be put. In order to incorporate the initial data from the remote data source  510  into the local database  903 , one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes, table assignment changes or any other modifications known to be useful by those familiar with the art may need to be employed by the database data conversion software module  543  of the local cloud service  540 . Once data conversion and initialization of the local database have completed  903 , a final reconciliation of the data may be done by the failsafe database synchronization software module  547  (not specifically depicted in the diagram  900 ) prior to placing the applications of the local cloud service provider  540  into production  904 . Once in production, it is crucial that the data in the local database and the remote data source remained synchronized in real-time  905 . This is accomplished using methods for steady state synchronization  1000 ,  1100 , and failsafe synchronization  1200 ,  1300  which together insure the integrity of the data in both locations  513 ,  542 . 
         [0068]      FIG. 10  is a process flow diagram of a method  1000  for one embodiment of steady state data synchronization between the remote data source  510  and the local database  543 . A change occurring to the data stored at the remote data source generates a message from the application server  511  at the remote data source to the local cloud service provider  541 ,  1001 . This message may either contain a record with the data that has changed or may not contain that data  1002 . If the data is not included in the message, the local application server  541  requests and retrieves that changed data  1003  from the remote data source  510 . Those data from the remote data source may then undergo one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes, table assignment changes or any other modifications known to be useful by those familiar with the art may need to be employed by the database data conversion software module  543  of the local cloud service  540 . To insure that the synchronization process does not result in the loss of changes to the same record made concurrently within the target database, a type of race condition, algorithm&#39;s must be used to look at the precise time potentially conflicting modifications were incorporated, what data changed, what fields were affected, and the specific changes made to the fields that underwent update  1005  and possible alterations made to some of the data to reflect the resolved, net changes prior to committing that data record to the target database. This reconciliation process may result in the record being retransmitted back to the remote data source as described in  1100 . 
         [0069]      FIG. 11  is a process flow diagram of a method  1100  for one embodiment of steady state data synchronization between the local database  543  and the remote data source  510 . According to this embodiment, change occurring to the data stored in the local database  542 ,  1101  generates a message within the application server of the local cloud service provider  541  either due to a monitor algorithm resident in the application server or a trigger invoked in the database  543 . This change message results in the changed record, or records as changes may be aggregated to minimize upload traffic and counts, being queued for transmittal to the remote data source  510 . Those data from the local database may then undergo one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes, table assignment changes or any other modifications known to be useful by those familiar with the art may need to be employed by the database data conversion software module  543  of the local cloud service  540 . To insure that the synchronization process does not result in the loss of changes to the same record made concurrently within the target database, a type of race condition, algorithm&#39;s must be used to look at the precise time potentially conflicting modifications were incorporated, what data changed, what fields were affected, and the specific changes made to the fields that underwent update  1103  and possible alterations made to some of the data to reflect the resolved, net changes prior to committing that data record to the remote data source using API calls supplied by the remote data source application server  1104 . The reconciliation process may result in the record being retransmitted back to the local database as described in  1000 . 
         [0070]      FIG. 12  is a process flow diagram of a method  1200  for one of the operations of the failsafe database synchronization software modules. To prevent the loss of synchronicity between the databases due to missed stateless messages and other undetected communication failures between the remote data source and the local database. This algorithm repetitively waits a predetermined period of time  1201  at which point it polls both the remote data source  510  and the local database  543  for all changes that have occurred during the prescribed time interval  1202 . The reported changes from each the remote data source and the local database are compared  1203  and only changes that have not present in both are then acted upon. Outstanding changes are then subjected to one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes, table assignment changes or any other modifications known to be useful by those familiar with the art may need to be employed by the database data conversion software module  543  of the local cloud service  540 . To insure that the synchronization process does not result in the loss of changes to the same record made within one of the databases, algorithm&#39;s must be used to look at the precise time potentially conflicting modifications were incorporated, what data changed, what fields were affected, and the specific changes made to the fields that underwent update  1204 . Net data changes are then incorporated into the local database  542 ,  1205 , or converted to match the design parameters of the remote data source  1206  and incorporated into the remote data source  510  using one of the remote data source&#39;s API calls  1207 . 
         [0071]      FIG. 13  is a process flow diagram of a method  1300  for recovery synchronization of remote data source  510  and local database  542  after a communications failure between the two of unforeseen amount of time. An algorithm part of failsafe database synchronization software module  547  monitors for a loss in functional communication between the remote data source and the local database  1301 . Upon determination that communication has been lost, the time of loss is recorded by the algorithm  1302 . When functional communication is detected as restored  1303 , the failsafe algorithm polls both the remote data source  510  and the local database  543  for all changes that have occurred during the time interval of the outage  1304 . The reported changes from each the remote data source and the local database  1305  are compared and only changes that have not present in both are then acted upon. Outstanding changes are then subjected to one or more modification steps drawn from a set comprising field name changes, table name changes, data type changes, metadata storage design changes, table assignment changes or any other modifications known to be useful by those familiar with the art may need to be employed by the database data conversion software module  543  of the local cloud service  540 . To insure that the synchronization process does not result in the loss of changes to the same record made within one of the databases, algorithm&#39;s must be used to look at the precise time potentially conflicting modifications were incorporated, what data changed, what fields were affected, and the specific changes made to the fields that underwent update  1306 . Net data changes are then incorporated into the local database  542 ,  1307 , or converted to match the design parameters of the remote data source  1208  and incorporated into the remote data source  510  using one of the remote data source&#39;s API calls  1209 . 
         [0072]    The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications of the various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the present invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Technology Category: g