Communication method for data synchronization processing and electronic device therefor

Abstract

At member registration step, a master transmits a certificate and a priority to a slave. The certificate indicates that the slave receiving it belongs to the same data synchronization group as the master. The priority is used to solve a data conflict. At data synchronization step, after it is determined that members belong to the same data synchronization group by the certificate, data synchronization processing is performed between arbitrary members in which an input device and a display device such as wrist watch are limited. Data synchronization does not require a specific server.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A data synchronization method comprising: 
 transmitting from a master device to a slave device a certificate indicating that the slave device belongs to a data synchronization group to which the master device belongs and a priority to be used for solving conflict of data, thereby registering the slave device as a member of the data synchronization group to which the master device belongs; and    determining whether or not a first slave device and a second slave device which is capable of communicating with the first slave device belong to the same data synchronization group by using the certificate, and performing data synchronization between the first slave device and the second slave device based on the priority if the first slave device and the second slave device belong the same data synchronization group.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said registering is performed after it is confirmed that there is no other device than said master device and said slave device, which other device is capable of communicating with said master device and is set in a registration mode.  
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said data synchronization is performed between one master device and one or more slave devices which belong to the same synchronization group or between at least two slave devices which belong to the same synchronization group.  
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said master device and slave device store plural types of data and belong to plural data synchronization groups defined for each of said plural types of data.  
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein said registering is performed by transmitting said certificate and said priority from the master device belonging to a given synchronization group defined for a given type of data to the slave device belonging to the given synchronization group, said certificate and said priority being set depending on the given type of data.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting data required to operate as the master device from said master device to a slave device which is targeted to transfer a master privilege, thereby transferring the master privilege to the slave device.  
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein said master privilege transferring is performed after it is confirmed that there is no other slave device than said master device and said slave device, which other slave device is capable of communicating with said master device and is set in a master privilege transfer mode.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising exchanging the priority between slave devices that belong to the same data synchronization group.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein said priority exchanging is performed after it is confirmed that there is no other slave device than said master device and said slave device, which other slave device is capable of communicating with said master device and is set in a priority exchanging mode.  
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising releasing said master device or said slave device from the data synchronization group, wherein, if said master device is released, said master device transmits a releasing instruction to a slave device which is capable of communicating with said master device to release said slave device as well as said master device.  
     
     
         11 . A computer readable recording medium storing a computer program for data synchronization between plural devices, the program comprising: 
 first program code means causing a master device transmit to a slave device a certificate indicating that the slave device belongs to a data synchronization group to which the master device belongs and a priority to be used for solving conflict of data, thereby registering the slave device as a member of the data synchronization group to which the master device belongs; and    first program code means causing a first slave device and a second slave device to determine whether or not the first slave device and the second slave device which is capable of communicating with the first slave device belong to the same data synchronization group by using the certificate, and perform data synchronization between the first slave device and the second slave device based on the priority if the first slave device and the second slave device belong the same data synchronization group.    
     
     
         12 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 11 , wherein said registering is performed after it is confirmed that there is no other device than said master device and said slave device, which other device is capable of communicating with said master device and is set in a registration mode.  
     
     
         13 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 11 , wherein said data synchronization is performed between one master device and one or more slave devices which belong to the same synchronization group or between at least two slave devices which belong to the same synchronization group.  
     
     
         14 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 11 , wherein said data synchronization group is formed of a type of data.  
     
     
         15 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 14 , wherein said registering is performed by transmitting said certificate and said priority from the master device set by a user for a given type of data to the slave device set by the user for the given type of data, said certificate and said priority being set depend on the type of data.  
     
     
         16 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 11 , wherein said program further comprises third program code means causing said master device to transmit data required to operate as the master device to a slave device which is targeted to transfer a master privilege, thereby transferring the master privilege to the slave device.  
     
     
         17 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 16 , wherein said master privilege transferring is performed after it is confirmed that there is no other slave device than said master device and said slave device, which other slave device is capable of communicating with said master device and is set in a master privilege transfer mode.  
     
     
         18 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 11 , wherein said program further comprises fourth program code means for causing slave devices that belong to the same data synchronization group to exchanging the priority.  
     
     
         19 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 18 , wherein said priority exchanging is performed after it is confirmed that there is no other slave device than said master device and said slave device, which other slave device is capable of communicating with said master device and is set in a priority exchanging mode.  
     
     
         20 . The computer readable recording medium according to  claim 1 , wherein said program further comprises fifth program code means for causing said master device or said slave device to be released from the data synchronization group, and if said master device is released, causing said master device to transmit a releasing instruction to a slave device which is capable of communicating with said master device to release said slave device as well as said master device.  
     
     
         21 . An electronic device comprising: 
 a master unit, when an own device is set by a user as a master, configured to transmit to a slave device a certificate indicating that the slave device belongs to a data synchronization group to which the master device belongs and a priority to be used for solving conflict of data, thereby registering the slave device as a member of the data synchronization group to which the master device belongs;    a slave unit, when the own device is set by the user as the slave, configured to receive from the master unit the certificate and the priority; and    a data synchronization unit configured to determine whether or not the own device and another device which is capable of communicating with the own device belong to the same data synchronization group by using the certificate, and perform data synchronization between the own device and the other device based on the priority if the own device and the other device belong the same data synchronization group.