Adaptive Synchronization Techniques

Abstract

Adaptive techniques for handling notifications and updating a directory of a file system in a graphical user interface of a computing environment. Adaptive techniques include determining that something has been potentially changed in the node. A time of the notification is obtained, and a preferred time value or trigger time for responding to the notification is calculated. The preferred time value may be calculated by adding an adjustment to a recorded time of the last synchronization performed on the directory. The adjustment may be calculated by weighting duration of synchronizations performed on the directory. Adaptive techniques may then compare the time value to the trigger time. If the time value is less than the trigger time, the display and directory are synchronized. Otherwise, a timer may be set to the trigger time, and synchronization of the display and directory may be delayed until the trigger time.

1 . A method of synchronizing a display representation of data with changes associated with the data, the method comprising:
 determining a change to data, the data associated with a graphical representation of the data;   calculating a preferred time value for synchronizing the graphical representation with the determined change to data, the preferred time value based at least partially on a duration of time taken to perform at least one previous synchronization of the graphical representation;   comparing a current time value to the preferred time value; and   determining a synchronization time based on results of the comparison, the synchronization time identifying a time to initiate a synchronization of the graphical representation.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data comprises attributes of files in a file system. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data comprises attributes of objects in a property store. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the property store comprises a registry. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the registry comprises a registry of a computer operating system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a change comprises receiving a notification regarding a potential change to the graphical representation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a change comprises receiving a notification generated in response to a triggered timer. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein calculating a preferred time value is based on a previous time value when the at least one previous synchronization operation was completed. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein calculating the preferred time value based on the previous time value comprises adding an incremental value to the previous time value, wherein the incremental value comprises a value calculated by weighting a previous duration value. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the duration of time taken to perform at least one previous synchronization represents an average amount of time taken to perform a plurality of data synchronization operations. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a synchronization time further comprises initiating the synchronization immediately if the current time value is at least equal to the preferred time value. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a synchronization time further comprises initiating the synchronization after a delay until the preferred time value, when the current time value is at least less than the preferred time value. 
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions stored thereon to cause a processor to:
 determine a change to data, the data associated with a graphical representation of the data;   calculate a preferred time value for synchronizing the graphical representation with the determined change to data, the preferred time value based at least partially on a duration of time taken to perform at least one previous synchronization of the graphical representation;   compare a current time value to the preferred time value; and   determine a synchronization time based on results of the comparison, the synchronization time identifying a time to initiate a synchronization of the graphical representation.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the data comprises attributes of files in a file system. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the data comprises attributes of objects in a property store. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the property store comprises a registry. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the registry comprises a registry of a computer operating system. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions to cause the processor to determine a change comprise instructions to cause the processor to receive a notification regarding a potential change to the graphical representation. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions to cause the processor to determine a change comprise instructions to cause the processor to receive a notification generated in response to a triggered timer. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions to cause the processor to calculate a preferred time value comprise instructions to calculate the preferred time value based on a previous time value when the at least one previous synchronization operation was completed.