Abstract: A system and method of replicating database records for use in resource constrained wireless computing devices. The replication method has a low processing burden and is well suited to low-bandwidth, unreliable connections found in many wireless networks. To reduce the amount of memory used on the wireless device only a change log record is time-stamped, not every database record. The change log defines what data is to be replicated and needs to sent to a main server that hosts a master copy of the database. The change log is made compact to reduce the amount of data that needs to be sent for data replication by only requiring the field that has changed in a record and a timestamp to be sent, not the entire record in which the change was made.

Abstract: Content is automatically provided to a mobile web browsing device from a web server, by the following process: (a) receiving at a computer, remotely connected to the device over a wireless network, a log of data identifying content that has been viewed by the device; (b) automatically sending updated content stored on the web server to the device over the wireless network; (c) causing that updated content to be automatically stored in device memory. Because user activity is replicated back from the device to the remote computer, the content cached on a given device can be completely optimised for the user of that device and no-one else.

Abstract: Network operators can control how data replication services use available bandwidth, in order to make the most efficient usage of that bandwidth, using parameters applied to a data object to be replicated. The parameters may be both time dependent and also relate to how urgently that object needs to be replicated. A change log lists all objects at the device and/or server to be replicated and the parameters then comprise a weight associated with each object that defines how urgently that object needs to be replicated; the weight of each object is then locally compared to a threshold at a given time and the outcome of the comparison determines whether the object is sent for replication or not at that time. This combination of weight and threshold gives a flexible way to control the timing of data replication and hence make the best use of bandwidth.