METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZING DATA RECORDS BETWEEN A REMOTE DEVICE AND A DATA SERVER OVER A DATA-PACKET-NETWORK

A system for synchronizing data records between a network data server and a requesting client device has a client software application and a network server software application. The system is characterized in that the client application maintains a first table of unique identifiers for data records stored at the client and sends a copy of the table with a request for data from the server, and the server maintains a second table of unique identifiers for candidate data records to be sent to the client, the identifiers at server and client formed by a common process, and in that the server, on receiving the request and first table from the client, compares the first table and the second table, then sends to the client only those records indicated by the comparison as new to the client and a notification of table updates.