Application

A SyncML application that supports the SyncML protocol. The application can either be the originator or recipient of the SyncML protocol commands. The application can act as a SyncML client or a SyncML server.

Capabilities exchange

The SyncML capability that allows a client and server to exchange what device, user and application features they each support.

Client

A SyncML Client refers to the protocol role when the application issues SyncML "request" messages. For example in data synchronization, the Sync SyncML Command in a SyncML Message.

Client Modification

A modification of an item, which occurs in a client database before the modification is synchronized to the server database.

Command

A SyncML Command is a protocol primitive. Each SyncML Command specifies to a recipient an individual operation that is to be performed. For example, the SyncML Commands supported by this specification include Add, Alert, Atomic, Copy, Delete, Exec, Get, Map, Replace, Search, Sequence and Sync.

Data

A unit of information exchange, encoded for transmission over a network.

Data collection

A data element, which acts as a container of other data elements, (e.g., {c {{i1, data1}, ... {in, datan}}}). In SyncML, data collections are synchronized with each other. See data element.

data element

A piece of data and an associated identifier for the data, (e.g., {i, data}).

Data element equivalence

When two data elements are synchronized. The exact semantics is defined by a given data synchronization model.

Data exchange

The act of sending, requesting or receiving a set of data elements.

Data format

The encoding used to format a data type. For example, characters or integers or character encoded binary data.

Data type

The schema used to represent a data object (e.g., text/calendar MIME content type for an iCalendar representation of calendar information or text/directory MIME content type for a vCard representation of contact information).

Data synchronization

The act of establishing an equivalence between two data collections, where each data element in one item maps to a data item in the other, and their data is equivalent.

Data synchronization protocol

The well-defined specification of the "handshaking" or workflow required to accomplish synchronization of data elements on an originator and recipient data collection. The SyncML specification forms the basis for specifying an open data synchronization protocol.

GUID (Global Unique Identifier)

A number assigned to an object in a database. GUID values are never reused. Note that in practice, numbers do not have to be unique forever, they MUST only be unique as long as they exist in some mapping table.

LUID (Locally Unique

Identifier)

A number assigned to an object in a database. LUID values are only unique locally, i.e., to a particular SyncML client database, but MAY be present on other SyncML client databases. In this protocol, the SyncML client device assigns to each object a locally unique, non-reusable identifier, or LUID. They are unique per device and per application.

Message

A SyncML Message is the primary contents of a SyncML Package. It contains the SyncML Commands, as well as the related data and meta-information. The SyncML Message is an XML document.

Operation

A SyncML Operation refers to the conceptual transaction achieved by the SyncML Commands specified by a SyncML Package. For example in the case of data synchronization, "synchronize my personal address book with a public address book".

Originator

The network device that creates a SyncML request.

Package

A SyncML Package is the complete set of commands and related data elements that are transferred between an originator and a recipient. The SyncML package can consist of one or more SyncML Messages.

Parser

Refers to an XML parser. An XML parser is not absolutely required to support SyncML. However, a SyncML implementation that integrates an XML parser may be easier to enhance.

This document assumes that the reader has some familiarity with XML syntax and terminology.

Recipient

The network device that receives a SyncML request, processes the request and sends any resultant SyncML response.

Representation protocol

A well-defined format for exchanging a particular form of information. SyncML is a representation protocol for conveying data synchronization and device management operations.

Request

A message or a command sent from a device to another.

Server

A SyncML Server refers to the protocol role when an application issues SyncML "response" messages. For example in the case of data synchronization, a Results Command in a SyncML Message.

Server alerted notification

The general term for Server Alerter Synchronization

Server modification

A modification of an item, which occurs in the server database before the modification is synchronized to the client database.

Slow synchronization

When a data set is synchronized for the first time, or state relating to the synchronization has been lost, the whole data set MUST be copied from one device to the other. Since this can be a time-consuming operation, this is known as slow synchronization.

Synchronization anchor

A string representing a synchronization event. The format of the string will typically be either a sequence number or an ISO 8601-formatted extended representation, basic format date/time stamp.

Synchronization data

Refers to the data elements within a SyncML Command. In a general reference, can also refer to the sum of the data elements within a SyncML Message or SyncML Package.

Synchronization engine

The portion of a SyncML server that can analyze a data set and modifications to that data set made by both SyncML server and SyncML client. The synchronization engine will implement policies to enable the detection and resolution of conflicting changes.

SyncML request message

An initial SyncML Message that is sent by an originator to a recipient network device.

SyncML response message

A reply SyncML Message that is sent by a recipient of a SyncML Request back to the originator of the SyncML Request.

Temporary GUID

A temporary number assigned by the server to an object in a database (See also GUID.). Temporary GUID values are valid till the map operation for the items, with which the temporary GUIDs are associated, has been received from the client. After that the temporary GUID can be erased.