Calculating structural differences from binary differences in publish subscribe system

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer program instructions for publishing topic updates to a client device, the computer program instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to:

• transmit, to a client from a data distribution system server, a first binary representation of a first data object describing a topic value of a topic of a plurality of topics to which the client is subscribed on a data distribution server maintaining a data structure for the plurality of topics;
• and
• responsive to receiving a changed topic value of the topic within the data structure from a topic publisher at the data distribution server, publish a binary delta to the client subscribing to the topic that represents a difference between the first binary representation and a second binary representation of a second data object describing the changed topic value of the topic,
• wherein the client is adapted to:
• identify a split between the binary delta and either the first binary representation or the second binary representation, the split indicating a misalignment between elements of the binary delta and the first or second binary representation;
• generate a structural delta that compensates for the identified split, the structural delta representing a structural difference between the first data object and the second data object, and
• determine the changed topic value of the topic from the structural delta.

A system comprising:

• a data distribution system server comprising:
• one or more system processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable system storage medium including computer program instruction for publishing topic updates, the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more system processors:
• maintain a data structure for a plurality of topics;
• transmit, to a client, a first binary representation of a first data object describing a topic value of a topic of a plurality of topics to which the client is subscribed;
• and
• responsive to receiving a changed topic value of the topic within the data structure from a topic publisher, publish a binary delta to the client subscribing to the topic that represents a difference between the first binary representation and a second binary representation of a second data object describing the changed topic value of the topic;
• and
• a client comprising:
• one or more client processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer program instructions for receiving topic updates, the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more client processors, causing the one or more client processors to:
• identify a split between the binary delta and either the first binary representation or the second binary representation, the split indicating a misalignment between elements of the binary delta and the first or second binary representation;
• generate a structural delta that compensates for the identified split, the structural delta representing a structural difference between the first data object and the second data object, and
• determine the changed topic value of the topic from the structural delta.