diff --git a/apiclient/model.py b/apiclient/model.py
index 61a81d4..7f51d29 100644
--- a/apiclient/model.py
+++ b/apiclient/model.py
@@ -299,3 +299,47 @@
   @property
   def no_content_response(self):
     return self._protocol_buffer()
+
+
+def makepatch(original, modified):
+  """Create a patch object.
+
+  Some methods support PATCH, an efficient way to send updates to a resource.
+  This method allows the easy construction of patch bodies by looking at the
+  differences between a resource before and after it was modified.
+
+  Args:
+    original: object, the original deserialized resource
+    modified: object, the modified deserialized resource
+  Returns:
+    An object that contains only the changes from original to modified, in a
+    form suitable to pass to a PATCH method.
+
+  Example usage:
+    item = service.activities().get(postid=postid, userid=userid).execute()
+    original = copy.deepcopy(item)
+    item['object']['content'] = 'This is updated.'
+    service.activities.patch(postid=postid, userid=userid,
+      body=makepatch(original, item)).execute()
+  """
+  patch = {}
+  for key, original_value in original.iteritems():
+    modified_value = modified.get(key, None)
+    if modified_value is None:
+      # Use None to signal that the element is deleted
+      patch[key] = None
+    elif original_value != modified_value:
+      if type(original_value) == type({}):
+        # Recursively descend objects
+        patch[key] = makepatch(original_value, modified_value)
+      else:
+        # In the case of simple types or arrays we just replace
+        patch[key] = modified_value
+    else:
+      # Don't add anything to patch if there's no change
+      pass
+  for key in modified:
+    if key not in original:
+      patch[key] = modified[key]
+
+  return patch