Online storage with metadata-based retrieval

• US 20060206533A1
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Lili, MacLaurin, Matthew B., Turski, Andrzej, Marcjan, Cezary
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,835 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

A novel system that facilitates monitoring and/or updating data contained within a plurality of network devices. The system includes a file system user interface (UI) that can render a unified representation of the content across multiple stores corresponding to a plurality of disparate network devices. The UI facilitates searching and/or browsing content of a plurality of disparate devices via a single unified experience. Another feature of the invention is that it allows for sharing and/or synchronizing without the use of conventional folders. The invention provides for a metadata-centric view of user content (e.g., files) wherein files can be grouped by type, date, author, etc., without regard to the physical location of the content. Additionally, the invention separates or distinguishes (e.g., decouples) the synchronization of metadata (e.g., author, modification date) from the synchronization of the corresponding data files.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates updating data, the system comprising:

a component that facilitates rendering a unified representation of content maintained within a plurality of network devices, the unified representation is based upon metadata of the content;

a management component that polls at least one of the plurality of network devices for an update to the metadata that corresponds to a data item included in the content; and

a synchronization component that modifies the metadata in accordance with the update.

2. The system of claim 1, the management component receives a metadata update request from one of the plurality of network devices.

3. The system of claim 2, the synchronization component transfers the updated metadata in response to the metadata update request from the one of the plurality of network devices.

4. The system of claim 3, the one of the plurality of network devices streams a data file that corresponds to the updated metadata.

5. The system of claim 4, the one of the plurality of network devices streams the data file in response to a prompt from the management component.

6. The system of claim 5, the management component comprises:

a rule engine component that automatically instantiates a rule that implements a predefined criteria; and

a rule evaluation component that applies the rule to synchronize the data file that corresponds to the updated metadata.

7. The system of claim 5, the management component comprises an artificial intelligence component that predicts a user intention as a function of historical criteria.

8. The system of claim 7, the artificial intelligence component comprises an inference component that facilitates automatic data file synchronization as a function of the predicted user intention.

9. The system of claim 2, further comprising a metadata communication path that provides a metadata transfer path between the plurality of network devices.

10. A user interface that employs the system of claim 1.

11. A computer readable medium having stored thereon the components of claim 1.

12. A method for monitoring data, the method comprising:

displaying a unified representation of content contained within a plurality of disparate data stores;

polling for an update of metadata that corresponds to a subset of the content; and

synchronizing the updated metadata between the plurality of disparate data stores.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising synchronizing a data item that corresponds to the updated metadata in accordance with a user preference.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising synchronizing a data item that corresponds to the updated metadata in accordance with a policy.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising predicting a user action and synchronizing a data item that corresponds to the updated metadata in accordance with the predicted user action.

16. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 12.

17. A system that facilitates updating data, the system comprising:

means for rendering a unified representation of content included within a plurality of disparate file systems; and

means for identifying an update to metadata that corresponds to the content; and

means for synchronizing the updated metadata between the plurality of disparate file systems.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising means for synchronizing a file that corresponds to the updated metadata.

19. The system of claim 18, the means for synchronizing employs a rule-based logic means.

20. The system of claim 18, the means for synchronizing employs an AI-based reasoning means.