Peer-to-peer syncable storage system

A method of creating a sync group, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a storage service associated with a first electronic device, a request from an application to create a sync group;
• verifying, by the storage service, that the application has read access to the storage service;
• in response to verifying that the application has read access to the storage service, creating locally within the storage service the sync group by:
• receiving an indication of one or more objects stored in the storage service that are to be shared,
• identifying one or more user members of the sync group with whom to share the one or more objects, each user member associated with one or more member electronic devices, and
• assigning one or more permissions of a set of possible permissions to the one or more member electronic devices associated with the user members that are identified, the set of possible permissions including read access, write access, and administrative access, identifying a sync group server associated with the sync group;
• detecting a network connection that facilitates communications with the sync group server;
• sending a notification to the sync group server using the detected network connection, the notification notifying the sync group server that the sync group has been created locally within the storage service;
• and
• synchronizing access to the objects among the first electronic device and one or more member electronic devices associated with the one or more members such that the objects are accessible via each of the member electronic devices at any time regardless of whether the first electronic device is executing the application at that time, wherein access to the objects by the member electronic devices is synchronized in accordance with the one or more permissions that are assigned and further in accordance with one or more conflict resolution policies.

A system for creating a sync group in a distributed system, the system comprising:

• an electronic device comprising a short range communication transmitter and a storage service, wherein the electronic device is offline;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the offline, electronic device to:
• receive a request from an application to create a sync group,
• verify that the application has read access to the storage service,
• in response to verifying that the application has read access to the storage service, create locally within the storage service the sync group by:
• receiving an indication of one or more objects stored in the storage service that are to be shared,
• identifying one or more user members of the sync group, each user member associated with one or more member electronic devices, and
• assigning one or more permissions of a set of possible permissions to the one or more member electronic devices associated with the user members that are identified, the set of possible permissions including read access, write access, and administrative access;
• synchronizing access to the objects among the offline, electronic device and the one or more member electronic devices associated with the one or more user members such that the objects are accessible via each of the member electronic devices when the member electronic devices are within range of the transmitter, wherein access to the objects by the member electronic devices is synchronized in accordance with the one or more permissions that are assigned and further in accordance with one or more conflict resolution policies;
• detecting, by the first electronic device, a network connection that facilitates communications with a sync group server;
• and
• sending, by the first electronic device via the detected network connection, information identifying the sync group to the sync group server for continued synchronization through the sync group server when the one or more member electronic devices are no longer within range of the short range communication transmitter of the first electronic device.

A system for creating a sync group in a distributed system, the system comprising:

• an electronic device comprising a storage service;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the electronic device to:
• receive a request from an application to create a sync group,
• verify that the application has read access to the storage service,
• in response to verifying that the application has read access to the storage service, create locally within the storage service the sync group by:
• receiving an indication of one or more objects stored in the storage service that are to be shared,
• identifying one or more user members of the sync group, each user member associated with one or more member electronic devices, and
• assigning one or more permissions of a set of possible permissions to the one or more member electronic devices associated with the user members that are identified, the set of possible permissions including read access, write access, and administrative access,
• identify a sync group server associated with the sync group,
• detect a network connection that facilitates communications with the sync group server:
• send a notification to the sync group server using the detected network connection, the notification notifying the sync group server that the sync group has been created locally within the storage service, and
• synchronize access to the objects among the electronic device and one or more member electronic devices associated with the one or more members such that the objects are accessible via each of the member electronic devices at any time regardless of whether the first electronic device is executing the application at that time, wherein access to the objects by the member electronic devices is synchronized in accordance with the one or more permissions that are assigned and further in accordance with one or more conflict resolution policies.