Content management across shared, mobile file systems

A method for managing content across an intermittent mobile connection using a plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity, the method comprising:

• managing a plurality of file systems located on said plurality of networks;
• continuously determining the performance and functional characteristics of a mobile device and said intermittent mobile connection, each time a user of the mobile device performs one or more actions related to content from any of the said file systems across the intermittent mobile connection, the functional characteristics of the mobile device including the type of device and the operating system utilized, and the performance characteristics of said mobile device including the amount of current unused memory available and the performance characteristics of said intermittent mobile connection including the current speed, capacity, and the functional characteristics of said intermittent connection including the type of the connection;
• determining the characteristics of the managed file systems that contain the content, including the characteristics of the content on the file system;
• generating and continuously maintaining a local virtual abstraction layer for each mobile device as a cached representation of the content of the managed file systems on the mobile device;
• allowing the mobile device access to the functions of the managed file systems to manipulate said cached representation of the content as if the managed file systems were local to the mobile device;
• and
• sending the manipulated content across the intermittent mobile connection to the managed file systems of the content from the mobile device.

A method for managing content across an intermittent mobile connection using a plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity, the method comprising:

• managing one or more file systems;
• continuously determining the performance and functional characteristics of a mobile device and of the intermittent mobile connection each time a user of the mobile device performs one or more actions related to content from any of the managed file systems, the functional characteristics of the mobile device including the type of device and the operating system utilized by the mobile device, and the performance characteristics including the amount of current unused memory available on the mobile device, the performance and functional characteristics of the intermittent mobile connection, the performance characteristics including the current speed and capacity, and the functional characteristics includes the type of the connection;
• determining the characteristics of any of the managed file systems that contain the content, the characteristics of the file system including an authorization structure and authentication information provided by any of the managed file systems providing the content;
• and
• generating and continuously maintaining a local virtual abstraction layer for each mobile device as a cached representation on the mobile device of the authorization structure and authentication information from any of the managed file systems providing the content, the cached representation allowing the user of the mobile device to access the functions of any of the managed file systems providing the content as if the file system is local to the mobile device, the functions including authorizing, authenticating and permitting the user on the mobile device to modify the content.

A system for managing a plurality of content stored across a plurality of shared file systems located on a plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity, the system comprising:

• a first processor;
• a computer readable medium electronically coupled to said first processor;
• and
• a plurality of instructions wherein at least a portion of said plurality of instructions are storable in said computer readable medium, and further wherein said plurality of instructions are configured to cause said first processor to perform:
• a) continuously determining and maintaining the performance and functional characteristics of a mobile device and of said plurality of networks each time a user of the ˜ mobile device performs one or more actions related to content from the plurality of content stored across a plurality of the shared file systems, the functional characteristics of the mobile device including the type of device and the operating system utilized by the mobile device, and the performance characteristics including the amount of current unused memory available on the mobile device, the performance characteristics of the plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity including the current speed and capacity, and the functional characteristics of the plurality of networks including the type of networks;
• b) determining the characteristics of the file systems that contain the content;
• and
• c) creating and continuously maintaining a virtual abstraction layer based on the characteristics of the mobile device, the networks, and the file systems, the virtual abstraction layer providing a view to a plurality of mobile devices as if content is local to the mobile devices and the virtual abstraction layer providing the content from at least one of the plurality of the shared file systems to at least one of the mobile devices allowing the mobile device to access the functions of the file system containing the content including manipulating the content as if the file system is local to the mobile device.

A system for managing content across an intermittent mobile connection using a plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity, the system comprising:

• a first processor;
• a computer readable medium electronically coupled to said first processor;
• and
• a plurality of instructions wherein at least a portion of said plurality of instructions are storable in said computer readable medium, and further wherein said plurality of instructions are configured to cause said first processor to perform:
• a) managing a plurality of file systems;
• b) continuously determining the performance and functional characteristics of a mobile device and the intermittent mobile connection each time a user of a mobile device performs one or more actions related to content from any of the managed file systems across the intermittent mobile connection, the functional characteristics of the mobile device including the type of device and the operating system utilized by the mobile device, and the performance characteristics including the amount of current unused memory available on the mobile device, the performance characteristics of the intermittent mobile connection including the current speed and capacity, and the functional characteristics of the intermittent mobile connection including the type of the connection;
• c) determining the characteristics of any of the managed file systems that contain the content, including the characteristics of the content on the file systems;
• and
• d) generating and continuously maintaining a local virtual abstraction layer for each mobile device as a cached representation of the content of the managed file systems on the mobile device, the cached representation of the content being manipulated by the user on the mobile device;
• allowing the mobile device access to the functions of the file system containing the content as if the file system is local to the mobile device;
• and
• sending the manipulated content across the intermittent mobile connection to the file systems of the managed content from the mobile device.

A system for managing content across an intermittent mobile connection using a plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity, the system comprising:

• a first processor;
• a computer readable medium electronically coupled to said first processor;
• and
• a plurality of instructions wherein at least a portion of said plurality of instructions are storable in said computer readable medium, and further wherein said plurality of instructions are configured to cause said first processor to perform:
• a) managing one or more file systems;
• b) continuously determining the performance and functional characteristics of a mobile user device and said intermittent mobile connection each time a user of the mobile device performs one or more actions related to the content from any of the managed file systems, the functional characteristics of the mobile device including the type of mobile device, and the operating system utilized by the mobile device, and the performance characteristics including the amount of current unused memory available on the mobile device, the performance characteristics of the intermittent mobile connection including the current speed , and capacity, and the functional characteristics of the intermittent mobile connection includes the type of the connection;
• c) determining the characteristics of any of the managed file systems that contain the content, the characteristics of the file system including an authorization structure and authentication information provided by any of the managed file systems that contain the content;
• and
• d) generating and continuously maintaining a local virtual abstraction layer for each mobile device as a cached representation one on the mobile device of the authorization structure and authentication information from any of the managed file systems that contain the content, the cached representation allowing the user of the mobile device to access the functions of any of the managed file systems providing the content as if the file system is local to the mobile device, the functions including authorizing, authenticating and permitting the user on the mobile device to modify the requested content.

A method for managing a plurality of content stored across a shared file system located on a plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity, the method comprising:

• continuously determining the performance and functional characteristics of a mobile device and of the plurality of networks each time a user of the mobile device performs one or more actions related to the content from the plurality of content stored across a plurality of the shared file systems, the functional characteristics of the mobile device including the type of device and the operating system utilized by the mobile device, and the performance characteristics including the amount of current unused memory available on the mobile device, the performance characteristics of the plurality of networks comprising at least one wireless network providing intermittent connectivity including the current speed and capacity, and the functional characteristics includes the type of network;
• determining the characteristics of the file system;
• and
• creating and continuously maintaining a virtual abstraction layer based on the characteristics of the device, the plurality of networks, and the file system, the virtual abstraction layer providing a view to a plurality of mobile devices as if that content was local to the respective mobile devices and the virtual abstraction layer providing the content from the shared file system to at least one of the mobile devices allowing the mobile device to access the functions of the file system containing the content including manipulating the content as if the file system was local to the mobile device.