Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support offline file system synchronization and sharing with cloud storage via a virtual file system (VFS) configured to provide a complete view of all file files/file folders in a user's account. The VFS separates the storage of the files and their metadata into two primary databases—a staging database where local changes to the files are stored and a file database, which is a cloud-synchronized copy of path structure and metadata information of the files and file folders. The VFS first pulls/retrieves the latest version of a file to be modified from the cloud based on metadata in the file DB and updates the locally-stored version of the file based on the version retrieved from the cloud. Once the file is modified by the user locally via a client (even when the client is offline), the VFS commits and consolidates all the changes made by this and possibly other users to the file in the staging DB before synchronizing the changes to the cloud.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support file synchronization between a local host and a cloud storage via one or more local content appliances (CAs), wherein each content appliance is a storage device/host configured to locally maintain documents and files previously downloaded from the cloud storage. First, a client agent at the local host discovers and connects to the CA that manage its files locally. To access a file/document that is not cached on its local host, the client agent requests and receives the file from the CA instead of downloading it directly from the cloud storage. When parts of the file are updated locally by the client, the client agent is configured to transmit the updated file to the CA, wherein the updated file is considered as having been fully committed from the client's perspective. The CA then synchronizes with and uploads the revised file to the cloud storage and/or other CAs in the background.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a data container unloading circuit which frees a container either by discarding the contents or transmitting the contents to its destination. A data container loading circuit receives a plurality of submittals of various sizes and selects an appropriately sized free container. If no free container has sufficient capacity the loading circuit blocks all loading until a container of sufficient size becomes available. A container tailor circuit checks for available free space in the buffer and transfers capacity among free containers to resize one to fit an incoming submittal. The mix of container sizes can be adapted over time to reflect the changing sizes of the traffic.