Patent ID: 9589034
Date: 2017-03-07
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method comprising: providing an aggregated catalog of data objects residing in online data centers and data objects residing in local storage of respective end-user computers; communicating, via an aggregator associated with the online data centers, when the respective end-user computers are online, with the local storage of the respective end-user computers to cause a local interface on the respective end-user computers to provide a report to the aggregator regarding information concerning contents of the local storage; updating the aggregated catalog to list newly stored data objects from the online data centers and newly stored data objects from the respective end-user computers; conducting a search, responsive to a request by an end-user, of the aggregated catalog; utilizing results of the search to provide an output for display at a computer of the end-user, the output including a consolidated listing of data objects of the end-user residing in the online data centers including the newly stored data objects and data objects of the end-user residing in the computer of the end-user, the consolidated listing including an end-user-activatable VIEW feature and an end-user-activatable SHARE feature; activating, responsive to activation of the VIEW feature by the end user in conjunction with a particular data object in the consolidated listing, software to allow the end-user to view the particular data object; and providing access, via the aggregator as prompted by an interface, responsive to activation of the SHARE feature by the end user in conjunction with the particular data object, to the particular data object to a designated transferee.