Patent ID: 9646023
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A network attached storage, comprising: at least one storage device; a network interface configured to couple to a local area network; a share folder stored in the at least one storage device; and a hardware processor coupled to the at least one storage device and the network interface, the hardware processor being configured to execute instructions to, upon the network interface being coupled to the local area network: auto-initiate an identification of other similarly-configured network attached storages coupled to the local area network, the identification comprising: broadcasting a query over the local area network; and receiving responses to the broadcasted query from identified first and second similarly-configured network attached storages coupled to the local area network; monitor contents of the share folder to determine a presence of or a change to at least one first item therein; upon determining at least one of the presence of and the change to the at least one first item in the monitored share folder, copy the at least one first item to a first destination folder in the identified first similarly-configured network attached storage and copy the at least one first item to a second destination folder in the identified second similarly-configured network attached storage over the local area network, the first and second destination folders being configured to identify, and store items originating from, the network attached storage from which the at least one first item is copied; receive, over the local area network, second and third items from the identified first and second similarly-configured network attached storages, respectively; create, in the at least one storage device, a third destination folder configured to store items received from the identified first similarly-configured network attached storage and a fourth destination folder configured to store items received from the identified second similarly-configured network attached storage, the first to fourth destination folders being different from one another; and store the received second item in the third destination folder and store the received third item in the fourth destination folder.