Patent ID: 9537974
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method, comprising: providing, at a cloud storage server having a cloud storage directory, an interface configured to enable a user to form one or more groups, each group having a plurality of group members; monitoring the cloud storage directory including a plurality of files that is shared amongst a plurality of group members of a working group of the one or more groups; detecting a file activity related to one of the plurality of files, wherein the one of the plurality of files is an active file, and wherein the file activity includes the active file's being revised by one of the group members of the one or more groups who has a write-privilege with respect to the active file; upon detecting the file activity, updating a profile associated with the active file to change date and time that the active file is last revised; determining, based on the updated profile, whether to distribute the active file to at least one working group member by applying a configurable file-distribution policy that includes at least one rule to the updated profile, wherein the configurable file-distribution policy includes a file-revision rule that, when a file is revised by a working group member holding a write-privilege with respect to the file, directs the cloud storage server to download preemptively the file to a cloud storage client device of the at least one working group member, and wherein the at least one working group member includes all of remaining working group members who hold the write-privilege; when it is determined to distribute the active file, distributing the active file by downloading a copy of the active file to one or more cloud storage client devices associated with the at least one working group member; determining, based on the updated profile, whether the active file's revision is approved by all of the remaining working group members holding the write-privilege; and when it is determined that the active file's revision is approved by all of the remaining working group members holding the write-privilege, distributing the active file to rest of the group members of the one or more groups by downloading a copy of the active file to cloud storage client devices associated with the rest of the working group members, wherein the file activity further includes the active file being approved for the revision by a working group member holding the write-privilege, and wherein the updated profile is further updated to increment a total number of working group members holding the write-privilege who approved the revision.