Patent ID: 8756194

Claim:
A method performed by one or more computing devices for joining a replica to a shared data store, the method comprising: receiving first information from a personal computing device; wherein the first information comprises an identifier of a shared data store and a first identifier of a replica, stored at the personal computing device, that is to be joined to the shared data store; responsive to receiving the first information, joining the replica to the shared data store; wherein joining the replica to the shared data store includes: based, at least in part, on the shared data store identifier and the first replica identifier received in the first information, determining whether the first replica identifier is already assigned to another known replica of the shared data store; responsive to determining that the first replica identifier is already assigned to another known replica of the shared data store: assigning a second replica identifier to the replica stored at the personal computing device that is not already assigned to any other known replica of the shared data store, and sending second information to the personal computing device, wherein the second information comprises the assigned second replica identifier; wherein after the personal computing device receives the second information, the personal computing device modifies the replica stored at the personal computing device by replacing the first replica identifier with the second replica identifier in a plurality of change stamps stored in the replica; wherein the first replica identifier is different from the second replica identifier.