Patent ID: 7546353

Claim:
A method for efficiently accessing data and controlling storage devices among multiple computers connected by a wide area network, said method comprising: upon receiving a request for access to data originally stored in a remote storage device, determining whether said data is already available and valid in a local storage device; accessing said data from the local storage device if said data is available and valid; authenticating a request for a secure connection between a local computer associated with said local storage device and a remote computer associated with said remote storage device; securely connecting said local computer with said remote computer; requesting said data from the remote storage device, over the wide area network, if said data is not available and valid; receiving data over the wide area network from the remote storage device; storing said data in the local storage device for direct local access thereto; and establishing an active subscription period, wherein during the active subscription period said data is updated and stored in the local storage device each time said data is altered at the location of said remote storage device, as updates are received over the wide area network for the remote storage device for a duration of the active subscription period, the active subscription period being timed and monitored via timestamp stored by the local storage device and the remote storage device.