Patent ID: 7376681

Claim:
A method of accessing information in a hierarchical file system having a plurality of directories arranged in a hierarchical tree, comprising at least one root directory and a plurality of non-root directories that each has a parent directory, wherein at least some of the plurality of directories in the tree correspond to a period of time subsumed by a period of time corresponding to its respective parent directory, the method comprising acts of: (A) receiving a request to store a unit of information in the file system; (B) selecting one of the plurality of directories in which to store the unit of information based, at least in part, on a time related to a processing of the request; (C) storing the unit of information in the selected directory; and (D) performing at least one of the following acts: (D1) generating, for the unit of information, a content address that is generated based, at least in part, on the content of the unit of information and returning the content address in response to the request; and/or (D2) receiving a content address for the unit of information that is generated based, at least in part, on the content of the unit of information.