The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 03, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 27, 2003
Jason F. Moore, Kirkland, WA (US);
David DE Vorchik, Seattle, WA (US);
Sasanka C. Chalivendra, Redmond, WA (US);
Nathaniel H. Ballou, Kirkland, WA (US);
Chris J. Guzak, Kirkland, WA (US);
Shaun A. Kaasten, Kirkland, WA (US);
Richard M. Banks, Kirkland, WA (US);
David J. Sheldon, Seattle, WA (US);
Patrice L. Miner, Kirkland, WA (US);
Jason F. Moore, Kirkland, WA (US);
David De Vorchik, Seattle, WA (US);
Sasanka C. Chalivendra, Redmond, WA (US);
Nathaniel H. Ballou, Kirkland, WA (US);
Chris J. Guzak, Kirkland, WA (US);
Shaun A. Kaasten, Kirkland, WA (US);
Richard M. Banks, Kirkland, WA (US);
David J. Sheldon, Seattle, WA (US);
Patrice L. Miner, Kirkland, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A file system for displaying items of different types and from different physical locations. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a wide scope of items may be available. In other words, the system is able to represent items from multiple physical locations (e.g., different hard drives, different computers, different network locations, etc.) so that to a user all the items appear to be from one location. The file system utilizes virtual folders. The virtual folders expose regular files and folders to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, non-file items may be represented in the virtual folders. In other words, files that are stored in memory are located in a physical store. The virtual folders can be made to include items that are not currently represented in the physical store. Examples of non-file items are e-mails and contacts.