US 12,079,171 B2
Symbolic link based placeholders
Jack Allen Nichols, Bothell, WA (US)
Assigned to MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on Aug. 2, 2016, as Appl. No. 15/225,851.
Prior Publication US 2018/0039652 A1, Feb. 8, 2018
Int. Cl. G06F 16/178 (2019.01); G06F 3/06 (2006.01); G06F 9/451 (2018.01); G06F 9/50 (2006.01); G06F 16/10 (2019.01); G06F 16/11 (2019.01); G06F 16/182 (2019.01); G06F 16/188 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 16/178 (2019.01) [G06F 3/0608 (2013.01); G06F 3/065 (2013.01); G06F 3/067 (2013.01); G06F 9/452 (2018.02); G06F 9/50 (2013.01); G06F 16/10 (2019.01); G06F 16/11 (2019.01); G06F 16/182 (2019.01); G06F 16/188 (2019.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method to provide symbolic link based placeholder files for cloud stored data synchronization, the method comprising:
determining a path to a target file from a bidirectional symbolic link,
where the bidirectional symbolic link points to a placeholder virtual file system (VFS),
wherein the bidirectional symbolic link is at a location of the target file; and
wherein the bidirectional symbolic link is a file independent of the target file;
determining a path to a cloud file from metadata provided by the bidirectional symbolic link;
after determining the path to the cloud file, deleting the bidirectional symbolic link, wherein deleting the bidirectional symbolic link does not affect the target file;
after deleting the bidirectional symbolic link, copying content of the cloud file to the target file; and
copying the path to the target file to a buffer to be returned to a kernel of an operating system.