it basically is like a smart view for comparing files in different directories or computers..... it looks like it answers the lact of a Tile command OS X... in windows you can open 2 or more file browsers and Tile the 2 or more browsers horizontally or vertically.
once tiled you can then scroll each of the three to view files in the directories which may be common to 2 or more of them or you can see what is different.... you can compare file attributes (file size, date created, date modified,etc) and other information
this patent looks like it patents a "smart folders" way of viewing the 2 or more folders.... instead of opening 2 or more browsers you instead create a smart folder that contains instances of the 2+ directories.... you can then compare the directories and files within the same window.....this saves screen real estate by eliminating excess toolbars.... it also eliminates the need for a Tile command that I know I and many other users have been requesting for a while
it also allows you to put 2+ locations in a 'smart folder' and select syncronization options between files and directories.....kind of like a robust iSync, but for managing files between different directories and different computers over LANs or WANs as well...
this is good for system administrators too, because it appears that you can set files to stay synced on many computers such as applications.....
i.e. the client computer automatically syncs to the newest version of a piece of software after the administrator has updated the software on one computer, such as a server.
as far as i can tell it also allows for a waterfall syncing ability.
The sync can cascade through a hierarchy so not only one machine is not hammered by all the computers for the update (think bittorrent)..... i.e. update a central machine that represents what all the client machines should be..... top level machines on all the individual LANs go over the WAN and update themselves.... client machines on each lan then see that the top level machine on their WAN has an updated file and then syncs within that LAN.....
basically an automated, distributed file syncing system..... for Network Administrators it seems like it would eliminate the need for reghosting all the clients periodically and instead just reghosting the ones that get corrupted......
for the average person it allows people to easily keep a home machine, a laptop machine and a desktop machine always synced together without just having one sync directory of files. also seems to represent the ability to have file redundancy between computers over LANs, WANs and the Internet
i may have gotten some stuff wrong, but that's what i got out of the patent as i read it
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