FILING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DATA FILES STORED IN A DISTRIBUTED COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

1 . A computer-implemented method for accessing a file stored in memory, comprising:

receiving a request to access the file, the request comprising a virtual file path name associated with the requested file;

correlating the virtual file path name with a logical file identification (LFID); and

identifying a physical location of the file in the memory using the LFID.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein correlating the virtual path name with the LFID comprises:

correlating the virtual file path name with a virtual file identification (VFID); and

correlating the VFID with the LFID.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the LFID is associated with more than one VFID.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying a physical location comprises correlating the LFID with a physical file path.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein identifying a physical location further comprises correlating the LFID with a storage node identification, the storage node identification indicating at least one of a plurality of storages nodes containing the file.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the memory is incorporated in a storage delivery network.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the storage delivery network comprises a plurality of geographically distributed storage nodes each having memory for storing files.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the memory is incorporated in a local storage device.

9 . A computer-implemented method for storing files in memory, comprising:

receiving a request to store a first data file;

associating a first virtual path name with the first data file;

associating the first virtual path name with a first logical file identification (LFID);

storing a copy of the file at a first physical location in the memory; and

associating the first LFID with the first physical location.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining that a second data file associated with a second virtual path name is identical to the first data file; and

associating the second virtual path with the first LFID.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the determination that the second data file is identical to the first data file comprises:

storing a first media key generated by applying the first data file to a hashing algorithm;

receiving a second media key generated by applying the second data file to the hashing algorithm;

comparing first media key with the second media key.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining that a second data file having a second virtual path name is not identical to the first data file;

associating the second virtual path name with a second LFID that is different from the first LFID.

13 . A database structure stored in a computer-readable medium, comprising:

a virtual file table comprising a virtual file correlated to a logical file identification (LFID), wherein the virtual file name is associated with a data file stored in a memory; and

a logical file table comprising the LFID correlated to information indicative of a location of the data file stored in the memory.

14 . The database structure of claim 13 , wherein the LFID is correlated to a plurality of virtual file names.

15 . The database structure of claim 13 , wherein the information indicative of the location of the data file comprises a storage node identification indicating on which node of a plurality of storage nodes the file is stored.

16 . The database structure of claim 15 , further comprising a physical file table having the LFID correlated to a physical path indicative of the location of the file in memory.

17 . The database structure of claim 16 , wherein the physical file table is located at one of a plurality of geographically distributed storage nodes.

18 . The database structure of claim 13 , further comprising a virtual metadata table comprising a virtual file identification (VFID) correlated with a metadata type, wherein the virtual file table further comprises the VFID correlated to the virtual file name.

19 . The database structure of claim 18 , further comprising a virtual folder table having a folder identification correlated with a first virtual folder name,

wherein the virtual file table further comprises a first parent folder identification correlated with the virtual file name, and

wherein the virtual file is contained within the virtual folder if the folder identification corresponds to the first parent folder identification.

20 . The database structure of claim 19 , wherein the virtual folder table further comprises a second virtual folder name correlated with a second parent folder identification,

wherein the second virtual folder is a child of the first virtual folder if the second parent folder identification corresponds to the first folder identification.

21 . The database structure of claim 13 , wherein the logical file table further includes a media key correlated with the LFID, wherein the media key was generated by applying a hashing algorithm to the data file.

22 . A file management system, comprising:

a virtual filing system configured to correlate a virtual file name to a logical file identification (LFID), the virtual file name corresponding to a first data file stored in memory; and

a logical filing system configured to correlate the LFID to information indicative of a location of the data file in the memory.

23 . The file management system of claim 22 , wherein the LFID is correlated to a plurality of virtual file names.

24 . The file management system of claim 22 , wherein the logical filing system is configured to compare a media key associated with a second data file being uploaded to the memory with a media key associated with the first data file.

25 . The file management system of claim 22 , wherein the memory is incorporated in a storage delivery network.

26 . The file management system of claim 22 , wherein the memory is a local memory storage device.

27 . The file management system of claim 22 , wherein the virtual file system is configured to associate the virtual file name with a first virtual folder, wherein the first virtual folder contains the virtual file.

28 . The file management system of claim 27 , wherein the virtual file system is configured to associate a second virtual folder with the first virtual folder, wherein the second virtual folder is a parent of the first virtual folder.

29 . A system for managing files on a storage delivery network, comprising:

a web services interface operable to receive a request from a user device to access a data file stored in memory, the request including a virtual path name associated with the data file;

a first data table correlating a logical file identification (LFID) with the virtual path name,

a second data table correlating the LFID with a location of the data file in the memory.

30 . The system of claim 29 , further comprising a third data table correlating the LFID with a physical path of the data file.

31 . The system of claim 29 , further comprising a third data table correlating a metadata type with the data file.

32 . The system of claim 29 , further comprising a third data table correlating the LFID with one or more metadata types.

33 . The system of claim 29 , wherein the first and second data tables comprise relational database tables.

34 . The system of claim 29 , further comprising a plurality of geographically distributed storage nodes, wherein the memory is incorporated into the plurality of geographically distributed storage nodes.

35 . The system of claim 34 , wherein each of the one or more storage nodes comprises a third data table correlating logical file identifications with a physical file paths.

36 . The system of claim 29 , wherein the memory is incorporated into a storage delivery network.

37 . The system of claim 29 , wherein the memory is a local storage device.