PROVIDING A USER ACCESS TO DATA FILES DISTRIBUTED IN A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF USER DEVICES

摘要

A method of providing a user access to data files distributed in a plurality of different types of user devices (10) is described. According to the method, a copy of data files stored locally at each user device (10) is received at a server (60) via a respective network communication link (20, 62). Index information (220) is generated based on the received data files. The index information (220) facilitates performing a search operation (710) using user- provided search information (210) to select any of the data files (780). If a selected data file (780) from the search operation (710) is not stored locally (790) at a desired user device (10), a copy of the selected data file is sent from the server (60) via the respective network communication link (20, 62) to provide the user access to the selected data file at the desired user device (10).