US Patent 7310644 Locating potentially identical objects across multiple computers

Potentially identical objects (such as files) across multiple computers are located. In one embodiment, a computer generates object information for an object stored on the computer. The object information can be generated in a variety of manners (e.g., based on hashing the object, based on characteristics of the object, and so forth). The object information is then transferred to one or more database server computers, where the object information can be compared to object information from other computers to determine whether the object is potentially identical to another object on one of the other computers.