US Patent 7836079 Virtual universal naming convention name space over local file system

Systems and methods that create a virtual name space of Universal Naming Convention (UNC) over a local file system (e.g., drive letter based names), via employing a UNC provider and filter arrangement that changes a name in the file object to reparse it to a volume where the local file exists. A name in the file object is changed to a local name (e.g., morphed name); subsequently reparsed and forwarded to a Name Space Owner component (NSO). As such, a request can originate from a UNC stack and reparsed on the local stack. The name space is presented to an application in UNC format, while the underlying file write occur in the file system.