US Patent 7953770 Conflict management in a versioned file system

Multiple files in a versioned file system are grouped to form a fusion unit on a server. The fusion unit is exposed to a client as a browsable folder having separate files. When the server receives an indication of a change to file belonging to the fusion unit, the server determines whether the change to the file causes a conflict on the fusion unit. If the change does cause a conflict, then the conflict is reported; otherwise the fusion unit is updated to incorporate the change.