US Patent 8447801 Content sharing with limited cloud storage

Apparatus and methods for sharing electronically rendered information between a plurality of devices over a data communications network with limited used of network data storage is described. Content may be shared automatically between members of a share group, without interactive content-sharing operations being executed by users. The embodiments include content tagging, commenting, searching, and syncing of content. Action metadata messages, that are not viewed by a user of a device, may be sent separately from content portions to notify share-group members of content to be shared. Sharing of content can be accomplished via peer-to-peer links as well as intermediary links, which may execute concurrently.