Display of a plurality of files from multiple devices

• US 10,216,365 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Patel, Vivek, Dixon, Mark C., Thomas, Gibu, Chordia, Ashish, Gabriel, Nichole C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhargava, Anil K
• Application Number:
  US14/872,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20160041707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,245 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/07 Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

In a synchronization or back-up system that synchronizes and/or back-ups files from multiple computing devices, the present invention provides a method for (1) displaying files from multiple computing devices in a multi-view user interface and (2) enabling content and file operations to be performed on such files through the user interface. The multi-view interface includes a file-system view and one or more media-specific views. In the file-system view files are organized in the same way in which they are organized on the devices on which they are stored. The file-system view in the interface looks essentially the same as the file-system view on client devices. In the file-system view, users can perform file operations on files. In the media-specific view files are organized by media category. In one embodiment of the media-specific view, files are organized by metadata that relates to the files content. In the media-specific view, users can perform content operations on the files.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a graphical user interface on a client device comprising a file-system view icon and a media-specific view icon that enable a user to interact with a plurality of files stored on a plurality of computer devices;

in response to a user selection of the file-system view icon, providing, within the graphical user interface, a file-system view comprising one or more folder indicators, the file-system view corresponding to a local file system on a computer device of the plurality of computer devices, wherein the one or more folder indicators within the file-system view are organized in a same way as the folder indicators are organized in the local file system; and

in response to a user selection of the media-specific view icon, providing within the graphical user interface, a media-specific view comprising a compilation of media items of a particular media type that are stored on multiple computer devices of the plurality of computer devices, wherein for a given folder containing multiple media items of the particular media type, providing the media-specific view comprises;

selecting a representative media item from the multiple media items contained in the given folder; and

generating an album icon comprising the representative media item, wherein a user can access the multiple media items contained within the given folder upon selecting the album icon.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the client device, a content-specific operation on a media item of the multiple media items associated with the album icon within the media-specific view; and

in response to the content-specific operation, notifying a synchronization server that the content-specific operation has been performed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compilation of media items in the media-specific view are displayed in an arrangement based on metadata associated with each media item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the client device receives the metadata corresponding to each media item in the compilation of media items.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a user deletion of a media item in the compilation of media items; and

in response to the indication of the user deletion, sending a synchronization server a deletion action notification.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing a computer device indicator within the file-system view for each of the plurality of computer devices; and

in response to a user selection of a given computer device indicator, providing folder indicators located on a given computer device corresponding to the given computer device indicator within the file-system view.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a client device to:

provide a graphical user interface comprising a file-system view icon and a media-specific view icon that enable a user to interact with a plurality of files stored on a plurality of computer devices;

in response to a user selection of the file-system view icon, display, within the graphical user interface, a file-system view comprising one or more folder indicators, the file-system view corresponding to a local file system on a computer device of the plurality of client computer devices, wherein the one or more folder indicators within the file-system view are organized in a same way as the folder indicators are organized in the local file system, and

in response to a user selection of the media-specific view icon, display, within the graphical user interface, a media-specific view comprising a compilation of media items of a particular media type that are stored on multiple computer devices of the plurality of computer devices, wherein for a given folder containing multiple media items of the particular media type, providing the media-specific view comprises;

selecting a representative media item from the multiple media items contained in the given folder; and

generating an album icon comprising the representative media item, wherein a user can access the multiple media items contained within the given folder upon selecting the album icon.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium apparatus of claim 7, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the client device to:

receive a content-specific operation on a media item of the multiple media items associated with the album icon within the media-specific view; and

in response to the content-specific operation, notify a synchronization server that the content-specific operation has been performed.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the compilation of media items in the media-specific view are displayed in an arrangement based on metadata associated with each media item.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the client device to receive the metadata corresponding to each media item in the compilation of media items.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the client device to:

receive an indication of a user deletion of a media item in the compilation of media items; and

in response to the indication of the user deletion, send a deletion action notification to a synchronization server.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the client device to:

provide a computer device indicator within the file-system view for each of the plurality of computer devices; and

in response to a user selection of a given computer device indicator, providing folder indicators located on a given computer device corresponding to the given computer device indicator within the file-system view.

13. A method comprising:

providing, by a synchronization server, a file-system view icon and a media-specific view icon that enable a user to interact with a plurality of files, stored on a plurality of computer devices;

in response to receiving an indication of a user selection of the file-system view icon, provide a file-system view comprising one or more folder indicators, the file-system view corresponding to a local file system on a computer device of the plurality of computer devices, wherein the one or more folder indicators within the file-system view are organized in a same way as the folder indicators are organized in the local file system; and

in response to receiving an indication of a user selection of the media-specific view icon, provide a media-specific view comprising a compilation of media items of a particular media type that are stored on multiple computer devices of the plurality of computer devices, wherein for a given folder containing multiple media items of the particular media type, providing the media-specific view comprises;

selecting a representative media item from the multiple media items contained in the given folder; and

generating an album icon comprising the representative media item, wherein a user can access the multiple media items contained within the given folder upon selecting the album icon.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the media specific view comprises providing the compilation of media items based on metadata associated with each media item.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

sending, by the synchronization server, the metadata corresponding to each media item in the compilation of media items.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing a computer device indicator within the file-system view for each of the plurality of computer devices; and

in response to receiving an indication of a user selection of a given computer device indicator, providing folder indicators located on a given computer device corresponding to the given computer device indicator within the file-system view.

17. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

provide a graphical user interface comprising a file-system view icon and a media-specific view icon that enable a user to interact with a plurality of files stored on a plurality of computer devices;

in response to a user selection of the file-system view icon, provide, within the graphical user interface, a file-system view comprising one or more folder indicators, the file-system view corresponding to a local file system on a computer device of the plurality of computer devices, wherein the one or more folder indicators within the file-system view are organized in a same way as the folder indicators are organized in the local file system; and

in response to a user selection of the media-specific view icon, provide for display within the graphical user interface, a media-specific view comprising a compilation of media items of a particular media type that are stored on multiple computer devices of the plurality of computer devices, wherein for each of the folder indicators, providing within the media-specific view comprises;

selecting a representative media item from a plurality of media items associated with a given folder indicator; and

generating an album icon comprising the representative media item associated with the folder indicator, wherein the album icon represents the plurality of media items associated with the given folder indicator.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the compilation of media items in the media-specific view are displayed in an arrangement based on metadata associated with each media item.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of computer device each receives the metadata corresponding to each media item in the compilation of media items.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

provide a computer device indicator within the file-system view for each of the plurality of computer devices; and

in response to a user selection of a given computer device indicator, providing folder indicators located on a given computer device corresponding to the given computer device indicator within the file-system view.