File-level comments in collaborative content items

• US 10,462,077 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2017
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Cacioppo, Christina, Johnson, Lars, Kofman, Igor, Zia, Khurram, Ramaswamy, Sheila, Grace, Jr., John R., Tunc, Kevin, Sheng, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ling, Chhian (Amy)
• Application Number:
  US15/445,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20180191645A1
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A collaborative content management system enables users to selectively create file-level comments, in addition to content level comments, in collaborative content items. A file-level comment can be created in a number of different ways, including creating a comment associated with a title, header, heading, or other designated portion of the content; by designating a message associated with sharing the content item as a file-level comment; by replaying via a messaging system to a message sharing the content item; or by including a file-level primitive in the content of a comment. A file-level comment may be indicated in the collaborative content item by visually distinguishing formatting of a title, header or other portion of the content item. A file-level comment may be displayed in a visually distinctive manner, such as with specified formatting or in a specific window pane apart from content level comments.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, in content to be included in a first comment, a file-level primitive input by a user, the file-level primitive input by the user identifying a file associated with a collaborative content item stored by a content management system and indicating that the first comment is a file-level comment on the collaborative content item;

responsive to identifying the file-level primitive input by the user, creating a reference, between the collaborative content item as a whole and the first comment;

receiving a request for the collaborative content item, and in response, generating a representation of the collaborative content item wherein generating the representation of the collaborative content item comprises generating a representation of the first comment,

wherein the representation of the first comment includes an indicator that the first comment is a file-level comment; and

sending the representation of the collaborative content item for display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the representation of the collaborative content item comprises:

retrieving, based on the reference, a comment data structure corresponding to the first comment;

determining that the first comment is a file-level comment based on a content level indicator in the comment data structure; and

based on the determining that the first comment is a file-level comment, creating the indicator that the first comment is a file-level comment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the representation of the collaborative content item further comprises generating a representation of a second comment by:

retrieving, a comment data structure corresponding to the second comment;

determining that the second comment is a content level comment based on a content level indicator in the comment data structure; and

based on the determination that the second comment is a content level comment, including, in the representation of the collaborative content item, the representation of the second comment including a visual association between the representation of the second comment and a span of content in the collaborative content item, wherein the span of content is specified in the comment data structure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator that the first comment is a file-level comment includes highlighting, in association with the first comment, a title of the collaborative content item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the file-level primitive is performed by identifying, in the content to be included in the first comment, a signaling character sequence, wherein the file-level primitive is defined to indicate that a comment is associated with a file as a whole.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, based on the first comment being a file-level comment, an audience for a notification relating to the first comment, wherein determining the audience includes;

identifying one or more users who have viewed the collaborative content item;

or

identifying one or more users who have interacted with the collaborative content item; and

sending the notification to the determined audience.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the file-level primitive includes an identifier to a location within the content management system at which the file is stored.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving a command to create a new comment at a file-level for a collaborative content item, wherein the command is to create the new comment at the file-level due to a title of the collaborative content item being selected when the command was received, the new comment including a file-level primitive input by a user that identifies the collaborative content item stored by a content management system;

responsive to receiving the command, creating a reference, between the collaborative content item as a whole and the first comment;

receiving a representation of the collaborative content item, the representation of the collaborative content item including a file-level comment corresponding to the new comment; and

displaying the representation of the collaborative content item including a first association between the file-level comment and the title of the collaborative content item, the first association being based on the reference.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein displaying the representation of the collaborative content item further comprises showing a second association between a content-level comment and a span in the collaborative content item other than the title.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending a modification to the title of the collaborative content item;

receiving a second representation of the collaborative content item, the second representation of the collaborative content item including the file-level comment; and

displaying the second representation of the collaborative content item by including a second association between the file-level comment and a designated title location within the collaborative content item.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the modification to the title comprises deleting the title of the collaborative content item.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first association between the file-level comment and the title of the collaborative content item includes a correspondence in highlighting between the file-level comment and the title of the collaborative content item.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the file-level comment is included in a comment pane amongst content-level comments, wherein the displayed representation of the collaborative content item shows both the comment pane and content of the collaborative content item.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7,

wherein the representation of the collaborative content item is part of a list of collaborative content item representations;

wherein the list of collaborative content item representations includes a comment pane; and

wherein the comment pane is configured to show the file-level comment associated with the collaborative content item when the collaborative content item is selected in the list of collaborative content item representations.

14. A computer system comprising:

one or more processors; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to;

receive, from a first client device, a sharing action for a collaborative content item, the sharing action including a sharing message; and

responsive to receiving the sharing action, creating a reference, between the collaborative content item as a whole and a first comment, wherein the first comment is associated with comment content comprising the sharing message, and wherein the reference is associated with a file-level primitive input by a user that identifies the collaborative content item and that specifies that the first comment is at a file-level.

15. The computer system of claim 14,

wherein the sharing action includes a list of one or more recipients to which the sharing message is to be sent;

and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer system to, responsive to receiving the sharing action, send the sharing message to the one or more recipients in the list of recipients.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the sharing message further includes an identifier representing the collaborative content item, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer system to:

receive a reply message to the sharing message, the reply message including the identifier representing the collaborative content item and reply content; and

responsive to receiving the reply message;

create a second comment that includes the reply content; and

associate the first comment and the second comment such that, when a representation of the collaborative content item is created, a representation of the second comment is indicated as a reply to the first comment.

17. The computer system of claim 15,

wherein the sharing message (A) is configured to be delivered to one or more recipients and (B) includes a reply address, the reply address indicating:

a message processing system associated with the system, and an identifier of the first comment;

wherein a reply message is received at the system using the reply address; and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer system to associate, based on the identifier of the first comment, the reply message with the first comment as a reply comment.

18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer system to:

receive a request for the collaborative content item from a second client device, and in response, generate a representation of the collaborative content item including a representation of the first comment, the representation of the first comment including an indicator that the first comment is a file-level comment; and

in response to the request for the collaborative content item, provide the representation of the collaborative content item for display on the second client device.

19. The computer system of claim 14, wherein creating the reference between the collaborative content item and the first comment is further in response to determining that a setting is associated with the sharing message, the setting indicating that the sharing message should be added as a file-level comment on the collaborative content item.

20. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer system to:

receive a request for a collection of collaborative content items, the collection of collaborative content items including the collaborative content item; and

generate a view of the collection of collaborative content items, the view including a representation of the collaborative content item and a comment pane, wherein the comment pane is configured to show representations of file-level comments associated with the collaborative content item, including the representation of the first comment, when the representation of the collaborative content item is selected.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the comment pane is further configured to show representations of file-level comments corresponding to multiple collaborative content items of the collection of collaborative content items.