Collection folder for collecting file submissions

• US 10,542,092 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2018
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Zhang, Mindy, Levi, Alon, Souba, Brandon, Li, Angela, Goldman, Erik, Giurgea, Mihnea Cezar, Sarfani, Aadil, Embiricos, Alex, Puckett, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Viet D
• Application Number:
  US15/991,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20180278690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• 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 content management system for collecting files from one or more submitters in a collection folder. A collector, who generates the collection folder, can invite one or more submitters to submit one or more files to the collection folder. The one or more submitters have limited rights to the collection folder. The limited rights can include uploading rights and prohibiting a submitter from viewing files that other submitters associated with the collection folder submitted. Thus, the collection folder is able to store files from the one or more submitters, but prevent them from viewing other'"'"'s submissions.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

creating, by a content management system, a collection folder in response to receiving a collection request associated with a collector account;

generating a link to the collection folder;

distributing, by the content management system, to a first client device associated with a first submitter and a second client device associated with a second submitter, the link to the collection folder for collecting files from the first submitter and the second submitter; and

providing the first submitter and the second submitter limited rights to the collection folder, the limited rights permitting the first submitter to upload a first file to the collection folder, permitting the first submitter to view the first file in the collection folder, and prohibiting the first submitter from viewing a second file uploaded by the second submitter within the collection folder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection request comprises request information defined by a collector associated with the collector account.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing, by the content management system, one or more prompts to the collector to obtain the request information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request information comprises a name of the collection request, the method further comprising defining the name of the collection folder based on the name of the collection request.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the request information comprises submitter information that the content management system uses to distribute the link to the collection folder to the first client device associated with the first submitter and the second client device associated with the second submitter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the limited rights to the collection folder further comprise viewing rights that permit the second submitter to view the second file in the collection folder.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the content management system, the first file from the first client device associated with the first submitter;

receiving, by the content management system, the second file from the second client device associated with the second submitter; and

storing, by the content management system, the first file and the second file in the collection folder.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the limited rights to the collection folder further comprise viewing rights that prohibit the second submitter from viewing the first file within the collection folder.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, from a client device associated with the collector account, a request to view content of the collection folder; and

providing the collector account access to view the first file and the second file in response to the request from the collector account to view content of the collection folder.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first submitter does not have and account with the content management system.

11. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

create, by a content management system, a collection folder in response to receiving a collection request associated with a collector account;

generate a link to the collection folder;

distribute, by the content management system, to a first client device associated with a first submitter and a second client device associated with a second submitter, the link to the collection folder for collecting files from the first submitter and the second submitter; and

provide the first submitter and the second submitter limited rights to the collection folder, the limited rights permitting the first submitter to upload a first file to the collection folder, permitting the first submitter to view the first file in the collection folder, and prohibiting the first submitter from viewing a second file uploaded by the second submitter within the collection folder.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the limited rights to the collection folder further comprise viewing rights that permit the second submitter to view the second file in the collection folder.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

receive, by the content management system, the first file from the first client device associated with the first submitter;

receive, by the content management system, the second file from the second client device associated with the second submitter; and

store, by the content management system, the first file and the second file in the collection folder.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the limited rights to the collection folder further comprise viewing rights that prohibit the second submitter from viewing the first file within the collection folder.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

receive, from a client device associated with the collector account, a request to view content of the collection folder; and

provide the collector account access to view the first file and the second file in response to the request from the collector account to view content of the collection folder.

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

create, by a content management system, a collection folder in response to receiving a collection request associated with a collector account;

generate a link to the collection folder;

distribute, by the content management system, to a first client device associated with a first submitter and a second client device associated with a second submitter, the link to the collection folder for collecting files from the first submitter and the second submitter; and

provide the first submitter and the second submitter limited rights to the collection folder, the limited rights permitting the first submitter to upload a first file to the collection folder, permitting the first submitter to view the first file in the collection folder, and prohibiting the first submitter from viewing a second file uploaded by the second submitter within the collection folder.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the limited rights to the collection folder further comprise viewing rights that permit the second submitter to view the second file in the collection folder.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer device to:

receive, by the content management system, the first file from the first client device associated with the first submitter;

receive, by the content management system, the second file from the second client device associated with the second submitter; and

store, by the content management system, the first file and the second file in the collection folder.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the limited rights to the collection folder further comprise viewing rights that prohibit the second submitter from viewing the first file within the collection folder.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer device to:

receive, from a client device associated with the collector account, a request to view content of the collection folder; and

provide the collector account access to view the first file and the second file in response to the request from the collector account to view content of the collection folder.