System and Method for File Sharing and Collaboration on the Internet

• US 20070130143A1
• Filed: 06/15/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Drive Headquarters Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Drive Headquarters Incorporated
• Inventors: Zhang, Wenbing, Huang, Xianke
• Application Number:
  US11/424,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130143A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention enable a self-registered user to store files and/or folders on a web server system, each file and/or folder having different share levels for other self-registered users. The other users can then access each file and/or folder based on their respective share levels after logging in to their accounts.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing a first user'"'"'s folder in memory, the folder having files therein, the folder having different share levels for other users, the first user being self-registered;

receiving a request from a self-registered user over the Internet for a list of accessible folders shared to him/her;

determining if a folder is accessible to the self-registered user based on share levels;

transmitting a list of Shared folders to the self-registered user over the Internet if the folders are determined to be accessible;

wherein the shared folders are placed in a “

Virtual Share Root”

Folder, and presented in a similar folder (tree) structure as the “

self-registered”

user'"'"'s own files/folder;

receiving a file from the self-registered user for storage in the folder or sending a file to the self-registered user for downloading to local.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for one of the determined files from the self-registered user;

transmitting the requested file to the self-registered user over the Internet; and

receiving a modified version of the requested file for storage in the folder.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the share access levels are set by the first user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the share access levels are set by the first user from an Internet Browser;

and wherein folders can be shared to multiple people;

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the share access levels are set by the first user from a client application, or Windows Explorer;

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user'"'"'s files are stored logically.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of determined files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s desktop client application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s web browser.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of the first user'"'"'s files/folders and files/folders shared to the first user are organized into the same folder (tree) structure, having the shared folders placed inside of a Virtual Share Root Folder.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s client via Windows Explorer in a folder that contains all this user'"'"'s files and files shared to this user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of shared files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s Windows Explorer window, or a client application that enables easy drag-n-drop of files/folder between local storage and the online storage, between this user'"'"'s own folders, or the folders shared from other users.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of shared files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s Windows Explorer window, without affecting Windows Explorer'"'"'s responsiveness even within a slow network environment by implementing multi-threading, progress bar and local caching of remote files and virtual folder implementation.

13. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions to cause a computer to execute a method, the method comprising:

storing a first user'"'"'s files in memory;

the files having different share levels for other users;

receiving a request from a self-registered user over the Internet for a list of accessible files;

determining which of the files are accessible to the self-registered user based on share levels; and

transmitting a list of the determined files to the self-registered user over the Internet.

14. A system, comprising:

means for storing a first user'"'"'s files in memory;

the files having different share levels for other users;

means for receiving a request from a self-registered user over the Internet for a list of accessible files;

means for determining which of the files are accessible to the self-registered user based on share levels; and

means for transmitting a list of the determined files to the self-registered user over the Internet.

15. A system, comprising:

a file system layer capable of storing a first user'"'"'s files in memory;

the files having different share levels for other users;

a UI module capable of receiving a request from a self-registered user over the Internet for a list of accessible files, capable of determining which of the files are accessible to the self-registered user based on share levels, and capable of transmitting a list of the determined files to the self-registered user over the Internet.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the file system includes RDBMS managed user accounts and folder tree system, and wherein the UI module is further capable of receiving a request for one of the determined files from the self-registered user;

and further comprising a FTP service integrated with the file system and capable of transmitting the requested files to the self-registered user over the Internet.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein

the file system layer is further capable of storing folder data corresponding to a folder with folder files therein, the folder having a folder share level;

wherein the UI module is further capable of determining if the self-registered user has access based on the folder share level; and

further comprising an FTP service capable of transmitting the folder data to the self-registered user based on the folder share level.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the share levels are set by the first user.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the first user'"'"'s files are stored logically.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the list of determined files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s client application.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the list of determined files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s web browser.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the list of determined files is displayed on a self-registered user'"'"'s Windows Explorer window.