FILE RESHARING MANAGEMENT

• US 20110078197A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: De Saint-Aignan, Charles P., Paul, Christopher J., Toth, David J., Seshasai, Satwiksai, Zurko, Mary Ellen
• Granted Patent: US 9,507,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

Managing file distribution in an online file sharing system implemented by at least one server includes inviting a first entity to access a shared file hosted by the online file sharing system, and allowing the first entity to reshare the shared file through the online file sharing system with at least a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy stored by the online file sharing system.

Claims

1. A method for managing file distribution in an online file sharing system implemented by a server, the method comprising:

inviting a first entity to access a shared file hosted by said online file sharing system; and

allowing said first entity to reshare said shared file through said online file sharing system with at least a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy stored by said online file sharing system.

2. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy permits the resharing of at least one of:

read rights, write rights, and delete rights for said shared file.

3. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy is configured to limit resharing of said shared file according to at least one attribute associated with at least one of:

said first entity, said second entity, an author of said shared file, and said shared file itself.

4. The method of claim 3, in which said at least one attribute comprises metadata.

5. The method of claim 4, in which said metadata comprises a confidential tag associated with said shared file.

6. The method of claim 3, in which said at least one attribute identifies membership in a group recognized by said online file sharing system.

7. The method of claim 6, in which said resharing policy is configured to generally impose a first degree of resharing permissions on members of said group while imposing a second degree of resharing permissions on members of a subset of said group recognized by said online file sharing system.

8. The method of claim 3, in which said at least one attribute comprises at least one of:

an identity of said first entity, an identity of said second entity, an identity of said author of said shared file, and an identity of said shared file.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising disallowing said first entity from resharing said shared file with said second entity only if said resharing policy explicitly disallows said first entity from resharing said shared file with said second entity.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising disallowing said first entity from resharing said shared file with said second entity if said resharing policy fails to allow said first entity to reshare said shared file with said second entity.

11. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy is configured to allow said second entity to view said shared file using only said online file sharing system.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing an administrator of said shared file in said online file sharing system to dynamically update said resharing policy.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a record in said online file sharing system of attempts to reshare said shared file and allowing an administrator of said shared file access to said record.

14. A server comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, having online file sharing software stored thereon;

in which said online file sharing software is configured to cause said processor to, upon execution of said online file sharing software;

invite a first entity to access a shared file; and

allow said first entity to reshare said shared file through said online file sharing system with at least a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy stored by said online file sharing system.

15. The server of claim 14, in which said resharing policy is configured to limit resharing of said shared file according to at least one attribute associated with at least one of:

an identity of at least one of;

said first entity, said second entity, an author of said shared file, and said shared file itself.

16. The server of claim 15, in which said at least one attribute comprises metadata.

17. The server of claim 15, in which said at least one attribute identifies membership in a group recognized by said online file sharing system.

18. The server of claim 17, in which said resharing policy is configured to generally impose a first degree of resharing permissions on members of said group while imposing a second degree of resharing permissions on members of a subset of said group recognized by said online file sharing system.

19. The server of claim 14, in which said software is further configured to cause said at least one processor to maintain a record in said online file sharing system of attempts to reshare said shared file and allowing an administrator of said shared file access to said record.

20. A computer program product for managing the resharing of artifacts, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code embodied therewith, said computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to invite a first entity to access a shared file hosted by an online file sharing system; and

computer readable program code configured to allow said first entity to reshare said shared file through said online file sharing system with at least one a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy stored by said online file sharing system.