COLLABORATION SESSIONS IN A WORKSPACE ON A CLOUD-BASED CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20130014023A1
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Published: 01/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Lee, David T., Sheffield, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 9,978,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing discussion workspaces linked to workspaces containing work items stored in a web-based content management system with collaboration environment are disclosed. Workspaces can be organized hierarchically. Designated collaborators of a workspace containing work items can participate in an online discussion in the linked discussion workspace regarding the work items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing a content storage system, wherein the content storage system permits a user to group and organize stored files hierarchically;

generating a discussion workspace associated with each set of grouped stored files, wherein communications from collaborators of the set of grouped stored files are received and maintained in the discussion workspace and accessible by the collaborators.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communications in the discussion workspace can be organized by the collaborators according to topics submitted by the collaborators.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the discussion workspace further includes an event stream of actions associated with files in the set of grouped stored files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaborators are required to be pre-authorized to submit communications to the discussion workspace.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first set of grouped stored files is contained in a first hierarchical container, and the first hierarchical container is contained in a second hierarchical container, and further wherein comments entered in a first discussion workspace associated with the first hierarchical container is visible in a second discussion workspace associated with the second hierarchical container.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the discussion workspace in maintained in real time.

7. A method, comprising:

generating a first discussion area linked to a first workspace in an storage system, wherein the first workspace contains work items stored by the system;

receiving and causing to be displayed in the first discussion area a comment from a collaborator of the first workspace, wherein collaborators of the first workspace can access the comment in the discussion area and respond to the comment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the collaborators are required to have access permission to the first discussion area to access the first discussion area or to leave comments in the first discussion area.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a discussion topic from one of the collaborators and causing the discussion topic to be displayed in the first discussion area to help collaborators organize displayed comments.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the first workspace is a folder that is part of a folder tree structure used by a user to organize work items stored by the system.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating a second discussion area linked to a second workspace contained within the first workspace.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein comments entered in the second discussion area are shown in the first discussion area.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein authorized collaborators are permitted to invite a new user to join as a new collaborator of the first workspace and to participate in the first discussion area.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying actions taken on the work items within the first workspace;

causing to be displayed in the first discussion area an event stream of the identified actions.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the event stream is organized chronologically.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first workspace is a folder that is part of a folder tree structure used to organize work items stored by the system, and further wherein action taken on work items in a sub-folder within the folder are also part of the event stream.

17. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing a content storage system for a user file;

generating a discussion workspace associated with the user file, wherein communications from collaborators of the user file are received and maintained in the discussion workspace and accessible by the collaborators.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the communications in the discussion workspace are maintained in real time.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein one of the collaborators invites a new collaborator to join the communications.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the discussion workspace is further associated with a second user file, and further wherein communications from collaborators of the second user file are received and maintained in the discussion workspace.

21. A system, comprising:

a discussion engine configured to generate an online discussion area linked to a workspace in a content management system, wherein the workspace contains work items, and wherein collaborators can enter comments into the online discussion area related to the work items;

a user interface module configured to display the comments entered by the collaborators in the online discussion area.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

an activity detector configured to detect actions related to the work items in the workspace;

an event stream module configured to list the detected actions in the online discussion area.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the workspace is a folder that is part of a folder tree structure used by collaborators to organize work items stored in the content management system.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the discussion engine is further configured to allow a collaborator to create a topic for discussion for organizing the comments in the online discussion area.

25. A system, comprising

means for generating a first discussion area linked to a first workspace in a storage system, wherein the first workspace contains work items stored by the system;

means for receiving and causing to be displayed in the first discussion area a comment from a collaborator of the first workspace, wherein collaborators of the first workspace can access the comment in the discussion area and respond to the comment.