Shared Item Account Selection

• US 20130067594A1
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bockelman, Jonathan A., Steinbok, Jeffrey E., Filman, Sarah M., Kantor, Arcadiy G
• Granted Patent: US 9,378,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/335 for accessing specific resources, e.g. using Kerberos tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0838 using one-time-passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Techniques for sharing of items from online storage (e.g., cloud storage) are described herein. In at least some embodiments, sharing links can be configured as one-time sharing links that provide recipients with limited, one-time access to a shared item for the purpose of selecting or registering an account to use for subsequent access to the item. Recipients are able to select accounts they find most convenient for accessing a shared item without the owner/sharer of the item necessarily having contact information for those accounts or sending a link to the accounts. Selection of a one-time link initiates an authentication sequence that selectively provides an option to select a particular account. Once the one-time sharing link is redeemed, the one-time sharing link is invalidated for subsequent access to the item.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computing device, the method comprising:

determining one or more selected recipients for a sharing link to an item maintained in online storage allocated to a user account with a service provider;

generating different one-time sharing links for each of the one or more selected recipients;

responsive to selection of a one-time sharing link by a respective recipient, exposing an option to select a user account to use for access to the item;

associating permissions on the item with the selected user account; and

invalidating the one-time sharing link for subsequent use to gain permissions on the item.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein determining the selected recipients comprises:

receiving a request to send sharing links to the selected recipients, the request including contact information for the selected recipients; and

processing the request to identify the selected recipients based on corresponding contact information.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the one-time sharing links are configured to provide limited, one-time access to the item for the purpose of selecting an account to use for subsequent access to the item.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein generating the one-time sharing links comprises encoding permissions to the item within the one-time sharing links.

5. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising sending notifications having the one-time sharing links to the selected recipients based upon contact information for the selected recipients included in a request from a client to send sharing links to the selected recipients.

6. A method as described in claim 5, wherein the user account selected by the recipient is different than another account of the recipient corresponding to the contact information used to send the sharing link to the recipient.

7. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising granting the recipient limited access to the item associated with unauthenticated users until the recipient selects the user account to gain enhanced access to the item associated with authenticated users.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein exposing the option to select a user account comprises presenting an account selection dialog to enable selection of a particular user account during an authentication sequence.

9. A method as described in claim 1, wherein generating the one-time sharing links comprises constructing each particular one-time sharing link to include a navigation path to the item and a sharing key that uniquely identifies the particular one-time sharing link.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein exposing the option to select a user account comprises selectively presenting the option during an authentication sequence based upon a determination of whether the recipient is currently authenticated to a current user account that has authenticated access to the shared item, including:

presenting the option when the recipient is not currently authenticated to a current user account having authenticated access to the shared item; and

automatically using the current user account as the selected account and foregoing the option when the recipient is currently authenticated to a current user account having authenticated access to the shared item.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more components of a computing device, implement a collaboration service configured to perform operations including:

providing online storage that is allocated to user accounts with a service provider;

generating a one-time sharing link to share an item stored in online storage associated with a user in response to a request to get the one-time sharing link for the item, the one-time sharing link configured to enable a recipient to select a user account to use for access to the item;

sending a notification having the one-time sharing link to the recipient;

responsive to selection of the one-time sharing link by the recipient, initiating an authentication sequence to authenticate the recipient to a user account of the recipient with the service provider;

prompting the recipient to select the user account with an account selection dialog during the authentication sequence; and

associating permissions on the item with the user account selected by the recipient through the account selection dialog.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the collaboration service is further configured to perform operations including:

invalidating the one-time sharing for subsequent use to gain permissions on the item once the recipient uses the one-time sharing to select the user account.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the authentication sequence comprises operations including:

determining whether the one-time sharing link indicates that a require sign-in option is set;

if the require sign-in option is not set, providing the recipient with access to the item granted to unauthenticated users, detecting when actions on the item by the recipient require access to granted to authenticated users, and performing the prompting in response to the detecting; and

if the require sign-in option is set, providing the recipient with limited access for the purpose of selecting the user account and outputting the account selection dialog to authenticate the user to the selected account.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the authentication sequence comprises operations including:

determining whether the recipient already has authenticated access to the item through a current user account to which the recipient is currently logged-in,

if the current user account does have authenticated access to the item, selecting the current user account to use for subsequent access to the item;

if the current user account does not have authenticated access to the item, prompting the recipient with the account selection dialog to select the current user account or another account to use for subsequent access to the item.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the one-time sharing link is generated to include:

a navigation path to the item; and

a sharing key used to identify the one-time sharing link to the collaboration service as a one-time sharing link.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the collaboration service is provided in conjunction with a plurality of resources available to clients over a network from the service provider.

17. A computing system comprising:

one or more processing components;

one or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing components, implement a collaboration service configured to perform operations including;

generating different one-time sharing links for each of one or more recipients selected to receive a sharing link to an item maintained in online storage allocated to a user account with a service provider, the one-time sharing links configured to provide limited, one-time access to the item for the purpose of selecting an account to use for subsequent access to the item;

sending notifications having the one-time sharing links to the one or more recipients;

responsive to selection of a one-time sharing link by a respective recipient, selectively exposing an account selection dialog to prompt the recipient to select a user account to use for access to the item when it is determined that the recipient is not currently authenticated to a current user account having permissions to the item; and

when the account selection dialog is exposed and the recipient selects a user account through the account selection dialog, associating permissions on the item with the selected user account.

18. A computing system as described in claim 17, wherein the collaboration service is further configured to perform operations including:

when it is determined that the recipient is currently authenticated to a current user account having permissions to the item, automatically selecting the current user account to use for access to the item.

19. A computing system as described in claim 17, wherein the collaboration service is further configured to perform operations including invalidating the one-time sharing link after the recipient uses the one-time sharing link to gain permissions on the item.

20. A computing system as described in claim 17, wherein the collaboration service is further configured to perform operations:

outputting a user interface configured to enable input of a request to send sharing links to the selected recipients, the request including contact information for the selected recipients; and

receiving the request submitted via the user interface,

wherein the generating comprises generating the one-time sharing links for the selected recipients ascertained from the request and the sending comprises sending the one-time sharing links to the selected recipients using the contact information included in the request.