METHODS, ARCHITECTURES AND SECURITY MECHANISMS FOR A THIRD-PARTY APPLICATION TO ACCESS CONTENT IN A CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM

• US 20130318593A1
• Filed: 05/19/2013
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Michael, Smith, Benjamin Campbell, Tan, Simon, Yao, Rico
• Granted Patent: US 8,914,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for methods, architectures and security mechanisms for a third-party application to access content in a cloud-based platform. In one embodiment, a method includes, providing a third-party application with direct access to content in a cloud-based environment. The third-party application is hosted by an entity different from that of the cloud-based environment. In some embodiments, the direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment is provided to the third-party application and accomplished without a need to access an application that is native to the cloud-based environment.

Claims

1. A method for providing a third-party application with direct access to content in a cloud-based environment, the method comprising:

providing the third-party application with the direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment;

wherein, the third-party application is hosted by an entity different from that of the cloud-based environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment is provided to the third-party application and accomplished without a need to access an application that is native to the cloud-based environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access to the content includes direct save of the content to or retrieval of the content from the cloud-based environment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access to the content includes previewing the content in the cloud-based environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access is provided in response to a request to access the content in the cloud-based environment from a user via a web-interface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the request includes a ticket that is to automatically expire after a period of time.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the request is transmitted from the third-party application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access to the content includes collaborating on the content in the cloud-based environment among multiple collaborators of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access is provided through a web interface of the third party application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, the direct access is provided through integration of the third-party application with an application program interface (API) or web API provided by the cloud-based environment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, the application program interface or the web API is further used for one or more of navigation, file management, file transfer, collaboration in the cloud-based environment.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, the application program interface or the web API is further used for caching in the cloud-based environment.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting an authentication token to the third-party application after a user'"'"'s identity is verified.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

keeping a history of the access, the history including at least information regarding which third-party application accessed what content.

14. The method of claim 14, wherein the content is encrypted, and wherein the authentication token includes a decryption key to decrypt the content.

16. A method for a third-party application to directly access content in a cloud-based platform, the method comprising:

sending, by the third-party application, a request to access the content in the cloud-based platform;

gaining direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment,

wherein, the direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment is provided to the third-party application and accomplished without a need to access an application that is native to the cloud-based environment.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

directly receiving the content from a server which hosts the cloud-based platform.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving an authentication token from the server after a user'"'"'s identity is verified;

detecting presence of the authentication token;

wherein the user'"'"'s identity is not verified again if the authentication token is present during a subsequent request to access the cloud-based environment.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the content is encrypted, and wherein the authentication token includes a decryption key to decrypt the content.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the request includes a ticket that is to automatically expire after a period of time.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the third-party application can receive an instruction from the cloud-based environment to delete the received content.

22. A system for providing a third-party application to directly access to a file in a cloud-based environment, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory circuitry coupled to the processors and having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by at least one of the processors, cause the system to;

provide the third-party application with direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment;

wherein, the third-party application is hosted by an entity different from that of the cloud-based environment.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein, the direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment is provided to the third-party application and accomplished without a need to access an application that is native to the cloud-based environment, wherein, the application that is native to the cloud-based environment is or is not installed on a device used for the direct access of the content.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein, the direct access to the content includes direct save of the content to or retrieval of the content from the cloud-based environment.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein, the direct access to the content includes previewing the content in the cloud-based environment.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein, the direct access is provided in response to a request to access the content in the cloud-based environment from a user via a web-interface, wherein the request includes a ticket that is to automatically expire after a period of time.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein, the direct access is provided through integration of the third-party application with an application program interface (API) or web API provided by the cloud-based environment.

28. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

send, by the third-party application, a request to access the content in the cloud-based platform;

gain direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment,

wherein, the direct access to the content in the cloud-based environment is provided to the third-party application and accomplished without a need to access an application that is native to the cloud-based environment.

29. The medium of claim 28, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

directly receive the content from a server which hosts the cloud-based platform;

receive an authentication token from the server after a user'"'"'s identity is verified;

detect presence of the authentication token;

wherein the user'"'"'s identity is not verified again if the authentication token is present during a subsequent request to access the cloud-based environment.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the content is encrypted, wherein the authentication token includes a decryption key to decrypt the content, wherein the request includes a ticket that is to automatically expire after a period of time.