RETROACTIVE SHARED CONTENT ITEM LINKS

• US 20140230009A1
• Filed: 05/07/2013
• Published: 08/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Subramani, Anand, Carriero, Thomas, Allain, Francois Alexander, Delamere, Mark, Vincent, Jonathan, Rha, Philip, Ibrishimov, Emil
• Granted Patent: US 9,111,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• 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: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A content management system implementing methodologies providing retroactive shared content item links is disclosed. The content management system and methodologies allow a team administrator of a team to configure a team-wide shared link policy that determines whether non-team members can access content items associated with team accounts using shared links generated for the content items by team members. The team shared link policy has two settings. In a first setting, the content management system allows non-team members to use shared links generated by team members to access content items associated with team accounts. In a second setting, the content management system blocks access to the content items by non-team members. Shared links are retroactive in the sense they do not need to be regenerated after the team shared link policy has been changed from the second setting back to the first setting.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at one or more servers of a content management system comprising one or more processors and computer memory;

receiving, from a client device of a user, a request to access a content item associated with a shared link;

wherein the request specifies the shared link;

in response to receiving the request;

determining a team associated with the content item;

wherein the user is not a member of the team;

determining a current setting of a team shared link policy of the team;

wherein the current setting reflects one of the following polices of the team with respect to use of shared links to access content items associated with the team;

(a) users that are not members of the team are not permitted to use shared links to access content items associated with the team;

or

(b) users that are not members of the team are not prohibited by the team shared link policy of the team from using shared links to access content items associated with the team;

if the current setting reflects (a) that users that are not members of the team are not permitted to use shared links to access content items associated with the team, then returning a response to the client device of the user that indicates that the user is not permitted to access the content item;

or

if the current setting reflects (b) that users that are not members of the team are not prohibited by the team shared link policy of the team from using shared links to access content items associated with the team, then returning a response to the client device of the user that comprises at least a portion of the content item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared link is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared link comprises an alphanumeric sequence and a name of the content item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is formatted as a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the team associated with the content item includes determining a team account associated with the content item and determining a team that the team account belongs to.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the team comprises a plurality of team accounts.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the request to access the content item associated with the shared link, generating the shared link.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is an anonymous user that does not have a user account with the content management system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the current setting of the team shared link policy of the team comprising reading the current setting from the computer memory of the content management system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein if the current setting reflects (b) that users that are not members of the team are not prohibited by the team shared link policy of the team from using shared links to access content items associated with the team, then returning the response to the client device of the user that comprises at least a portion of the content item only after determining that no other access controls prohibit the user from accessing the content item.

11. A system comprising:

one or more server computing devices configured to;

receive, from a client device of a user, a request to access a content item associated with a shared link;

wherein the request specifies the shared link;

wherein the one or more server computing devices are further configured to, in response to receiving the request,

determine a team associated with the content item;

wherein the user is not a member of the team;

determine a current setting of a team shared link policy of the team;

wherein the current setting reflects one of the following polices of the team with respect to use of shared links to access content items associated with the team;

(a) users that are not members of the team are not permitted to use shared links to access content items associated with the team;

or

(b) users that are not members of the team are not prohibited by the team shared link policy of the team from using shared links to access content items associated with the team;

if the current setting reflects (a) that users that are not members of the team are not permitted to use shared links to access content items associated with the team, then return a response to the client device of the user that indicates that the user is not permitted to access the content item;

or

if the current setting reflects (b) that users that are not members of the team are not prohibited by the team shared link policy of the team from using shared links to access content items associated with the team, then return a response to the client device of the user that comprises at least a portion of the content item.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the shared link is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the shared link comprises an alphanumeric sequence and a name of the content item.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the request is formatted as a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) request.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more server computing devices are further configured to, in response to receiving the request,

determine a team account associated with the content item;

and

determine a team that the team account belongs to.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the team comprises a plurality of team accounts.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more server computing devices are further configured to generate the shared link.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the user is an anonymous user that does not have a user account with the content management system.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more server computing devices are further configured to, in response to receiving the request, read the current setting from the computer memory of the content management system.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more server computing devices are further configured to, in response to receiving the request,

if the current setting reflects (b) that users that are not members of the team are not prohibited by the team shared link policy of the team from using shared links to access content items associated with the team, then return the response to the client device of the user that comprises at least a portion of the content item only after determining that no other access controls prohibit the user from accessing the content item.