CONTENT ITEM SHARING AND SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEM WITH TEAM SHARED FOLDERS

• US 20140258418A1
• Filed: 05/09/2013
• Published: 09/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Subramani, Anand, Delamere, Mark, Ibrishimov, Emil, Allain, Francois Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 9,426,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1046 Joining mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A content item sharing and synchronization system providing team shared folders is described. Users of the system have access to the team shared folder simply by being a member of a team. A team account manager of the team can grant access to the team shared folder simply by inviting selected users to the team. Similarly, the team account manager can revoke access to the team shared folder simply by removing a user from the team. Unlike typical network file server folders, separate access control list management for the team shared folder apart from user team membership management is not needed to grant and revoke access to the team shared folder, thereby reducing administrative steps necessary to effectively manage access to the team shared folder.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending an invitation to a first user to join a team of users;

receiving an indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team;

determining whether a team shared folder of the team is active or inactive; and

in response to determining that the team shared folder is active, causing, based on a first copy of the team shared folder stored at one or more server computing device, a separate second copy of the team shared folder to be stored at a client computing device of the first user;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team, adding the first user to the team;

receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to remove the first user from the team of users; and

in response to receiving the request to remove the first user from the team of users, causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be removed from the client computing device of the first user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the invitation to the first user to join the team of users comprises sending an e-mail message to the first user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team comprises receiving the indication from the client computing device of the first user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to deactivate the team shared folder; and

in response to receiving the request to deactivate the team shared folder, causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be removed from the client computing device of the first user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be stored at the client computing device of the first user comprises synchronizing (a) a client repository stored at the client computing device that initially does not contain the second copy of the team shared folder with (b) a server repository stored at the one or more server computing devices that contains the first copy of the team shared folder.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first copy of the team shared folder contains one or more content items;

and wherein causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be stored at the client computing device of the first user comprises causing copies of the one or more content items to be stored in the second copy of the team shared folder at the client computing device of the first user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a team shared folder of the team is active or inactive comprises examining metadata associated with the team shared folder that indicates whether the team shared folder is active or inactive.

9. The method of claim 1, prior to sending the invitation to the first user to join the team of users, receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to send an invitation to the first user to join the team of users.

10. The method of claim 1, prior to sending the invitation to the first user to join the team of users, receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to create the team of users;

and in response to receiving the request from the second user to create the team of users, creating the team of users with the second user initially as the only member of the team of users.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team, adding the first user to the team of users.

12. A system comprising:

a first copy of a team shared folder stored at one or more server computing devices;

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance a method comprising;

sending an invitation to a first user to join a team of users;

receiving an indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team;

determining whether a team shared folder of the team is active or inactive; and

in response to determining that the team shared folder is active, causing, based on the first copy of the team shared folder stored at the one or more server computing device, a separate second copy of the team shared folder to be stored at a client computing device of the first user;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing device.

13. The system of claim 12, the method further comprising:

in response to receiving the indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team, adding the first user to the team;

receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to remove the first user from the team of users; and

in response to receiving the request to remove the first user from the team of users, causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be removed from the client computing device of the first user.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein sending the invitation to the first user to join the team of users comprises sending an e-mail message to the first user.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein receiving the indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team comprises receiving the indication from the client computing device of the first user.

16. The system of claim 12, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to deactivate the team shared folder; and

in response to receiving the request to deactivate the team shared folder, causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be removed from the client computing device of the first user.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be stored at the client computing device of the first user comprises synchronizing (a) a client repository stored at the client computing device that initially does not contain the second copy of the team shared folder with (b) a server repository stored at the one or more server computing devices that contains the first copy of the team shared folder.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the first copy of the team shared folder contains one or more content items;

and wherein causing the second copy of the team shared folder to be stored at the client computing device of the first user comprises causing copies of the one or more content items to be stored in the second copy of the team shared folder at the client computing device of the first user.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein determining whether a team shared folder of the team is active or inactive comprises examining metadata associated with the team shared folder that indicates whether the team shared folder is active or inactive.

20. The system of claim 12, prior to sending the invitation to the first user to join the team of users, receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to send an invitation to the first user to join the team of users.

21. The system of claim 12, prior to sending the invitation to the first user to join the team of users, receiving a request from a second user that is not the first user to create the team of users;

and in response to receiving the request from the second user to create the team of users, creating the team of users with the second user initially as the only member of the team of users.

22. The system of claim 12, the method further comprising:

in response to receiving the indication that the first user accepted the invitation to join the team, adding the first user to the team of users.