Note Browser

• US 20140330911A1
• Filed: 05/06/2013
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Hunter, Rian, Seo, Kijun
• Granted Patent: US 9,542,377 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/08 Sorting, i.e. grouping record carriers in numerical or other ordered sequence according to the classification of at least some of the information they carry by merging two or more sets of carriers in ordered sequence G06F7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A notes system is presented with a content management system. The notes system manages creation and distribution of edits to notes to users sharing the notes. The notes are stored as a series of edits at the notes system. When an edit to a note is received, the edit is propagated to users subscribed to a note by a backend server responsible for managing the note. The sharing users are notified through application servers associated with each sharing user. The notes server includes various indices for searching the notes and allows notes to be searched quickly to organize viewing by a user of notes and identification of relevant material in the notes. The stored edits are used to display edits to a note to a user by replaying the accessed note to the user.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of displaying shared notes, comprising:

transmitting to a note sharing system, a request for a list of notes associated with a current user, wherein the note sharing system stores a plurality of notes, each note shared with zero or more users, wherein at least one note is associated with an edit list including a time of a last edit to the note, and a user that made the last edit;

receiving from the note sharing system a list of notes associated with the user, including for each note, a time of last edit of the note, and a list of users with whom the note is shared;

determining for each note the time of the last edit to the note;

ordering the notes based on the times of last edits, from a most recently edited note to least recently edited note; and

displaying a plurality of the notes of received notes, including the most recently edited note.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the edit list for a note includes an identifier of each user that made an edit to the note, and a time the user last edited the note, further comprising:

for the note, displaying the list of users with whom the note is shared, where the list of users is arranged in the order of the times at which each of the users last edited the note.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for the note, displaying the list of users with whom the note is shared, where the list of users is arranged alphabetically.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying an identifier of a user who made the most recent edit to the note in a visually distinguished manner.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of the notes, including the most recently edited note further comprises:

grouping the plurality of notes by the dates of the last edits made to the notes, wherein for selected date ranges, there is a date range group comprising at least one note having a last edit during the date range; and

ordering the date range groups in a date order; and

displaying the ordered date range groups, including the date range, and the notes in the date range group.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of the notes, including the most recently edited note further comprises:

grouping the plurality of notes by the users with whom the notes are shared, wherein for each such user, there is a user group comprising at least one note that is shared with such user; and

ordering the user groups based on a number of notes shared with the user associated with the user group; and

displaying the ordered user groups, the user name of the user associated with the user group, and the notes associated with each user group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of the notes, including the most recently edited note further comprises:

grouping the plurality of notes by the users with whom the notes are shared, wherein for each such user, there is a user group comprising at least one note that is shared with such user; and

ordering the user groups based on a user name of the user associated with the user group; and

displaying the ordered user groups, the user name of the user associated with the user group, and the notes associated with each user group.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of the notes, including the most recently edited note further comprises:

grouping the plurality of notes by locations at which the notes were created or edited, wherein for each location, there is a location group comprising at least one note that was created or edited at the location; and

ordering the location groups alphabetically; and

displaying the ordered location groups, including the location, and the notes associated with the location group.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of the notes, including the most recently edited note further comprises:

grouping the plurality of notes by locations at which the notes were created or edited, wherein for each location, there is a location group comprising at least one note that was created or edited at the location; and

ordering the location groups according to proximity to a location of a client device that transmitted the request to the note sharing system; and

displaying the ordered location groups, including the location, and the notes associated with the location group.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for a note, displaying a snippet of text for the note, the snippet comprising a portion of a most recently inserted text to the note.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for a note, displaying a snippet of text for the note, the snippet comprising a portion of a most recently modified text to the note.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for a note, displaying an icon indicating whether the note is a new note or an edited note.

13. A computer program product, configure for execution on a computer device, and comprising computer executable instructions, the computer program product comprising:

a client application of a note sharing system, the client application configured to

transmit to the note sharing system a request for a list of notes associated with a current user of the client application, wherein the note sharing system stores a plurality of notes, each note shared with zero or more users, wherein at least one note is associated with an edit list including a time of a last edit to the note, and a user that made the last edit; and

receive from the note sharing system a list of notes associated with the user, including for each note, a time of last edit of the note, and a list of users with whom the note is shared; and

a note browser, configured to;

determine for each note the time of the last edit to the note;

order the notes based on the times of last edits, from a most recently edited note to least recently edited note;

display the notes, including the most recently edited note; and

display for at least one of the notes, the list of users with whom the note is shared.

14. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to display the list of users with whom the note is shared arranged in an order of the times at which each of the users last edited the note.

15. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to display an identifier of a user who made the most recent edit to the note in a visually distinguished manner.

16. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

group the plurality of notes by the dates of the last edits made to the notes, wherein for selected date ranges, there is a date range group comprising at least one note having a last edit during the date range; and

order the date range groups in a date order; and

display the ordered date range groups, including the date range, and the notes in the date range group.

17. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

group the plurality of notes by the users with whom the notes are shared, wherein for each such user, there is a user group comprising at least one note that is shared with such user; and

order the user groups based on a number of notes shared with the user associated with the user group; and

display the ordered user groups, the user name of the user associated with the user group, and the notes associated with the user group.

18. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

group the plurality of notes by the users with whom the notes are shared, wherein for each such user, there is a user group comprising at least one note that is shared with such user; and

order the user groups based on a user name of the user associated with the user group; and

display the ordered user groups, the user name of the user associated with the user group, and the notes associated with the user in the user group.

19. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

group the plurality of notes by locations at which the notes were created or edited, wherein for each location, there is a location group comprising at least one note that was created or edited at the location; and

order the location groups alphabetically; and

display the ordered location groups, including the location, and the notes associated with the location group.

20. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

group the plurality of notes by locations at which the notes were created or edited, wherein for each location, there is a location group comprising at least one note that was created or edited at the location; and

order the location groups according to proximity to a location of a client device that transmitted the request to the note sharing system; and

display the ordered location groups, including the location, and the notes associated with the location group.

21. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

display for a note a snippet of text for the note, the snippet comprising a portion of a most recently inserted text to the note.

22. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

display for a note a snippet of text for the note, the snippet comprising a portion of a most recently modified text to the note.

23. The note browser of claim 13, further configured to:

display for a note, an icon indicating whether the note is a new note or an edited note.

24. A note sharing system, comprising:

a notes database, stored on a computer system, and configured to store a plurality of notes, each note associated with zero or more users, wherein at least one note is associated with an edit list including a time of a last edit to the note, and a list of identifiers of users associated with the note who have made an edit to the note; and

at least one notes server, executable by the computer system, and configured to receive from a client device a request for at least one note associated with a current user of the client device, to request from the notes database one or more notes associated with the current user, and to receive from the notes database the requested one or more notes, and provide to the client device the requested one or more notes, along with the edit list for each note, including the list of identifiers of user users associated with the note who have made an edit to the note.