CONFIGURABLE EVENT-BASED AUTOMATION ARCHITECTURE FOR CLOUD-BASED COLLABORATION PLATFORMS

• US 20150081624A1
• Filed: 09/13/2013
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Masse, Pierre-Alexandre, Huamonte, James, Tran, Brian, Low, Tiffany
• Granted Patent: US 9,535,909 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

Scalable architectures, systems, and services are provided herein for generating jobs by applying user-specified rules to events in an action log framework (ALF) stream is disclosed. More specifically, collaboration environments can include features or mechanisms that allow end-users or collaborators to perform a variety of actions such as, for example, file uploads and previews, or collaboration operations such as, for example, task assignment and comments. These actions can be captured or logged by an action log framework and, as described herein, automatically translated into one or more jobs by applying customizable user-specified rules.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating event-based automation in a collaborative cloud-based platform, the method comprising:

receiving an event at a rule manager system of the collaborative cloud-based platform,

wherein the event is received at the rule manager system responsive to an action taken by a collaborator of the collaborative cloud-based platform on a content item stored in one or more backend systems of the collaborative cloud-based platform,

wherein the content item comprises electronic content that is remotely accessible to the collaborator user via a user device in communication with the collaborative cloud-based platform; and

translating, by a computer processor of the rule manager system, the event into one or more job requests by;

parsing the event to identify event criteria;

accessing pre-defined rules from a memory in communication with the computer processor;

scanning the pre-defined rules to select a first pre-defined rule that matches the event criteria; and

generating a job request associated with the first pre-defined rule.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein scanning the pre-defined rules to select the first pre-defined rule that matches the event criteria further comprises:

parsing the first pre-defined rules to identify an associated first condition; and

selecting the first pre-defined rule if the first condition matches the event criteria.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a job description associated with the first pre-defined condition, the job description identifying a type of job;

wherein the job request associated with the first pre-defined rule indicates the type of job identified by the job description associated with the first pre-defined condition.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first pre-defined rule includes multiple conditions each having a corresponding job description.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the event is initiated at a front-end web application and distributed to the rule manager system via an event load balancer.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the event is associated with an action captured by an action log framework.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

batching multiple job requests by a jobs load balancer; and

distributing, by the jobs load balancer, the batched job requests to multiple job manager systems.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at an administrator interface of the rule manager system, information defining the first pre-defined rule including a user-defined condition and a user-defined job description;

wherein the information for generating the first pre-defined rule includes a condition and a corresponding job description, and

wherein the condition, when met, triggers generation of a job defined by the corresponding job description.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information for generating the first pre-defined rule is described in a Rule Descriptive Language (RDL).

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at an administrator interface of the rule manager system, information defining the first pre-defined rule including a first action associated with the event;

identifying, by the rule manager system, one or more conditions associated with the action and a corresponding job description for each of the one or more conditions.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the criteria comprises an action type or an enterprise identifier.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

distributing, by the rule manager system, jobs to a job manager system.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating, by the jobs manager system, a job responsive to the job request.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining, by the jobs manager system, an appropriate queue of multiple queues, wherein each queue is associated with different workers; and

adding, by the jobs manager system, the job to the appropriate queue.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein determining the appropriate queue is based on the type of job.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising maintaining the status of the job.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

persistently storing, by the jobs manager, the jobs; and

responsive to the storing, sending, by the jobs manager, an acknowledgment of the jobs to the rule manager.

18. A collaboration system for facilitating event-based automation in a collaborative cloud-based platform, the system comprising:

a processor;

an interface configured to receive an event responsive to an action taken by a collaborator of the collaborative cloud-based platform on a content item stored in one or more backend systems of the collaborative cloud-based platform,

wherein the content item comprises electronic content that is remotely accessible to the collaborator via a user device in communication with the collaborative cloud-based platform;

a memory unit having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the collaboration system to translate the event into one or more job requests by;

parsing the event to identify event criteria;

accessing pre-defined rules from a memory in communication with the computer processor;

scanning the pre-defined rules to select a first pre-defined rule that matches the event criteria; and

generating a job request associated with the first pre-defined rule.

19. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to translate the event received in the collaborative cloud-based platform by:

parsing the first pre-defined rules to identify an associated first condition; and

selecting the first pre-defined rule if the first condition matches the event criteria.

20. A collaboration system of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to translate the event received in the collaborative cloud-based platform by:

identifying a job description associated with the first pre-defined condition, the job description identifying a type of job;

wherein the job request associated with the first pre-defined rule indicates the type of job identified by the job description associated with the first pre-defined condition.

21. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to:

batch multiple job requests by a jobs load balancer; and

distribute the batched job requests to multiple job manager systems.

22. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to:

receive information defining the first pre-defined rule including a user-defined condition and a user-defined job description;

wherein the information for generating the first pre-defined rule includes a condition and a corresponding job description, and

wherein the condition, when met, triggers generation of a job defined by the corresponding job description.

23. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the information for generating the first pre-defined rule is described in a Rule Descriptive Language (RDL).

24. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to:

receive information defining the first pre-defined rule including a first action associated with the event;

identify one or more conditions associated with the action and a corresponding job description for each of the one or more conditions.

25. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the criteria comprises an action type or an enterprise identifier.

26. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to:

generate a job responsive to generation of the job request;

determine an appropriate queue of multiple queues, wherein each queue is associated with different workers; and

add the job to the appropriate queue.

27. A collaboration system of claim 26, wherein the appropriate queue is based on the type of job.

28. A collaboration system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the collaboration system to maintain the status of the job.

29. A collaboration system for facilitating event-based automation in a collaborative cloud-based platform, the system comprising:

a rules database configured to store user-specified rules for translating events into job requests,

wherein each event occurs responsive to an action taken by a collaborator of the collaborative cloud-based platform on a content item stored in one or more data warehouses of the collaborative cloud-based platform,

wherein the content item comprises electronic content that is remotely accessible to the collaborator via a user device in communication with the collaborative cloud-based platform; and

;

a rules manager system having a processor and a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions to be implemented by the processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the rules manager system to translate events received in the collaborative cloud-based platform into one or more job requests by parsing the events to identify event criteria, accessing the user-specified rules from the rules database, scanning the user-specified rules to select rules that match the event criteria, and generating a job requests based on the selected rules.

30. A collaboration system of claim 29, further comprising:

a jobs manager system having a processor and a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions to be implemented by the processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the rules manager system to;

generate jobs responsive to reception of the job requests from the rules manager system;

determine an appropriate queue of multiple queues, wherein each queue is associated with different workers; and

add the job to the appropriate queue.