PROVIDING A DYNAMIC DIGITAL CONTENT CACHE

• US 20170123982A1
• Filed: 10/29/2015
• Published: 05/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Haven, Drew, Geiduschek, Anna
• Granted Patent: US 10,198,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0811 with multilevel cache hierarchies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0813 with a network or matrix configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

One or more embodiments of a thumbnail caching system dynamically provide a thumbnail cache of digital content items (e.g., photos, videos, audio) to a user on a client device. In particular, the thumbnail caching system provides a thumbnail cache of a digital content collection to a client device such that the thumbnail cache does not exceed a threshold storage limit for the client device. In addition, the thumbnail caching system intelligently adjusts the thumbnails within the thumbnail cache to keep the size of the thumbnail cache within the threshold storage limit irrespective of the number of digital content items stored or added to the digital content collection. Further, the thumbnail caching system can dynamically adjust the size of the thumbnail cache in response to a user adding or removing external data to the client device.

Claims

1. A method for creating a dynamic thumbnail cache, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of content items to download to a client device;

assigning each content item from the plurality of content items to one or more of a plurality of buckets, wherein each bucket is associated with a unique pair of attributes;

assigning, by at least one processor, each of the plurality of buckets to one of a plurality of prioritized tiers; and

until a storage threshold limit is met, for each prioritized tier of the plurality of prioritized tiers, and in accordance with a prioritization of the tiers;

identifying one or more buckets assigned to the prioritized tier;

identifying a proportion ratio assigned to each of the one or more buckets; and

downloading, to the client device, content items assigned to the one or more buckets in proportional batches based on the proportion ratios assigned to the one or more buckets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of content items comprises a plurality of thumbnail images for each of a plurality of images;

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of thumbnail images for each of the plurality of images comprises thumbnails of differing resolutions for each of the plurality of content items.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a thumbnail of a first resolution for an image is assigned to a first prioritization tier and a thumbnail of a second resolution for the image is assigned to a second prioritization tier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique pair of attributes for each of the plurality of buckets comprises a gallery interest attribute and a thumbnail quality attribute.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining that the storage threshold limit has been exceeded, and based on the determination that the storage threshold limit has been exceeded, purging one or more content items from the client device until the storage threshold is no longer exceeded.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein purging one or more content items from the client device comprises:

for a lowest prioritized tier that includes content items downloaded to the client device;

identifying the one or more buckets assigned to the lowest prioritized tier;

identifying proportion ratios associated with the one or more buckets; and

removing, from the client device, content items assigned to the one or more buckets based on the proportion ratios associated with the one or more buckets.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein removing, from the client device, content items assigned to the one or more buckets further comprises removing the content items based on bucket fullness scores associated with the one or more buckets and based on rankings of the content items within each of the one or more buckets.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the rankings are based on a recency of the content items.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising registering one or more content items of the plurality of content items for download to one or more buckets of the plurality of buckets based on bucket assignments of the one or more content items.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein removing, from the client device, content items assigned to the one or more buckets comprises:

unregistering a content item from a bucket of the one or more buckets;

determining that the content item is not registered with any other bucket; and

based on the content item not being registered with any buckets, purging the content item from the client device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein downloading content items to the client device comprises:

determining that a particular content item that is to be downloaded to a particular bucket of the one or more buckets in a proportional batch was previously downloaded for another bucket on the client device;

skipping a download of the particular content item; and

linking the particular content item previously downloaded to the client device to the particular bucket.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein downloading content items for each prioritization tier to the client device continues until each content item assigned to one or more buckets in the prioritization tier is downloaded.

14. A method for creating a dynamic thumbnail cache, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of thumbnails to download to a client device;

assigning, by at least one processor, each thumbnail from the plurality of thumbnails to one or more of a plurality of buckets, wherein each bucket is associated with one or more attributes;

identifying, for each bucket of the plurality of buckets, a prioritized tier to which the bucket is assigned; and

until a storage threshold limit is exceeded, for each prioritized tier of the plurality of prioritized tiers, and in accordance with a prioritization of the tiers;

identifying a proportion ratio assigned to each of one or more buckets in the prioritized tier;

downloading, to the client device, thumbnails assigned to the one or more buckets in proportional batches based on proportion ratios assigned to the one or more buckets; and

removing, from the client device, one or more thumbnails from at least one bucket assigned a lowest prioritized tier storing thumbnails until the storage threshold limit is no longer exceeded.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein downloading thumbnails further comprises skipping the download of a thumbnail assigned to a bucket when the thumbnail has a lower sort order than a high water mark associated with the bucket.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the storage threshold limit is based on a total number of unique thumbnails located within the plurality of buckets on the client device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the storage threshold limit is a user-defined amount of storage space to be used on the client device.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the storage threshold limit is based on an amount of available storage space remaining on the client device.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the storage threshold limit specifies a percentage or amount of the available storage space to leave available to the client device.

20. A system for creating a dynamic thumbnail cache, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

identify a plurality of content items for download to a client device;

assign each content item from the plurality of content items to one or more of a plurality of buckets;

assign each of the plurality of buckets to one of a plurality of prioritized tiers; and

until a storage threshold limit is met, for each prioritized tier of the plurality of prioritized tiers, and in accordance with a prioritization of the tiers;

identify one or more buckets assigned to the prioritized tier;

identify a proportion ratio assigned to each of the one or more buckets; and

download, to the client device, content items assigned to the one or more buckets in proportional batches based on the proportion ratios assigned to the one or more buckets.