Systems and methods for purging content items

• US 8,943,027 B1
• Filed: 11/20/2013
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Dwan, Michael, Kluesing, Daniel, Grue, Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Farhan
• Application Number:
  US14/085,760
• Time in Patent Office: 433 Days
• US Class Current: 707/664
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/162 Delete operations erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for content item purging are provided. A contact item purger, such as may be incorporated within a local client application of a content management system running on a user device, may leverage knowledge as to which items have been uploaded to the content management system, and how long such content items have been stored on the user device, to propose items for deletion from the user device so as to reclaim storage space. A contact item purger may run on one or more user devices, and may activate upon various triggering events, based on various conditions and parameters, with or without user interaction, thus maintaining available memory capacity at all times.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

synchronizing at least one content item with a user account on a remote data store, the synchronizing causing the at least one content item to be stored in memory on a user device and stored in memory at the remote data store;

detecting a triggering event, the triggering event comprising determining that available space in the memory on the user device is less than a first memory threshold value, wherein the first memory threshold value comprises a first predefined percentage of a total capacity of the memory of the user device;

in response to detecting the triggering event, identifying one or more content items stored in the memory on the user device that have been previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store, wherein the one or more content items are accessible from the remote data store using the user device;

in response to determining that an aggregate amount of storage space occupied by the one or more content items on the user device comprises at least a second memory threshold value of the user device'"'"'s memory, deleting the one or more content items from the user device'"'"'s memory, wherein the second memory threshold value comprises a second predefined percentage of the total capacity of the memory on the user device; and

providing a notification on the user device, wherein the notification indicates the deletion of the one or more content items and the amount of storage space reclaimed in the user device'"'"'s memory by the deletion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering event further comprises at least one of:

a periodically scheduled purge, a user request, or receipt of additional content items.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering event occurs dynamically based on at least one of user activity, current available memory, and battery charge.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more content items in memory on the user device comprises:

identifying content items stored on the user device for more than N days.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein N days comprises a number of days being at least one of:

fixed, predefined by a user of the user device, or dynamically set based on at least one of;

available memory or a content type of the at least one content item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a copy of the one or more content items is already stored in the memory at the remote data store.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a similar version of the one or more content items is already stored in the memory at the remote data store.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein deleting the one or more content items from the user device'"'"'s memory comprises:

replacing the one or more content items in the user device'"'"'s memory with a reduced size version of the one or more content items.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the reduced size version of the one or more content items comprises a lower resolution version of the one or more content items.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more content items are identified based on an available power threshold of the user device.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing the identification of the one or more content items in response to at least one of a photograph or a video being captured by the user device.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein deleting of the one or more content items occurs in response to:

receiving of a signal from the user device.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

replacing any deleted content items with downloaded versions of the synchronized at least one content item.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

scanning for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store, wherein the scan occurs if the user device is at least one of;

plugged into a power source;

or

has a battery charge exceeding a first battery threshold.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

scanning for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store if the user device has a battery charge between the first battery threshold and a second battery threshold.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a user device, cause the user device to:

synchronize at least one content item with a user account on a remote data store, the synchronization causing the at least one content item to be stored in memory on the user device and stored in memory at the remote data store;

detect a triggering event, the triggering event comprising a determination that available space in the memory on the user device is less than a first memory threshold value, wherein the first memory threshold value comprises a first predefined percentage of a total capacity of the memory of the user device;

in response to detection of the triggering event, identify one or more content items stored in the memory on the user device that have been previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store, wherein the one or more content items are accessible from the remote data store using the user device;

in response to a determination that an aggregate amount of storage space occupied by the one or more content items on the user device comprises at least a second memory threshold value of the user device'"'"'s memory, delete the one or more content items from the user device'"'"'s memory, wherein the second memory threshold value comprises a second predefined percentage of the total capacity of the memory on the user device; and

provide a notification on the user device, wherein the notification indicates the deletion of the one or more content items and the amount of storage space reclaimed in the user device'"'"'s memory by the deletion.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the triggering event further comprises at least one of:

a periodically scheduled purge, a user request, or receipt of additional content items.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the triggering event occurs dynamically based on at least one of user activity, current available memory, and battery charge.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more content items are identified based on an available power threshold of the user device.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein a copy of the one or more content items is already stored in the memory at the remote data store.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein a similar version of the one or more content items is already stored in the memory at the remote data store.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, when executed by the at least one processor of the user device, further causes the user device to at least one of:

scan for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store, wherein the scan occurs if the user device is at least one of;

plugged into a power source, or

has a battery charge exceeding a first battery threshold;

or

not scan for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store if the user device has a battery charge less than a second battery threshold.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, when executed by at least one processor of the user device, further causes the user device to:

scan for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store if the user device has a battery charge between the first battery threshold and the second battery threshold.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, when executed by at least one processor of the user device, further causes the user device to:

perform the identification of the one or more content items in response to at least one of a photograph or a video being captured by the user device.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, when executed by at least one processor of the user device, further causes the user device to:

delete the one or more content items occurs in response to receipt of a signal from the user device.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, when executed by at least one processor of the user device, further causes the user device to:

replace any deleted content items with downloaded versions of the synchronized at least one content item.

34. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, when executed by at least one processor of the user device, further causes the user device to:

replace the one or more content items in the user device'"'"'s memory with a reduced size version of the one or more content items.

35. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 34, wherein the reduced size version of the one or more content items comprises a lower resolution version of the one or more content items.

14. A user device, comprising:

at least one processor;

a display; and

memory containing instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to;

synchronize at least one content item with a user account on a remote data store, the synchronization causing the at least one content item to be stored in memory on the user device and stored in memory at the remote data store;

detect a triggering event, the triggering event comprising determining that available space in the memory on the user device is less than a first memory threshold value, wherein the first memory threshold value comprises a first predefined percentage of a total capacity of the memory of the user device;

in response to detection of the triggering event, identify one or more content items stored in the memory on the user device that have been previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store, wherein the one or more content items are accessible from the remote data store using the user device;

in response to a determination that an aggregate amount of storage space occupied by the one or more content items on the user device comprises at least a second memory threshold value of the user device'"'"'s memory, delete the one or more content items from the user device'"'"'s memory, wherein the second memory threshold value comprises a second predefined percentage of the total capacity of the memory on the user device; and

provide a notification to a user of the user device, wherein the notification indicates the deletion of the one or more content items and the amount of storage space reclaimed in the user device'"'"'s memory by the deletion.

15. The user device of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to:

perform the identification of the one or more content items in response to at least one of a photograph and a video being captured by the user device.

16. The user device of claim 14, wherein deletion of the one or more content items occurs in response to:

receipt of a signal from the user device.

17. The user device of claim 14, wherein the at least one processer is further operable to:

replace any deleted content items with downloaded versions of the synchronized at least one content item.

23. The user device of claim 14, wherein the one or more content items are identified based on an available power threshold of the user device.

32. The user device of claim 23, wherein the at least one processer is further operable to:

scan for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store, wherein the scan occurs if the user device is at least one of;

plugged into a power source;

or

has a battery charge exceeding a first battery threshold.

33. The user device of claim 32, wherein the at least one processer is further operable to:

scan for content items previously synchronized with the user account on the remote data store if the user device has a battery charge between the first battery threshold and a second battery threshold.

36. The user device of claim 14, wherein the at least one processer is further operable to:

replace the one or more content items in the user device'"'"'s memory with a reduced size version of the one or more content items.

37. The user device of claim 36, wherein the reduced size version of the one or more content items comprises a lower resolution version of the one or more content items.