Cloud storage

• US 9,208,201 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2012
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Giampaolo, Dominic B., De Atley, Dallas, Watson, Matthew G., Reda, Matthew J., Galloway, Curtis, Trumbull, Benjamin Case, Gillett, Nicholas William Colby
• Primary Examiner(s): Uddin, Mohammed R
• Application Number:
  US13/486,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20120310880A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 707/781, 707/783, 707/785, 707/999.002
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for data storage. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of identifying a running query from an application; determining one or more data items of a plurality of data items that the application has permission to view according to one or more application specific access policies; and presenting the one or more data items to the application while not presenting other data items of the plurality of data items.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

on a first computing device associated with a user account, receiving a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

receiving a notification that data items satisfying the running query are available at a remote storage location, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application, and the data items satisfying the running query having been contributed by a second computing device associated with the user account;

based on the notification, determining that the application has permission to access a first data item of the data items satisfying the running query, according to one or more application specific access policies;

determining that the application does not have permission to access a second data item of the data items satisfying the running query;

presenting the first data item satisfying the running query to the application; and

withholding presentation of the second data item to the application.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising

transmitting, to the remote storage location, a request to receive the first data item;

and

receiving the first data item from the remote storage location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the application has permission to access the first data item includes determining whether an identifier associated with the first data item matches an identifier associated with the application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the notification that the data items satisfying the running query are available at a remote storage location includes data representing the identifier associated with the first data item that matches the identifier associated with the application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is received from another computing device associated with the user account.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising determining that the data items satisfy the running query based on data of the received notification.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification includes a corresponding application key of the application that generated the respective data item.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising granting access to the first data item based on the data identifying the application that generated the first data item.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a data item from a first computing device associated with a user account, the data item associated with an application running on the first computing device;

determining a container for storing the data item, the container being specific to the user account associated with the first computing device, and specific to the application;

storing the data item in the container; and

sending a notification of the data item to one or more other devices associated with the user account, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the notification includes a corresponding application key of the application that generated the data item.

13. A system comprising:

a first computing device associated with a user account and configured to;

receive a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

receive a notification that data items satisfying the running query are available at a remote storage location, the data items satisfying the running query having been contributed by a second computing device associated with the user account;

based on the notification, determine that the application has permission to access a first data item of the data items satisfying the running query, according to one or more application specific access policies;

determine that the application does not have permission to access a second data item of the data items satisfying the running query;

present the first data item satisfying the running query to the application; and

withhold presentation of the second data item to the application; and

a server system configured to;

receive a data item from the first computing device, the data item associated with the application running on the first computing device,

store the data item, and

send a notification of the data item to one or more other devices associated with the user account, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application.

14. The system of claim 13, the first computing device being further configured to transmit, to the remote storage location, a request to receive the first data item;

and

receive the first data item from the remote storage location.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein determining that the application has permission to access the first data item includes determining whether an identifier associated with the first data item matches an identifier associated with the application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the notification is received from another computing device associated with the user account.

19. A computer program product, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions that when executed on a first computing device cause the first computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

receiving a notification that data items satisfying the running query are available at a remote storage location, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application, and the data items satisfying the running query having been contributed by a second computing device associated with the user account;

based on the notification, determining that the application has permission to access a first data item of the data items satisfying the running query, according to one or more application specific access policies;

determining that the application does not have permission to access a second data item of the data items satisfying the running query;

presenting the first data item satisfying the running query to the application; and

withholding presentation of the second data item to the application.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, the operations comprising transmitting, to the remote storage location, a request to receive the first data item;

and

receiving the first data item from the remote storage location.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein determining that the application has permission to access the first data item includes determining whether an identifier associated with the first data item matches an identifier associated with the application.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

24. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein determining the data items is in response to receiving a notification of a data item from another computing device associated with the user account.

25. A computer program product, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions that when executed on a first computing device cause the first computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a data item from a first computing device associated with a user account, the data item associated with an application running on the first computing device;

determining a container for storing the data item, the container being specific to the user account associated with the first computing device, and specific to the application;

storing the data item in the container; and

sending a notification of the data item to one or more other devices associated with the user account, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the notification includes a corresponding application key of the application that generated the data item.

27. A system comprising:

a first computing device associated with a user account and configured to;

on a first computing device associated with a user account, receiving a running query from an application running on the first computing device;

receiving a notification that data items satisfying the running query are available at a remote storage location, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application, and the data items satisfying the running query having been contributed by a second computing device associated with the user account;

based on the notification, determining that the application has permission to access a first data item of the data items satisfying the running query, according to one or more application specific access policies;

determining that the application does not have permission to access a second data item of the data items satisfying the running query;

presenting the first data item satisfying the running query to the application; and

withholding presentation of the second data item to the application.

28. The system of claim 27, the first computing device being further configured to transmit, to the remote storage location, a request to receive the first data item;

and

receive the first data item from the remote storage location.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the running query remains active until the application has been disabled or deleted.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein determining that the application has permission to access the first data item includes determining whether an identifier associated with the first data item matches an identifier associated with the application.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the identifier associated with the application identifies a family of applications having shared access to data items associated with the identifier.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the notification is received from another computing device associated with the user account.

33. A system comprising:

a server system configured to;

receive a data item from a first computing device associated with a user account, the data item associated with an application running on the first computing device,

determine a container for storing the data item, the container being specific to the user account associated with the first computing device, and specific to the application,

store the data item in the container, and

send a notification of the data item to one or more other devices associated with the user account, the notification including an identifier that can be used to identify a corresponding application that created the respective data item and to identify particular access permissions of that application.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the notification includes a corresponding application key of the application that generated the data item.