Third-party indexable text

• US 9,262,420 B1
• Filed: 04/23/2012
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Schoeffler, Eric Benson, Lemonik, Micah, Procopio, Michael Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIM T
• Application Number:
  US13/453,209
• Time in Patent Office: 1,394 Days
• Field of Search: 707/741, 707/785
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/134 Distributed indices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/183 Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS network file access protocols H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Techniques are shown for enabling a network system to index data stored on a third-party server without having to access the raw data on the third-party server. Metadata consisting of one or more of indexable text or indexable html or some combination of indexable text and indexable html is associated with the data stored on a third-party server. An indexing utility processes the metadata at the network system from the third-party server and arranges the metadata on the network system in a manner that is searchable by searching functionality of the network system.

Claims

1. A network system that enables indexing of a user-accessible resource stored on a third-party server, the system comprising:

a data storage device configured to store indexable metadata, and

a processor in communication with the data storage device and configured to;

determine access control information for the user-accessible resource stored on the third-party server, wherein the user-accessible resource access control information has different permissions than access control information for the network system;

provide access to the user-accessible resource based on the user-accessible resource access control information;

communicate the access control information to the third-party server;

receive, from the third-party server, indexable metadata describing at least a portion of content of the user-accessible resource, wherein the content of the user-accessible resource is not searchable by a searching functionality of the processor;

set a threshold amount of indexable metadata to be accepted from the third-party server;

determine a received amount of indexable metadata from the third-party server;

compare the threshold amount to the received amount of metadata;

reject the indexable metadata if the received amount exceeds the threshold amount;

process the received indexable metadata if the indexable metadata is accepted; and

arrange the received indexable metadata on the data storage device in a manner that is searchable by the searching functionality of the processor.

2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the indexable metadata is associated with metadata access control information and wherein the metadata access control information has different permissions than the user-accessible resource access control information.

3. The network system according to claim 1, wherein:

the processor is further configured to record a relationship between the access control information and the user-accessible resource, the access control information comprising of a record that the user is on an access control list for the user-accessible resource, a record that a particular third-party application is on an access control list for the user-accessible resource, and a record that the user has installed a particular third-party application.

4. The network system according to claim 1, wherein:

the data storage device is further configured to store metadata associated with a file stored on the network system.

5. The network system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a local data storage device configured to store data created by the network system, wherein the local data storage device is separate from the data storage device.

6. The network system according to claim 5, wherein:

a plurality of third-party applications running on the one or more third-party servers store data in the third-party data storage, and

the processor is further configured to store, in the data storage device, indexable application metadata corresponding to data stored in the third-party data storage by an application in the plurality of third-party applications, wherein the indexable application metadata is generated by the application.

7. The network system according to claim 6, wherein:

the processor is further configured to replace indexable application metadata associated with an application in the plurality of third-party applications and stored on the metadata storage device with new indexable application metadata generated by the application.

8. The network system according to claim 6, wherein:

the processor is further configured to change the indexable application metadata stored in the metadata storage device in response to a change in the data stored by one of the plurality of third-party applications.

9. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the third party server is operated by a party that is different than a party that operates the data storage device and the processor, and the content of the user-accessible resource is not searchable by the searching functionality of the processor because the content of the user-accessible resource is in a format that is proprietary to the party that operates the third party server.

10. The network system according to claim 9, wherein the third party server generates the indexable metadata from the content of the user-accessible resource in response to determining that the content of the user-accessible resource is not searchable by the searching functionality of the processor.

11. A computer-implemented method of enabling an online storage system to index a user-accessible resource stored on a third-party server, the method comprising:

determining access control information for the user-accessible resource stored on the third-party server, wherein the user-accessible resource access control information has different permissions than access control information for the network system;

providing access to the user-accessible resource based on the access control information;

communicating the access control information to a third-party server;

receiving, from the third-party server, indexable metadata describing at least a portion of content of-the user-accessible resource, wherein the content of the user-accessible resource is not searchable by a searching functionality of the online storage system;

setting a threshold amount of indexable metadata to be accepted from the third-party server;

determining a received amount of indexable metadata from the third-party server;

comparing the threshold amount to the received amount of metadata;

rejecting the indexable metadata if the received amount exceeds the threshold amount; and

indexing and storing the received indexable metadata on the online storage system in a manner that is searchable by the searching functionality of the online storage system if the indexable metadata is accepted.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the determining access control information includes:

determining whether the user is on an access control list for the user-accessible resource;

determining whether a particular third-party application is on an access control list for the user-accessible resource; and

determining whether the user has installed a particular third-party application.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein:

the amount of metadata accepted from a third-party server is limited to 128 kilobytes of data.

14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, further comprising storing metadata associated with a file stored on the online storage system.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations that enable an online storage system to index user-accessible data stored on a third-party server, where the user-accessible data is not accessible to indexing functionalities of the online storage system, the operations comprising:

determining access control information for the user-accessible resource stored on the third-party server, wherein the user-accessible resource access control information has different permissions than access control information for the network system;

providing access to the user-accessible data based on the access control information;

communicating the access control information to a third-party server;

receiving, from the third-party server, indexable text or indexable html or some combination of indexable text and indexable html created by the third-party server describing at least a portion of content of the user-accessible data stored on the third-party server, wherein the content of the user-accessible resource is not searchable by a searching functionality of the online storage system;

setting a threshold amount of indexable text or indexable html to be accepted from the third-party server;

determining a received amount of indexable text or indexable html from the third-party server;

comparing the threshold amount to the received amount;

rejecting the indexable text or indexable html if the received amount exceeds the threshold amount;

combining the received indexable text, indexable html, or combination of indexable text and indexable html with the access control information as metadata associated with the user-accessible data if the indexable text or indexable html is accepted; and

indexing and storing the metadata on the online storage system in a manner that is searchable by the searching functionality of the online storage system.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 15, the determining operation including:

determining whether the user is on an access control list for the user-accessible data;

determining whether a particular third-party application is on an access control list for the user-accessible data; and

determining whether the user has installed a particular third-party application.