Access policy based on collaboration participation

• US 9,432,372 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2010
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Anantharaman, Arun, Walling, Donald R. Jr., Rai, Shashi K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Song, Daeho
• Application Number:
  US12/695,856
• Publication Number:
  US 20130145284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,406 Days
• Field of Search: 715/753, 715/750, 715/741
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication

Abstract

According to example configurations as described herein, an on-line conference management application receives an indication of multiple participants that attend an on-line collaboration meeting. The conference management system stores identities of content shared amongst the multiple participants during the on-line collaboration meeting. Based on identities of the multiple participants and shared content, the conference management system generates an access policy. Subsequent to termination of the on-line collaboration meeting, the conference management system utilizes the access policy to prevent unauthorized access to the shared content. For example, the conference management system can receive a request from a user to access the shared content. The management system checks to determine whether the user was a participant at the on-line collaboration meeting. Responsive to detecting that the user attended the on-line collaboration meeting as specified by the access policy, the management system can provide access to the particular document to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of invitees to an online collaboration meeting, participants among the invitees who participated in the online collaboration meeting, and respective status information associated with each of the invitees, the status information including a type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee, wherein the type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee is one of a direct invite and a quest invite;

storing identities of items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting;

storing the status information associated with the participants among the invitees who participated in the on-line collaboration meeting, first status information indicating that a first participant of the participants is a direct invite among the invitees that was sent a link to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, and second status information indicating that a second participant of the participants is a quest invite among the invitees that was invited by the direct invite to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, wherein a privilege level for the second participant is lower than a privilege level for the first participant;

generating an access policy indicating the status information for each of the invitees, and identifying the items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting, the generating comprising specifying, in the access policy, respective privilege levels for each of the invitees, the privilege levels being based at least in part on the type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee and controlling access to the items of content during and after the on-line collaboration meeting; and

subsequent to termination of the on-line collaboration meeting, responsive to receiving a request from the first participant or the second participant to access an item of content shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

utilizing the access policy to determine whether the first participant or the second participant has a privilege level to access the item of content that was shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting;

in accordance with a privilege level for the first participant specified in the access policy, granting the first participant access to the item of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting; and

in accordance with a privilege level for the second participant specified in the access policy, denying the second participant access to the item of content.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein receiving a request from the invitee comprises receiving a request from a first invitee to access a particular document shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

and

wherein providing access comprises responsive to detecting, based on status information associated with the first invitee, that the first invitee is one of the participants who participated in the on-line collaboration meeting, providing access to the particular document to the first invitee in accordance with a privilege level for the first invitee specified in the access policy.

3. The method as in claim 2, wherein receiving a request from the invitee comprises receiving a request from a second invitee to access a particular document shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

and

wherein providing access comprises responsive to detecting, based on status information associated with the second invitee, that the second invitee is not one of the participants who participated in the on-line collaboration meeting, preventing the second invitee from accessing the particular document.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein generating the access policy occurs in response to termination of the on-line collaboration meeting.

5. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

initiating display of the on-line collaboration meeting to the participants for viewing, display of the on-line collaboration meeting including an identity of a document selected by a presenter of the on-line collaboration meeting, the presenter in the on-line collaboration meeting making the document available to the participants through the on-line collaboration meeting;

recording the on-line collaboration meeting;

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, receiving a request from a given participant of the participants to view the recording; and

in response to receiving the request, providing the given participant access to the recording in accordance with a privilege level for the given participant specified in the access policy.

6. The method as in claim 5, wherein providing access to the recording includes:

initiating playback of the recording at a client computer operated by the given participant, playback of the recording at the client computer including display of a viewing region on a display screen at the client computer, the viewing region allocated to display the identities of the items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting; and

in response to receiving a request from the given participant viewing the recording to retrieve a particular document listed in the viewing region, initiating distribution of the particular document to the given participant.

7. The method as in claim 6 further comprising:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, initiating distribution of a link to the participants, the link including an address from which to retrieve the recording of the on-line collaboration meeting.

8. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, initiating distribution of a link to the participants, the link including an address from which to retrieve a recording of the on-line collaboration meeting; and

in response to receiving a request from a given participant to access the recording of the on-line collaboration meeting via the link, verifying credentials of the given participant prior to distribution of the content to the given participant.

9. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, initiating distribution of a link to the participants, the link specifying the access policy and a location from which to retrieve the items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting.

10. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving input from a source scheduling the on-line collaboration meeting, the input specifying that the participants are able to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, the input specifying multiple different participant privilege levels to the items of content, the items of content presented in the on-line collaboration meeting, a first participant privilege level enabling at least one participant of the participants to retrieve and view the items of content, a second participant privilege level preventing at least one participant of the participants from retrieving and viewing the items of content.

11. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

during the on-line collaboration meeting, initiating display of the items of content to a particular participant of the participants; and

after the on-line collaboration meeting, utilizing the access policy to prevent distribution of the items of content to the particular participant.

12. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, receiving input from a host of the on-line collaboration meeting, the input indicating which of the invitees and which of the participants to provide access to the shared items of content; and

generating the access policy in accordance with the input.

13. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

applying the access policy to the items of content; and

providing access to the items of content based on application of the access policy.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for processing data information, that when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an indication of invitees to an online collaboration meeting, participants among the invitees who participated in the online collaboration meeting, and respective status information associated with each of the invitees, the status information including a type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee, wherein the type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee is one of a direct invite and a guest invite;

storing identities of items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting;

storing the status information associated with the participants among the invitees who participated in the on-line collaboration meeting, first status information indicating that a first participant of the participants is a direct invite among the invitees that was sent a link to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, and second status information indicating that a second participant of the participants is a guest invite among the invitees that was invited by the direct invite to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, wherein a privilege level for the second participant is lower than a privilege level for the first participant;

generating an access policy indicating the status information for each of the invitees, and identifying items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting, the generating comprising specifying, in the access policy, respective privilege levels for each of the invitees, the privilege levels being based at least in part on the type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee and controlling access to the items of content during and after the on-line collaboration meeting; and

subsequent to termination of the on-line collaboration meeting, responsive to receiving a request from the first participant or the second participant to access an item of content shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

utilizing the access policy to determine whether the first participant or the second participant has a privilege level to access the item of content that was shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting;

in accordance with a privilege level for the first participant specified in the access policy, granting the first participant access to the item of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting; and

in accordance with a privilege level for the second participant specified in the access policy, denying the second participant access to the item of content.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as in claim 14, wherein receiving a request from the invitee comprises receiving a request from a first invitee to access a particular document shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

and

wherein providing access comprises responsive to detecting, based on status information associated with the first invitee, that the first invitee is one of the participants who participated in the on-line collaboration meeting, providing access to the particular document to the first invitee.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as in claim 15, wherein receiving a request from the invitee comprises receiving a request from a second invitee to access a particular document shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

and

wherein providing access comprises responsive to detecting, based on status information associated with the second invitee, that the second invitee did not participate in the on-line collaboration meeting, preventing the second invitee from accessing the particular document.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

initiating display of the on-line collaboration meeting to the participants for viewing, display of the on-line collaboration meeting including an identity of a document selected by a presenter of the on-line collaboration meeting, the presenter in the on-line collaboration meeting making the document available to the participants through the on-line collaboration meeting;

recording the on-line collaboration meeting;

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, receiving a request from a given participant of the participants to view the recording; and

in response to receiving the request, providing the given participant access to the recording;

initiating playback of the recording at a client computer operated by the given participant, playback of the recording at the client computer including display of a viewing region on a display screen at the client computer, the viewing region allocated to display the identities of the items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting; and

in response to receiving a request from the given participant viewing the recording to retrieve a particular document listed in the viewing region, initiating distribution of the particular document to the given participant.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as in claim 17 further including instructions stored thereon that when carried out by the processing device enables operations of:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, initiating distribution of a link to the participants, the link including an address from which to retrieve the recording of the on-line collaboration meeting.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as in claim 14 further including instructions stored thereon that when carried out by the processing device enables operations of:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, initiating distribution of a link to the participants, the link specifying a location from which to retrieve the items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

receiving input from a source scheduling the on-line collaboration meeting, the input specifying that the participants are able to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, the input specifying multiple different participant privilege levels to the items of content, the items of content presented in the on-line collaboration meeting, a first participant privilege level enabling at least one participant of the participants to retrieve and view the items of content, a second participant privilege level preventing at least one participant of the participants from retrieving and viewing the items of content.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

subsequent to the on-line collaboration meeting, receiving input from a host of the on-line collaboration meeting, the input indicating which of the participants to provide access to the shared items of content; and

generating the access policy in accordance with the input.

22. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory unit that stores instructions associated with an application executed by the processor; and

an interconnect coupling the processor and the memory unit, enabling the computer system to execute the application and perform operations of;

receiving an indication of invitees to an online collaboration meeting, participants among the invitees who participated in the online collaboration meeting, and respective status information associated with each of the invitees, the status information including a type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee, wherein the type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee is one of a direct invite, and a guest invite;

storing identities of items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting;

storing the status information associated with the participants among the invitees who participated in the on-line collaboration meeting, first status information indicating that a first participant of the participants is a direct invite among the invitees that was sent a link to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, and second status information indicating that a second participant of the participants is a guest invite among the invitees that was invited by the direct invite to attend the on-line collaboration meeting, wherein a privilege level for the second participant is lower than a privilege level for the first participant;

generating an access policy indicating the status information for each of the invitees, and identifying the items of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting, the generating comprising specifying, in the access policy, respective privilege levels for each of the invitees, the privilege levels being based at least in part on the type of meeting invitation sent to each invitee and controlling access to the items of content during and after the on-line collaboration meeting; and

subsequent to termination of the on-line collaboration meeting, responsive to receiving a request from the first participant or the second participant to access an item of content shared during the on-line collaboration meeting;

utilizing the access policy to determine whether the first participant or the second participant has a privilege level to access the item of content that was shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting;

in accordance with a privilege level for the first participant specified in the access policy, granting the first participant access to the item of content shared amongst the participants during the on-line collaboration meeting; and

in accordance with a privilege level for the second participant specified in the access policy, denying the second participant access to the item of content.