File resharing management

• US 9,507,793 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zurko, Mary Ellen, Toth, David J., Seshasai, Satwiksai, De Saint-Aignan, Charles P., Paul, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, SHEW FEN
• Application Number:
  US12/569,809
• Publication Number:
  US 20110078197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,618 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

Managing file distribution in an online file sharing system implemented by at least one server includes inviting a first entity to access a shared file hosted by the online file sharing system, and allowing the first entity to reshare the shared file through the online file sharing system with at least a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy stored by the online file sharing system.

Claims

1. A method for managing file distribution in an online file sharing system implemented by a server, the method comprising:

inviting a first entity to access a shared file hosted by said online file sharing system;

allowing said first entity to reshare said shared file through said online file sharing system with at least a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy indicated by a tag associated with said shared file, in which;

the resharing policy imposes a first degree of resharing permissions on members of a group while imposing a second degree of resharing permissions on members of a subset of said group; and

the resharing policy is based on attributes of said second entity;

determining whether the resharing policy indicated by the tag conflicts with another resharing policy;

allowing a user to determine which of the conflicting resharing policies take priority;

notifying an author of said shared file of said reshare of said shared file;

maintaining a record of attempts to reshare said file; and

presenting the user with a user interface, the user interface identifying;

files which the user has shared;

files that have been shared with the user;

which groups are associated with an organization and which users are within which groups; and

recent sharing activity associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy permits the resharing of at least one of:

read rights, write rights, and delete rights for said shared file.

3. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy is configured to limit resharing of said shared file according to at least one attribute associated with at least one of:

said first entity, said second entity, an author of said shared file, and said shared file itself.

4. The method of claim 3, in which said at least one attribute comprises metadata.

5. The method of claim 4, in which said metadata comprises a confidential tag associated with said shared file.

6. The method of claim 3, in which said at least one attribute identifies membership in a group recognized by said online file sharing system.

7. The method of claim 3, in which said at least one attribute comprises at least one of:

an identity of said first entity, an identity of said second entity, an identity of said author of said shared file, and an identity of said shared file.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising disallowing said first entity from resharing said shared file with said second entity only if said resharing policy explicitly disallows said first entity from resharing said shared file with said second entity.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising disallowing said first entity from resharing said shared file with said second entity if said resharing policy fails to allow said first entity to reshare said shared file with said second entity.

10. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy is configured to allow said second entity to view said shared file using only said online file sharing system.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing an administrator of said shared file in said online file sharing system to dynamically update said resharing policy.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a record in said online file sharing system of attempts to reshare said shared file and allowing an administrator of said shared file access to said record.

13. The method of claim 1, in which said resharing policy permits the resharing of at least one of write rights and delete rights for said shared file.

14. A server comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, having an online file sharing software stored thereon;

in which said online file sharing software is configured to cause said processor to, upon execution of said online file sharing software;

invite a first entity to access a shared file hosted by an online file sharing system;

allow said first entity to reshare said shared file through said online file sharing system with at least a second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy indicated by a tag associated with said shared file, in which;

the resharing policy imposes a first degree of resharing permissions on members of a group while imposing a second degree of resharing permissions on members of a subset of said group;

the resharing policy is based on attributes of said second entity; and

the resharing policy determines;

users that are allowed to reshare said shared file;

users that are allowed to receive a reshared file; and

shared files that are reshareable;

determine whether the resharing policy indicated by the tag conflicts with another resharing policy;

allow a user to determine which of the conflicting resharing policies take priority;

notify an author of said shared file of said reshare of said shared file; and

maintain a record of attempts to reshare said file; and

present the user with a user interface, the user interface identifying;

files which the user has shared;

files that have been shared with the user;

which groups are associated with an organization and which users are within which groups; and

recent sharing activity associated with the user.

15. The server of claim 14, in which said resharing policy is configured to limit resharing of said shared file according to at least one attribute associated with at least one of:

an identity of at least one of;

said first entity, said second entity, and an author of said shared file.

16. The server of claim 15, in which:

said at least one attribute identifies membership in a group recognized by said online file sharing system; and

said resharing policy is configured to generally impose a first degree of resharing permissions on members of said group while imposing a second degree of resharing permissions on members of a subset of said group recognized by said online file sharing system.

17. The server of claim 14, in which said resharing policy limits resharing of said shared file according to a security level assigned to the file.

18. The server of claim 14, wherein the resharing policy:

determines shared files that are reshareable based on a file type; and

is based on settings associated with an author of the shared file.

19. A computer program product for managing the resharing of artifacts, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable memory having computer readable code embodied therewith, said computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to invite a first entity to access a shared file hosted by an online file sharing system;

computer readable program code configured to allow said first entity to reshare said shared file through said online file sharing system with at least one second entity only to an extent permitted by a resharing policy indicated by a tag associated with said shared file, in which;

the resharing policy imposes a first degree of resharing permissions on members of a group while imposing a second degree of resharing permissions on members of a subset of said group;

the resharing policy is based on attributes of said second entity;

computer readable program code to determine whether the resharing policy indicated by the tag conflicts with another resharing policy;

computer readable program code to allow a user to determine which of the conflicting resharing policies take priority;

computer readable program code to notify an author of said shared file of said reshare of said shared file;

computer readable program code to maintain a record of attempts to reshare said file; and

computer readable program code to present the user with a user interface, the user interface identifying;

files which the user has shared;

files that have been shared with the user;

which groups are associated with an organization and which users are within which groups; and

recent sharing activity associated with the user.