Systems and methods for monitoring and applying statistical data related to shareable links associated with content items stored in an online content management service

• US 9,690,910 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2013
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Welinder, Nils Peter, Fushman, Ilya
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ashok
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jones, William B
• Application Number:
  US14/077,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20150135337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,324 Days
• Field of Search: 726 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1011 to devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Shareable links can be created to share content items and information pertaining to activity on those shareable links can be monitored and stored in an online content management service. Based on this activity information, actions can be executed. These actions can include sending notifications regarding link activity, disabling shareable links, and/or updating activity thresholds related to the shareable links. Using the activity information, popular shared content items can be identified and recommendations for sharing unshared content items can be provided to the user. Additionally, advertisements can be tailored to the relative popularity of the shared content items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by an online content management service computing system comprising one or more processors and memory, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first client device operated by a user, a request to create a shareable link for a content item, wherein the request includes a first activity threshold for controlling access to the content item using the shareable link and an indication that link activity is to be monitored;

wherein the first activity threshold comprises a first view count, the first view count representing a threshold number of times a request to access the shareable link is received by the online content management service computing system;

creating, by one or more processors, the shareable link for the content item;

storing the first activity threshold in association with the shareable link;

receiving, from a second client device, a request by a recipient of the shareable link to access the content item using the shareable link;

determining whether the first activity threshold has been met;

in response to determining that the first activity threshold has been met, executing a first action on the shareable link;

wherein the first action comprises sending a notification that the first activity threshold has been met;

receiving, from a third client device operated by a user, a request to change the first activity threshold associated with the shareable link to a second activity threshold;

wherein the second activity threshold comprises a second view count that is greater than the first view count;

storing the second activity threshold in association with the shareable link;

receiving, from a fourth client device, a request by a recipient of the shareable link to access the content item using the shareable link;

determining whether the second activity threshold has been met; and

in response to determining that the second activity threshold has been met, executing a second action on the shareable link;

wherein the second action comprises sending a notification that the second activity threshold has been met.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first activity threshold further includes a temporal restriction on using the shareable link to access the content item.

3. the method of claim 1, wherein the first activity threshold further includes a sharing limitation on using the shareable link to access the content item, and wherein the sharing limitation includes one or more internet protocol (IP) addresses for which to restrict access to the content item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the first action includes:

denying the request received from the second client device to access the content item using the shareable link; and

sending, to the first client device, a report that includes a description of activity received via the shareable link.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after receiving the request to access the content item from the second client device, sending a notification to the second client device indicating that the link activity is monitored, wherein the notification includes a first link confirming the request to access the content item and a second link canceling the request to access.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring requests received via the shareable link to collect link activity information; and

each time a request is received via the shareable link, sending a notification to the first client device, the notification indicating that the content item has been downloaded and the notification including link activity information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the link activity information includes an identifier associated with a user that downloaded the content item using the shareable link.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the link activity information includes a timestamp indicating when the content item was downloaded and includes a location corresponding to where the content item was downloaded using the shareable link.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring requests received via the shareable link to collect link activity information;

determining a number of times the content item has been downloaded using the shareable link;

comparing the number of times the content item has been downloaded to a threshold; and

sending a notification to the first client device including collected link activity information based on determining that the number of times the content item has been downloaded exceeds the threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating an entry corresponding to the shareable link in a share history data structure, wherein the share history data structure includes a timestamp field;

for each request received using the shareable link, adding, to the share history data structure, a timestamp entry corresponding to the request;

identifying a first group of requests wherein a difference between timestamps corresponding to consecutive requests in the first group of requests is less than a first value;

identifying a second group of requests wherein a difference between timestamps corresponding to consecutive requests in the second group of requests is less than a first value; and

wherein a difference between a timestamp corresponding to a last request in the first group of requests and a timestamp corresponding to a first request in the second group of requests is greater than a second value.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending a notification indicating that the second group of requests has been identified, wherein the notification includes an option to disable the shareable link.

12. A computer-implemented method performed by an online content management service computing system comprising one or more processors and memory, the method comprising:

receiving, from a client device operated by a user, a request to create a shareable link for a content item, wherein the request includes a first activity threshold for controlling access to the content item using the shareable link and an indication that link activity is to be monitored;

wherein the first activity threshold comprises a first view count;

creating, by one or more processors, the shareable link for the content item;

storing the first activity threshold in association with the shareable link;

receiving, from the client device, a request to send the shareable link to a plurality of recipients, wherein the request includes user identifiers associated with each of the plurality of recipients;

sending the shareable link to the plurality of recipients using the user identifiers;

determining whether any of the user identifiers are associated with user accounts;

sending notifications to client devices authorized on the user accounts;

based on whether the first activity threshold is met, permitting or denying access, by each of the plurality of recipients, to the content item using the shareable link;

receiving, from a client device operated by a user, a request to change the first activity threshold associated with the shareable link to a second activity threshold;

storing the second activity threshold in association with the shareable link;

wherein the second activity threshold comprises a second view count that is greater than the first view count; and

based on whether the second activity threshold is met, permitting or denying access, by each of the plurality of recipients, to the content item using the shareable link.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the notifications are sent to the client devices using an online content management service application.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the online content management service application includes one or more of a browser-based application, a desktop application, and a mobile application.

15. A system comprising:

an online content management service executing on at least one server including;

a computer readable medium, and

a processor; and

wherein the online content management service is configured to;

store a plurality of content items in a plurality of user accounts;

maintain a user share history associated with each of the plurality of user accounts;

create a shareable link for a content item stored in a user account in response to a request received from a first client device operated by a user, wherein the request includes a first activity threshold for controlling access to the content item using the shareable link and an indication that link activity is to be monitored;

wherein the first activity threshold comprises a first view count;

monitor activity received using the shareable link;

determine whether the first activity threshold has been met based on the monitored activity;

in response to determining that the first activity threshold has been met, execute a first action on the shareable link;

change the first activity threshold to a second activity threshold specified in a request received from a client device operated by a user;

monitor additional activity received using the shareable link;

determine whether the second activity threshold has been met based on the monitored additional activity; and

in response to determining that the second activity threshold has been met, executing a second action on the shareable link.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second activity threshold includes one or more of:

a second view count that is greater than the first view count;

a bandwidth limit;

a temporal restriction; and

a sharing limitation.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first action includes:

permitting or denying access to the content item;

sending a report to the client device that includes a description of activity received via the shareable link;

or

deactivating the shareable link.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the online content management service is further configured to:

receive a request to access the content item using the shareable link;

in response to the request, send a notification indicating that the link activity is monitored, wherein the notification includes a first link confirming the request to access the content item and a second link canceling the request.