Implementing a consistent ordering of operations in collaborative editing of shared content items

• US 9,747,582 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Hunter, Rian, Zhai, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Mundur, Padma
• Application Number:
  US13/795,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20140280463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for ordering editing operations in collaborative editing of shared content items. The content management system can receive an edit operation from a first client for a content item that is shared for collaborative editing between the first client and a second client. In response to receiving the operation, the system can send an update to the first client including a previous operation received from the second client prior to receiving the operation from the first client, wherein the update can instruct the first client to perform a transform operation to transform a parameter of the operation according to an effect of the previous operation received from the second client. The system can then receive a result of the transform operation from the first client and update the shared content item based on the previous operation and the result of the transform operation.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving at a server of a synchronized content management system, edit operations from a plurality of clients, the edit operations comprising collaborative edits of a shared content item, the edit operations applying to the shared content item that is shared for concurrent collaborative editing between the plurality of clients including at least a first client and a second client, the edit operations having a corresponding position and a unique identifier associated with each edit operation, wherein a native application provides the plurality of clients with an interface for concurrent viewing and editing the shared content item, and wherein the synchronized content management system synchronizes changes to content items in a local folder on each of the plurality of clients and each of the plurality of clients queues changes to the content items for subsequent synchronization when network connectivity with the server is unavailable;

based on an ordered list of edit operations received concurrently from at least the first client and the second client of the plurality of clients, at the server of the synchronized content management system, generating updates to the plurality of clients, wherein the updates instruct the plurality of clients to perform respective transform operations;

wherein generating the updates to the plurality of clients based on receiving the edit operations from the first client concurrently with the second client at the server of the synchronized content management system, further comprises;

receiving, at the server of the synchronized content management system, data describing an edit operation from the first client, the edit operation applying to the shared content item that is shared for concurrent collaborative editing between the plurality of clients;

receiving, at the server of the synchronized content management system, data describing an edit operation occurring within the native application from the second client, the edit operation applying to the shared content item and having a corresponding position, the edit operation received from the second client is received concurrent with the edit operation from the first client and-prior to sending the edit operation from the first client to the second client;

adjusting, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the edit operation from the second client and assigning a new position to the edit operation from the second client;

sending, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the edit operation from the first client to the second client along with instructions to update the position for the edit operation from the second client and instructions to perform the respective transform operations based on the adjustment;

sending, via the server of the synchronized content management system, an update of the edit operation from the second client for insertion at the updated position to the first client and instructions to perform the respective transform operations based on the insertion; and

updating, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item based on the edit operations and updates sent to the first client and the second client, wherein at the end of the updating, the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item of the synchronized content management system matches the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item maintained by each of the first client, the second client, and the server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared content item is shared for real-time editing between the first client and the second client.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein editing includes at least the ability to perform an action and reversing the action.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronized content management system stores the ordered list of the edit operations received from the first client and the second client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronized content management system stores the ordered list of the edit operations received from the first client and the second client, and wherein the synchronized content management system uses the ordered list of the edit operations to determine when a received operation must be transformed according to a respective transform operation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronized content management system assigns the unique identifiers to the edit operations to define an ordering of the edit operations based on when an edit operation is received at the synchronized content management system in relation to other edit operations.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving results of the respective transform operations; and

updating the shared content item based on the results of the respective transform operations.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

editing, via the native application on the first client, a first copy of the shared content item stored at a first client device and via the native application on a second client device, a second copy of the shared content item stored at the second client device.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a synchronized content management system and having stored therein processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to;

receive at a server of the synchronized content management system, edit operations from a plurality of clients, the edit operations comprising collaborative edits of a shared content item, the edit operations applying to the shared content item that is shared for concurrent, collaborative editing between the plurality of clients including at least a first client and a second client, and wherein the synchronized content management system synchronizes changes to content items in a local folder on each of the plurality of clients and each of the plurality of client queues changes to the content items for subsequent synchronization when network connectivity with the server is unavailable;

based on an ordered list of edit operations received concurrently from at least the first client and the second client of the plurality of clients, at the server of the synchronized content management system, generate updates to the plurality of clients, wherein the updates instruct the plurality of clients to perform respective transform operations;

wherein generating the updates to the plurality of clients based on receiving the edit operations from the first client concurrently with the second client at the server of the synchronized content management system, further comprises;

receiving, via the server of the synchronized content management system, data describing an edit operation from the first client, the edit operation applying to the shared content item that is shared for concurrent, collaborative editing between the plurality of clients, the edit operation having a corresponding position and a unique identifier associated with each edit operation, wherein a native application provides the plurality of clients with an interface for concurrent viewing and editing the shared content item;

receiving, via the server of the synchronized content management system, data describing an edit operation occurring within the native application from the second client, the edit operation applying to the shared content item, and having a corresponding position, the edit operation received from the second client is received concurrent with the edit operation from the first client and prior to sending the edit operation from the first client to the second client;

adjusting, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the edit operation from the second client and assigning a new position to the edit operation from the second client;

sending, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the edit operation from the first client to the second client along with instructions to update the position for the edit operation from the second client and instructions to perform the respective transform operations based on the adjustment;

sending, via the server of the synchronized content management system, an update of the edit operation from the second client for insertion at the updated position to the first client and instructions to perform the respective transform operations based on the insertion;

updating, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item based on the edit operations and updates sent to the first client and the second client, wherein at the end of the updating the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item of the synchronized content management system matches the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item maintained by each of the first client, the second client, and the server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the shared content item is shared for real-time editing between the first client and the second client, wherein editing includes at least the ability to perform an action and reversing the action.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the synchronized content management system stores the ordered list of the edit operations received from the first and the second client.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the synchronized content management system stores the ordered list of the edit operations received from the first and the second client, and wherein the processor uses the ordered list of the edit operations to determine when a received edit operation must be transformed according to a respective transform operation.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor assigns the unique identifiers to the edit operations to define an ordering of the edit operations based on when an edit operation is received at the server in relation to other edit operations.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a synchronized content management system and having stored therein processor-executable instructions for causing a processor to:

receive at a server of the synchronized content management system, edit operations from a plurality of clients, the edit operations comprising collaborative edits of a shared content item, the edit operations applying to the shared content item that is shared for concurrent collaborative editing between the plurality of clients including at least a first client and a second client, wherein a native application provides the plurality of clients with an interface for concurrent viewing and editing the shared content item, and wherein the synchronized content management system synchronizes changes to content items in a local folder on each of the plurality of clients and each of the plurality of clients queues changes to the content items for subsequent synchronization when network connectivity with the server is unavailable;

based on an ordered list of edit operations received concurrently from at least the first client and the second client of the plurality of clients, at the server of the synchronized content management system, generate updates to the plurality of clients, wherein the updates instruct the plurality of clients to perform respective transform operations;

wherein generating the updates to the plurality of clients based on receiving the edit operations from the first client concurrently with the second client at the server of the synchronized content management system, further comprises;

receiving, via the server of the synchronized content management system, data describing an edit operation from the first client, the edit operation applying to the shared content item that is shared for concurrent, collaborative editing between the plurality of clients, the edit operation having a corresponding position and a unique identifier associated with each edit operation, wherein the native application provides the plurality of clients with an interface for concurrent viewing and editing the shared content item;

receiving, via the server of the synchronized content management system, data describing an edit operation occurring within the native application from the second client, the edit operation applying to the shared content item, and having a corresponding position, the edit operation received from the second client is received concurrent with the edit operation from the first client and prior to sending the edit operation from the first client to the second client;

adjusting, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the edit operation from the second client and assigning a new position to the edit operation from the second client;

sending, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the edit operation from the first client to the second client along with instructions to update the position for the edit operation from the second client and instructions to perform the respective transform operations based on the adjustment;

sending, via the server of the synchronized content management system, an update of the edit operation from the second client for insertion at the updated position to the first client and instructions to perform the respective transform operations based on the insertion; and

updating, via the server of the synchronized content management system, the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item based on the edit operations and updates sent to the first client and the second client,

wherein at the end of the updating the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item of the synchronized content management system matches the ordered list of edit operations for the shared content item maintained by each of the first client, the second client, and the server.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the shared content item is shared for real-time editing between the first client and the second client, wherein editing includes at least the ability to perform an action and reversing the action.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the synchronized content management system to store the ordered list of the edit operations received from the first and the second client.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the synchronized content management system to store the ordered list of the edit operations received from the first and the second client, and wherein the processor uses the ordered list of the edit operations to determine when a received edit operation must be transformed according to a respective transform operation.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to assign the unique identifiers to the edit operations to define an ordering of the edit operations based on when an edit operation is received at the server in relation to other edit operations.