Enriching contact data based on content sharing history in a content management system

• US 9,954,935 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2016
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Dwan, Michael, Levi, Alon
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Uzma
• Application Number:
  US15/253,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20160373518A1
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A content management system enriches contact records obtained from a client device using user records stored on the content management system. The content management system receives contact records from a client device authorized on a user account of the content management system. The content management system compares contact records with user profiles stored on the content management system. The content management system matches contact records with user profiles of user accounts with which at least one sharing event occurred between the user account and the user account on which the client device is authorized. The content management system identifies a matching user profile corresponding to the contact record. The content management system determines modification information for modifying the contact record based upon the matching user profile.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining, by a content management system, a share history, the share history storing sharing records of content items shared between user accounts;

receiving a contact list associated with a first user account, the contact list including a contact record;

identifying a second user account having a value of a field of a user profile of the second user account that matches a value of a field of the contact record;

responsive to identifying the second user account, identifying, by the content management system, from the share history, at least one sharing record of a content item shared between the first user account and the second user account;

determining, by the content management system, modification information for modifying at least one empty field of the contact record, the modification information comprising a value based on at least one non-empty field in the user profile;

modifying, by the content management system, the contact record based on the determined modification information; and

sending the modified contact record to a client device associated with the first user account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one empty field is identified by determining that the contact record does not contain a field matching the at least one non-empty field in the user profile.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the modified contact record to the client device comprises sending, to the client device, a new value for adding to the at least one empty field of the contact record.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the modified contact record to the client device comprises sending, to the client device, a modified contact record that contains at least one field having a new value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the value of the field of the user profile of the second user account that matches the value of the field of the contact record comprises:

comparing the field of the user profile of the second user account with the field of the contact record; and

responsive to determining that the field of the user profile matches the field of the contact record, determining that the user profile matches the contact record.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the modification information is performed responsive to determining that the second user account has authorized sharing user profile information with other users.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sharing record represents the first user account sharing a content item with the second user account.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sharing record represents the second user account sharing a content item with the first user account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact list associated with the first user account comprises importing the contact list from an external application that maintains the contact list independently of the content management system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the modification information to an application that maintains a contact list independently of the content management system.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a share history, the share history storing sharing records of content items shared between user accounts;

accessing a contact list associated with a first user account, the contact list including a contact record;

identifying from the share history, at least one sharing record of a content item shared between the first user account and a second user account;

determining modification information for modifying at least one empty field of the contact record, the modification information comprising a value based on at least one non-empty field in the user profile;

modifying, by the content management system, the contact record based on the determined modification information; and

providing the modified contact record.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the modified contact record is provided to a client device.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the modified contact record is provided to a client device comprises, sending to the client device, a new value for adding to the at least one empty field of the contact record.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the value of the field of the user profile of the second user account that matches the value of the field of the contact record comprises:

comparing the field of the user profile of the second user account with the field of the contact record; and

responsive to determining that the field of the user profile matches the field of the contact record, determining that the user profile matches the contact record.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein determining the modification information is performed responsive to determining that the second user account has authorized sharing the at least one field from the matching user profile with the first user account.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the sharing record represents one of, the first user account sharing a content item with the second user account or the second user account sharing content item with the first user account.

17. A computer system, comprising:

a memory and one or more processors implementing a content management system configured to;

maintain a share history storing sharing records of content items shared between user accounts;

receive a contact list associated with a first user account, the contact list including a contact record;

identify a value of a field of a user profile of a second user account that matches a value of a field of the contact record;

identify, from the share history, at least one sharing record of a content item shared between the first user account and the second user account;

determine modification information for A) adding at least one field that is not present in the contact record or B) modifying an empty field in the contact record, the modification information comprising a value based on at least one field with a value in the user profile;

modify the contact record using the modification information, and

sending the modification information to a client device associated with the first user account, wherein the contact record is updated on the client device based on the modification information.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein updating the contact record comprises modifying the at least one field that is not present in the contact record.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein identifying the value of the field of the user profile of the second user account that matches the value of the field of the contact record comprises:

comparing the field of the user profile of the second user with the field of the contact record; and

responsive to determining that the field of the user profile matches the field of the contact record, determining that the user profile matches the contact record.

20. The computer system of claim 17, wherein determining the modification information is performed responsive to determining that the second user account has authorized sharing the at least one field from the matching user profile with at least one other user.