Method and apparatus for synchronization of items with read-only permissions in a cloud-based environment

• US 10,235,383 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2013
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Dorman, Griffin
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta L
• Application Number:
  US14/135,311
• Publication Number:
  US 20140172799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,916 Days
• Field of Search: 707608, 707609, 707610, 707611, 707618, 707620, 707621, 707624, 707625, 707628, 707638, 707639, 707656, 707657, 707660, 707694, 707704, 705 51, 705 57, 715748, 715216, 715255, 715714, 715745, 715751, 709203, 713165, 726 2, 726 5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for enabling synchronization of items (e.g., folders or files) with read-only permissions in a cloud-based environment. In one embodiment, a method comprises, upon receiving a request from a collaborator to synchronize an item stored in the workspace, determining whether the item is marked as read-only and verifying if the collaborator has permission for downloading the item. The method further comprises, if the item is marked as read-only and if the collaborator has permission for downloading the item, sending the item to the collaborator. The method further comprises synchronizing the item by automatically pushing an updated version of the item unilaterally from the cloud-based environment to the collaborator regardless of whether the collaborator has performed any modification to the sent item. Among other advantages, embodiments disclosed herein provide capabilities to synchronize read-only files/folder in cloud-based platforms, especially where items are often opened/edited among the collaborators.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing an item stored in a workspace hosted by a cloud-based platform, the workspace being shared among a user and a collaborator of the user, the method comprising:

identifying, at a server associated with the cloud-based platform, an update to the item by a first collaborator in the workspace;

in response to identifying the update to the item, receiving an instruction to synchronize the item with a second collaborator;

determining whether, for the second collaborator, the item is read-only within a synchronization environment of the server and subject to modification locally at a device associated with a client application;

verifying, at the server, if the second collaborator has permission for downloading the item based on the second collaborator being a member of a class having permission to download items from the workspace;

upon determining that the item is marked as read-only for the second collaborator within the synchronization environment of the server associated with the workspace and the second collaborator has permission for downloading the item;

sending the updated item from the server to the client application of the second collaborator, wherein the item includes an attribute that indicates the item is read-only;

synchronizing the updated item unilaterally from the cloud-based platform to the client application of the second collaborator regardless of potential modifications of the item locally at the device of the second collaborator; and

upon determining that the second collaborator has been removed from the class having permission to download items from the workspace, sending from the server an instruction to the client application that causes the device associated with the client application of the second collaborator to delete the item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronizing is performed subsequent to the update to the item by the first collaborator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second collaborator includes one or more of:

a co-owner, an editor, a viewer-uploader, or a viewer of the item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is a folder in the workspace hosted by the cloud-based platform.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is a file in the workspace hosted by the cloud-based platform.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute corresponds to a label, an XML tag, or meta data associated with the item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the update to the item is one of multiple updates to the item that are intermittently spaced apart in time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the updated item unilaterally from the cloud-based platform to the client application of the second collaborator regardless of potential modifications of the item locally at the device of the second collaborator comprises pushing the updated item from the server to the device of the second collaborator without maintaining any modifications of the item locally.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the updated item unilaterally from the cloud-based platform to the client application of the second collaborator regardless of potential modifications of the item locally at the device of the second collaborator comprises renaming a modified local version of the item as a local copy and pushing the updated item from the server to the device of the second collaborator.

10. A method for synchronizing an item stored in a workspace hosted by a cloud-based platform via a client application of the platform, the workspace being shared among a user and a collaborator of the user, the method comprising:

receiving, at a client application of the collaborator, the item for synchronization with the platform;

determining whether, for the collaborator, the item includes a read-only attribute within a synchronization environment of the cloud-based platform and subject to modification locally at a device associated with the client application;

upon determining that the item includes the read-only attribute, preserving the read-only attribute;

selectively protecting the item by locking the item at the client application of the collaborator when the item is modified by the collaborator, wherein the selectively protecting prevents modification of the item by the collaborator; and

receiving, at the client application, an instruction from the cloud-based platform to delete the item, wherein the instruction is sent from the cloud-based platform to the client application based on the cloud-based platform determining the collaborator has been removed from a class of users having permission for downloading the item.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the locking is performed by utilizing an operating system (OS) hook that intercepts a function call that relates to modifying content of the item.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

marking the item locally as read-only if the item includes an attribute that indicates the item being read-only.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the selective protecting is performed in response to a type of action the collaborator attempts to perform on the item.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to modify the item;

renaming a modified version of the item as a copy; and

re-downloading the item from the workspace.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

marking the copy as a problem item.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to rename the item, renaming the item back to an original name of the item.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to move the item, moving the item back to an original location of the item.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

if the collaborator attempts to delete the item, re-downloading the item from the workspace.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to delete the item, moving the item back from a temporary delete storage to an original location of the item.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the item is a folder in the workspace, and wherein the selective protecting comprises:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to create a file in the folder, verifying whether the collaborator has permission to upload.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the selective protecting comprises:

upon determining that the collaborator does not have the permission to upload, marking the file as a problem item.

22. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

before the receiving, transmitting an instruction to the cloud-based platform to synchronize the item stored in the workspace.

23. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

upon receiving the instruction to delete the item, removing the item from all local storages.

24. A server for synchronizing an item stored in a workspace of a cloud-based platform, the workspace being shared among a user and a collaborator of the user, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

identify, at a server associated with the cloud-based platform, an update to an item by a first collaborator in the workspace;

receive an instruction to synchronize the item with a second collaborator;

determine whether, for the second collaborator, the item is read-only within a synchronization environment of the server and subject to modification locally at a device associated with a client application;

verify, at the server, if the second collaborator has permission for downloading the item based on the second collaborator being a member of a class having permission to download items from the workspace;

upon determining that the item is marked as read-only for the second collaborator within the synchronization environment of the server associated with the workspace and the second collaborator has the permission for downloading the item;

send the updated item from the server to the client application of the second collaborator, wherein the item includes an attribute that indicates the item is read-only;

synchronize the updated item unilaterally from the cloud-based platform to the client application of the second collaborator regardless of potential modifications of the item locally at the device of the second collaborator; and

upon determining that the second collaborator has been removed from the class having permission to download items from the workspace, sending from the cloud-based platform an instruction to the client application that causes the device associated with the client application of the second collaborator to delete the item.

25. The server of claim 24, wherein the synchronizing is performed subsequent to the update to the item by the first collaborator.

26. The server of claim 24, wherein the second collaborator includes one or more of:

a co-owner, an editor, a viewer-uploader, or a viewer of the item.

27. The server of claim 24, wherein the item is a folder in the workspace of the cloud-based platform.

28. The server of claim 24, wherein the item is a file in the workspace of the cloud-based platform.

29. A device for synchronizing an item stored in a workspace of a cloud-based platform, the workspace being shared among a user and a collaborator of the user, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive, at a client application of the collaborator, the item for synchronization with the platform;

determine whether, for the collaborator, the item includes a read-only attribute within a synchronization environment of the cloud-based platform and subject to modification locally at a device associated with the client application;

selectively protect the item by locking the item at the client of the collaborator when the item is modified by the collaborator, wherein the selectively protecting prevents modifications of the item by the collaborator; and

receive, at the client application, an instruction from the cloud-based platform to delete the item, wherein the instruction is sent from the cloud-based platform to the client application based on the cloud-based platform determining the collaborator has been removed from a class of users having permission for downloading the item.

30. The device of claim 29, wherein the locking is performed by utilizing an operating system (OS) hook that intercepts a function call relating to modifying content of the item.

31. The device of claim 29, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

mark the item locally as read-only if the item includes an attribute that indicates the item being read-only.

32. The device of claim 29, wherein the selective protecting is performed in response to a type of action the collaborator attempts to perform on the item.

33. The device of claim 32, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to modify the item;

rename a modified version of the item as a copy; and

re-download the item from the workspace.

34. The device of claim 33, wherein the processor is further caused to mark the copy as a problem item.

35. The device of claim 32, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

if the collaborator attempts to rename the item, rename the item back to its original name.

36. The device of claim 32, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to move the item, move the item back to an original location of the item.

37. The device of claim 32, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

if the collaborator attempts to delete the item, re-download the item from the workspace.

38. The device of claim 32, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to delete the item, move the item back from a temporary delete storage to an original location of the item.

39. The device of claim 32, wherein the item is a folder in the workspace, and wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

upon determining that the collaborator attempts to create a file in the folder, verify whether the collaborator has permission to upload.

40. The device of claim 39, wherein the processor in performing the selective protecting is further caused to:

upon determining that the collaborator does not have the permission to upload, mark the file as a problem item.

41. The device of claim 29, wherein the processor is further caused to:

before the receiving, transmit an instruction to the platform to synchronize the item stored in the workspace.

42. The device of claim 29, wherein the processor is further caused to:

upon receiving an instruction to delete the item, remove the item from all local storages.

43. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to:

identify, at a server associated with a cloud-based platform, an update to the item by a first collaborator in a workspace;

in response to identifying the update to the item, receive an instruction to synchronize the item stored in the workspace with a second collaborator;

determine whether, for the second collaborator, the item is read-only within a synchronization environment of the server and subject to modification locally at a device associated with a client application;

verify, at the server, if the second collaborator has permission for downloading the item based on the second collaborator being a member of a class having permission to download items from the workspace;

upon determining that the item is marked as read-only for the second collaborator within the synchronization environment of the server associated with the workspace and the second collaborator has the permission for downloading the item;

sending the item from the server to the client application of the second collaborator, wherein the item includes an attribute that indicates the item is read-only;

synchronizing the updated item unilaterally from the cloud-based platform to the client application of the second collaborator regardless of potential modifications of the item locally at the device of the second collaborator; and

upon determining that the second collaborator has been removed from the class having permission to download items from the workspace, sending from the server an instruction to the client application that causes the device associated with the client application of the second collaborator to delete the item.

44. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to:

receive, at a client application of a collaborator, an item for synchronization with a cloud-based platform, the item being stored in a workspace hosted by the cloud-based platform, the workspace being shared among a user and the collaborator;

determine whether, for the collaborator, the item includes a read-only attribute within a synchronization environment of the cloud-based platform and subject to modification locally at a device associated with the client application;

selectively protect the item by locking the item at the client application of the collaborator when the item is modified by the collaborator, wherein the selectively protecting prevents modification of the item by the collaborator; and

receive, at the client application, an instruction from the cloud-based platform to delete the item, wherein the instruction is sent from the cloud-based platform to the client application based on the cloud-based platform determining the collaborator has been removed from a class of users having permission for downloading the item.