Prioritizing structural operations and distributing changes in a synced online content management system

• US 10,348,821 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Hunter, Rian, Euresti, David, Smith, Brian, Chen, Alicia, Sydell, Alex, Motes, Aston, Tang, Jie
• Primary Examiner(s): Joo, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US13/724,747
• Publication Number:
  US 20140181213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,391 Days
• Field of Search: 709205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for prioritizing structural operations and distributing changes in a synced online content management system. An exemplary method can include receiving, from a first client device, a first structural operation for a particular content item and an account within the online content management system. The method can also include receiving, from a second client device, a competing structural operation for the particular content item and the account. The method can then include prioritizing the first structural operation from the first client device over the competing structural operation from the second client device based on predetermined factors. The method can then include executing the first structural operation for the particular content item and the account. The exemplary method can then include distributing the prioritized first structural operation to all synced devices for execution.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving at a synced online content management system, from a first client application associated with the synced online content management system on a first client device, a first structural operation for a particular content item associated with a first account within the synced online content management system, wherein the first client device created the particular content item and has a master access permission to the particular content item, and the first account shared the particular content item with a second account on a second client device using the first account granting the second account shared access permission;

receiving at the synced online content management system, from a second client application associated with the synced online content management system on the second client device, a competing structural operation for the particular content item associated with the second account;

prioritizing, by a processor of the synced online content management system, the first structural operation from the first client application over the competing structural operation from the second client application based on the master access permission of the first account, that the first account shared the particular content item, and on at least one predetermined factor that includes a detected device type of the first client device and a device type of the second client device or a detected higher level of authority for the first client device and a lower level of authority for the second client device; and

executing at the synced online content management system the prioritized structural operation for the particular content item.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first client device type is a desktop computer and the second client device type is a mobile device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item from the first account and the competing structural operation includes adding the particular content item to the second account.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item and adding a renamed copy of the particular content item to the first account.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item and adding an edited version of the particular content item to the first account.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising sending a command to the second client application to delete a local copy of the particular content item.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising, after executing the first structural operation, denying a request from a client device to add the particular content item to the second account.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

the particular content item is stored in memory together with an entry including identifying information and a key used to retrieve the particular content item from the memory; and

the first structural operation is a structural operation to delete the particular content item from the first account, deleting the particular content item by modifying the entry to reflect that the particular content item is no longer displayed as being within the first account when the first client application requests access to the particular content item, and the particular content item is deleted from memory associated with the second account.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

adding a modified version of the particular content item by creating a new entry to reflect that the modified version of the particular content item is displayed as being within the first account when the first client application accesses the account, and that the modified version of the particular content item is added to memory associated with the second account.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

creating the key, wherein creating the key includes determining a hash value for the content item and using the determined hash value as the key.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to:

receive at a synced online content management system, from a first client application associated with the synced online content management system on a first client device, a first structural operation for a particular content item and a first account within the synced online content management system, wherein the first client device created the particular content item and has a master access permission to the particular content item, and the first account shared the particular content item with a second user account on a second client device using the first account granting the second account shared access permission;

receive at the synced online content management system, from a second client application associated with the synced online content management system on the second client device, a competing structural operation for the particular content item associated with the second account;

prioritize the first structural operation from the first client application over the competing structural operation from the second client application based on the master access permission of the first account, that the first account shared the particular content item, and on at least one predetermined factor that includes a detected device type of the first client device and a device type of the second client device or a detected higher level of authority for the first client device and a lower level of authority for the second client device; and

execute at the synced online content management system the prioritized structural operation for the particular content item and the account.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first client device type is a desktop computer and the second client device type is a mobile device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item from the first account and the competing structural operation includes adding the particular content item to the second account.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item and adding a renamed copy of the particular content item to the first account.

15. A system comprising:

a processor; and

memory containing processor-executable structural operations that, when executed, cause the processor to;

receive at a synced online content management system, from a first client application associated with the synced online content management system on a first client device, a first structural operation for a particular content item and first account within the synced online content management system, wherein the first client device created the particular content item and has a master access permission to the particular content item, and the first account shared the particular content item with a second user account on a second client device using the first account granting the second account shared access permission;

receive at the synced online content management system, from a second client application associated with the synced online content management system on the second client device, a competing structural operation for the particular content item associated with the second account;

prioritize, by a processor at the synced online content management system, the first structural operation from the first client application over the competing structural operation from the second client application based on the master access permission of the first account, that the first account shared the particular content item, and on at least one predetermined factor, that includes a detected device type of the first client device and a device type of the second client device or a detected higher level of authority for the first client device; and

execute at the synced online content management system the prioritized structural operation for the particular content item and the account.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first client device type is a desktop computer and the second client device type is a mobile device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item from the first account and the competing structural operation includes adding the particular content item to the second account.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item and adding a renamed copy of the particular content item to the first account.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the first structural operation includes deleting the particular content item and adding an edited version of the particular file to the first account.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising sending a command to the second client application to delete a local copy of the particular content item.

21. The system of claim 19, further comprising, after executing the first structural operation, denying a request from the first client application to add the particular content item to the first account.