SOCIAL FILES

• US 20120143817A1
• Filed: 06/01/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Prabaker, Madhu, Johnson, James, Alfandary, Shai, Snell, Robert J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,498,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• 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 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media for creating and sharing social files in an on-demand database service environment. In one embodiment, a first document file is received at a computing device configured to provide on-demand computing services via a network. The first document file may be capable of being displayed on a display device. The first document file may be stored on a storage medium accessible via the network. The first document file may be designated as being associated with a social file. A reference to the social file may be stored as a first one of a plurality of feed items in a feed table in a database. The feed items may be capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first document file at a computing device configured to provide on-demand computing services via a network, the first document file capable of being displayed on a display device;

storing the first document file on a storage medium accessible via the network;

designating the first document file as being associated with a social file, the social file providing access to the first document file within a social network, the social file capable of being accessed by user accounts associated with the social network; and

storing a reference to the social file as a first one of a plurality of feed items in a feed table in a database, the feed items capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device.

2. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining that the first document file is not similar to an existing document file; and

creating the social file based on the first document file.

3. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

selecting a second document file stored on the storage medium; and

comparing the first document file with the second document file to identify one or more similarities between the first document file and the second document file.

4. The method recited in claim 3, the method further comprising:

identifying first metadata for the first document file; and

retrieving second metadata for the second document file, wherein the comparison comprises comparing at least a portion of the identified metadata with at least a portion of the retrieved metadata.

5. The method recited in claim 3, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the comparison of the first document file to the second document files, whether a portion of the first document file is identical to a portion of the second document file.

6. The method recited in claim 3, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the comparison of the first document file to the second document files, whether a portion of the first document file is similar but not identical to a portion of the second document file.

7. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a second document file at the computing device;

storing the second document file on the storage medium; and

designating the second document file as being associated with the social file, the social file providing access to the second document file via the social network.

8. The method recited in claim 7, wherein the first and second document files are each divided into a plurality of document file portions, the document file portions being capable of segmenting a visual display of the first and second document files.

9. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving an indication of a permission configuration at the computing device, the permission configuration specifying one or more user accounts permitted to access the social file; and

storing the permission configuration in the database.

10. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the database is a multitenant database accessible to a plurality of tenants.

11. A computing system comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to;

receive a first document file, the first document file capable of being displayed on a display device;

store the first document file on a storage medium accessible via the network;

designate the first document file as being associated with a social file, the social file providing access to the first document file within a social network, the social file capable of being accessed by user accounts associated with the social network; and

store a reference to the social file as a first one of a plurality of feed items in a feed table in a database, the feed items capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device.

12. The computing system recited in claim 11, the one or more computing devices further configured to:

determine that the first document file is not similar to an existing document file; and

create the social file based on the first document file.

13. The computing system recited in claim 11, the one or more computing devices further configured to:

select a second document file stored on the storage medium; and

compare the first document file with the second document file to identify one or more similarities between the first document file and the second document file.

14. The computing system recited in claim 13, the one or more computing devices further configured to:

identify first metadata for the first document file; and

retrieve second metadata for the second document file, wherein the comparison comprises comparing at least a portion of the identified metadata with at least a portion of the retrieved metadata.

15. The computing system recited in claim 13, the one or more computing devices further configured to:

determine, based on the comparison of the first document file to the second document file, whether a portion of the first document file is identical to a portion of the second document file.

16. The computing system recited in claim 13, the one or more computing devices further configured to:

determining, based on the comparison of the first document file to the second document file, whether a portion of the first document file is similar but not identical to a portion of the second document file.

17. The computing system recited in claim 11, the one or more computing devices further configured to:

receive a second document file at the computing device;

store the second document file on the storage medium; and

designate the second document file as being associated with the social file, the social file providing access to the second document file via the social network.

18. The computing system recited in claim 17, wherein the first and second document files are each divided into a plurality of document file portions, the document file portions being capable of segmenting a visual display of the first and second document files.

19. One or more computer readable media having instructions stored therein for performing a method, the method comprising:

receiving a first document file at a computing device configured to provide on-demand computing services via a network, the first document file capable of being displayed on a display device;

storing the first document file on a storage medium accessible via the network;

designating the first document file as being associated with a social file, the social file providing access to the first document file within a social network, the social file capable of being accessed by user accounts associated with the social network; and

storing a reference to the social file as a first one of a plurality of feed items in a feed table in a database, the feed items capable of being published in an information feed displayed on a display device.

20. The one or more computer readable media recited in claim 19, the method further comprising:

determining that the first document file is not similar to an existing document file; and

creating the social file based on the first document file.

21. The one or more computer readable media recited in claim 19, the method further comprising:

selecting a second document file stored on the storage medium; and

comparing the first document file with the second document file to identify one or more similarities between the first document file and the second document file.

22. The one or more computer readable media recited in claim 21, the method further comprising:

identifying first metadata for the first document file; and

retrieving second metadata for the second document file, wherein the comparison comprises comparing at least a portion of the identified metadata with at least a portion of the retrieved metadata.

23. The one or more computer readable media recited in claim 21, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the comparison of the first document file to the second document file, whether a portion of the first document file is identical to a portion of the second document file.

24. The one or more computer readable media recited in claim 21, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the comparison of the first document file to the second document file, whether a portion of the first document file is similar but not identical to a portion of the second document file.