Method for displaying files from a plurality of devices in a multi-view interface and for enabling operations to be performed on such files through such interface

• US 9,032,295 B1
• Filed: 03/19/2008
• Issued: 05/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Patel, Vivek, Thomas, Gibu, Dixon, Mark C., Chordia, Ashish, Gabriel, Nichole C.
• Primary Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US12/077,533
• Time in Patent Office: 2,610 Days
• Field of Search: 715/717, 715/718, 715/734
• US Class Current: 715/717
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/07 Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

In a synchronization or back-up system that synchronizes and/or back-ups files from multiple computing devices, the present invention provides a method for (1) displaying files from multiple computing devices in a multi-view user interface and (2) enabling content and file operations to be performed on such files through the user interface. The multi-view interface includes a file-system view and one or more media-specific views. In the file-system view files are organized in the same way in which they are organized on the devices on which they are stored. The file-system view in the interface looks essentially the same as the file-system view on client devices. In the file-system view, users can perform file operations on files. In the media-specific view files are organized by media category. In one embodiment of the media-specific view, files are organized by metadata that relates to the files content. In the media-specific view, users can perform content operations on the files.

Claims

1. A method for displaying files from a plurality of devices in a multi-view interface and for enabling operations to be performed on such files through such interface, the method comprising:

providing an interface having a view window, wherein, within the view window, a user is able to view, at the user'"'"'s discretion, either a media-specific view or one of a plurality of file-system views, wherein each file-system view corresponds to a local file-system view on a different one of the plurality of devices and files within each file-system view are organized in the same way as files are organized in the corresponding local file-system view, wherein the media-specific view is a compilation view of all files from the plurality of devices that are designated with a particular media category, and wherein a user may view and edit files on one or more devices corresponding to the selected view in the view window;

enabling a user to perform file operations in each of the file-system views in the interface, wherein file operations include deleting files from folders, copying files in folders, and pasting files to folders and wherein performing a file-system operation in a file-system view in the interface causes the file-system on the device to which the file-system view corresponds to be altered in accordance with the performed file-system operation and wherein the changes are also propagated to other devices having synchronized copies of the affected files;

enabling a user to perform content-specific operations to be performed in a media-specific view in the interface; and

enabling a user to switch between the file-system and media-specific views, and switching automatically from the media-specific view to the file-system view responsive to a file system operation performed in the media-specific view.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface is a web interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the media-specific view is one of the following:

a photo view in which photo files are displayed, a music view in which music files are displayed, a video view in which video files are displayed, and a document view in which document files are displayed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a user also can view and edit data objects through the interface and the media-specific view corresponds to a type of data object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein data objects include email messages.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein data objects include contacts.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein data objects include calendar items.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein in the interface, the user is able to select a media-specific view to see in the view window from one of a plurality of media-specific views available for view in the view window.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of media-specific views include a photo view, a music view, a video view, and a documents view.

10. A method for viewing files from a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

storing by a server files from a user'"'"'s plurality of devices;

providing an interface to the server via which the user is able to view the stored files, wherein the interface has a view window and, within the view window, the user is able to view, at the user'"'"'s discretion, either a media-specific view or one of a plurality of file-system views, wherein each file-system view corresponds to a local file-system view on a different one of the plurality of devices and files within each file-system view are organized in the same way as files are organized in the corresponding local file-system view, and wherein the media-specific view is a compilation view of all the stored files that are designated with a particular media category;

enabling the user to perform file operations in each of the file-system views in the interface, wherein file operations include deleting files from folders, copying files in folders, and pasting files to folders and wherein performing a file-system operation in a file-system view in the interface causes the file-system on the device to which the file-system view corresponds to be altered in accordance with the performed file-system operation;

enabling the user to perform content-specific operations in the media-specific view in the interface; and

enabling a user to switch between the file-system and media-specific views in the view window, and switching automatically from the media-specific view to the file-system view responsive to a file system operation performed in the media-specific view.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the interface is a web interface.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the media-specific view is a photo view in which a compilation of all the stored files designated as photos are displayed.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the media-specific view is a music view in which a compilation of all the stored files designated as music files are displayed.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the media-specific view is a video view in which a compilation of all the stored files designated as video files are displayed.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the media-specific view is a document view in which a compilation of all the stored files designated as documents are displayed.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein a user also can view and edit data objects through the interface and the media-specific view corresponds to a type of data object.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein data objects include email messages.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein data objects include contacts.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein data objects include calendar items.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein in the interface, the user is able to select a media-specific view to see in the view window from one of a plurality of media-specific views available for view in the view window.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of media-specific views include a photo view, a music view, a video view, and a documents view.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein one or more of the stored files are synchronized across two or more of the plurality of devices and, in response to a user making a change, via the interface, to a synchronized file, propagating the change to all the user'"'"'s devices having the synchronized file.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein the stored files are organized into folders and wherein one or more folders are synchronized across two or more of the plurality of devices, and in response to a user making a change, via the interface, to a synchronized folder or to a file within the synchronized folder, propagating the change to all the devices having the synchronized folder.

24. A computer program embodied on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and comprising code that when executed by a computer system, enables the computer system to perform the following method for viewing files from a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

storing by a server files from a user'"'"'s plurality of devices;

providing an interface to the server via which the user is able to view the stored files, wherein the interface has a view window and, within the view window, the user is able to view, at the user'"'"'s discretion, either a media-specific view or one of a plurality of file-system views, wherein each file-system view corresponds to a local file-system view on a different one of the plurality of devices and files within each file-system view are organized in the same way as files are organized in the corresponding local file-system view, and wherein the media-specific view is a compilation view of all the stored files that are designated with a particular media category;

enabling the user to perform file operations in each of the file-system views in the interface, wherein file operations include deleting files from folders, copying files in folders, and pasting files to folders and wherein performing a file-system operation in a file-system view in the interface causes the file-system on the device to which the file-system view corresponds to be altered in accordance with the performed file-system operation;

enabling the user to perform content-specific operations in the media-specific view in the interface; and

enabling a user to switch between the file-system and media-specific views in the view window, and switching automatically from the media-specific view to the file-system view responsive to a file system operation performed in the media-specific view.