Application-specific file type generation and use

• US 9,195,840 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2012
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Day-Richter, John, Cairns, Brian Lewis
• Primary Examiner(s): HUANG, MIRANDA M
• Application Number:
  US13/453,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20130282752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,310 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules

Abstract

Techniques are described for facilitating file access control of a storage service. In response to a third-party application requesting access to a user'"'"'s file, the service extracts an application-specific ID from a file type associated with the retrieved file; and grants access to the requested file in response to a determination that an application-specific ID for the third-party application matches an application-specific ID extracted from the file. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method that facilitates file access control of a network storage service, the method comprising:

providing, on a network storage service, a third-party application database comprising a plurality of descriptions of third-party software applications configured to access files on the network storage service, wherein each respective third-party software application description;

is registered by a respective third-party application developer, and

includes application title, client ID, supported MIME types, and a unique application-specific ID,

wherein the client ID included in each third-party software application description is;

only known to the respective third-party application developer and a query processing component of the network storage service, and

accessible by the third-party software application and the third-party application database;

providing, on the network storage service, a user data store comprising files associated with users, each file within the user data store having an associated MIME type comprising an application-specific ID corresponding to an application which created the file, and a file identifier;

receiving a file access request at the network storage service over a communication network from a third-party software application operating on a computing device, the file access request including a client ID for the third-party software application and a file identifier for a specific file;

performing a query, by the query processing component, based on the file access request, in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions based on the received client ID included in the file access request;

determining a first application-specific ID for the selected third-party software application description;

locating a file from the user data store having a file identifier that matches the received file identifier included in the file access request;

extracting a second application-specific ID from a MIME type associated with the located file; and

granting access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID associated with the selected third-party software application description matches the second application-specific ID from the MIME type associated with the located file.

2. The method according to claim 1 and further comprising denying access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID for the third-party software application does not match the second application-specific ID for the requested specific file.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the granting includes granting read-only access rights to the requested specific file to the third-party software application.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the granting includes granting modify access rights to the requested specific file to the third-party software application.

5. The method according to claim 1 and further comprising:

receiving a file creation request at the storage service over the communication network from the third-party software application operating on the computing device, the file creation request including a second client ID for the third-party software application and MIME type for the file to be created, wherein;

the MIME type comprises a third application-specific ID, and

the second client ID for the third-party software application is available only to the third-party software application and the query processing component of the network storage service;

determining a fourth application-specific ID for the third-party software application by performing a query in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions that included the received client ID included in the file creation request; and

granting permission to create a file to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the fourth application-specific ID for the third-party software application matches the third application-specific ID contained in the MIME type from the file creation request.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations that facilitate file access control of a network based file storage service, the operations comprising:

providing, on a network storage service, a third-party application database having a plurality of descriptions of third-party software applications configured to access files on the network storage service, wherein each respective third-party software application description;

is registered by a respective third-party application developer, and

includes application title, client ID, supported MIME types, a unique application-specific ID,

wherein the client ID included in each third-party software application description is;

only known to the respective third-party application developer and a query processing component of the network storage service, and

accessible by the third-party software application and the third-party application database;

providing, on the network storage service, a user data store comprising files associated with users, each file within the user data store having an associated MIME type containing an application-specific ID corresponding to an application which created the file, and a file identifier;

receiving a file access request at the network storage service over a communication network from a third-party software application operating on a computing device, the file access request including a client ID for the third-party software application and a file identifier for a specific file;

performing a query, by the query processing component, based on the file access request, in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions that includes the received client ID included in the file access request;

determining a first application-specific ID for the selected third-party software application description;

retrieving a file from the user data store having a file identifier that matches the received file identifier included in the file access request;

extracting a second application-specific ID from a MIME type associated with the retrieved file; and

granting access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID associated with the selected third-party software application description matches the second application-specific ID from the MIME type associated with the retrieved file.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable media according to claim 6 wherein extracting an application-specific ID from the retrieved file comprises extracting an application-specific ID from the MIME type in the retrieved file.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable media according to claim 6, the operations further comprising denying access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID for the third-party software application does not match the second application-specific ID for the requested specific file.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable media according to claim 6 wherein the granting includes granting read-only access rights to the requested specific file to the third-party software application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable media according to claim 6 wherein the granting includes granting modify access rights to the requested specific file to the third-party software application.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable media according to claim 6, the operations further comprising:

receiving a file creation request at the storage service over the communication network from the third-party software application operating on the computing device, the file creation request including a second client ID for the third-party software application and MIME type for the file to be created, wherein;

the MIME type comprises a third application-specific ID, and

the second client ID for the third-party software application is available only to the third-party software application and the query processing component of the network storage service;

determining a fourth application-specific ID for the third-party software application by performing a query in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions that included the received client ID included in the file creation request; and

granting permission to create a file to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the fourth application-specific ID for the third-party software application matches the third application-specific ID contained in the MIME type from the file creation request.

12. A storage system providing file access control service, comprising:

a computer-implemented server operatively coupled to a communication network;

a third-party application database comprising a plurality of descriptions of third-party software applications configured to access files on the storage service, wherein each respective third-party software application description;

is registered by a respective third-party application developer, and

includes application title, client ID, supported MIME types, a unique application-specific ID,

wherein the client ID included in each third-party software application description is;

only known to the respective third-party application developer and a query processing component of the network storage service, and

accessible by the third-party software application and the third-party application database;

a user data store comprising files associated with users, each file within the user data store having an associated MIME type containing an application-specific ID corresponding to an application which created the file, and a file identifier;

an application ID checker operative to receive a file access request at the storage service over the communication network from a third-party software application operating on a computing device, the file access request including a client ID for the third-party software application and a file identifier for a specific file, the application ID checker also operatively configured to perform a query, by the query processing component, in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions based on the client ID included in the file access request, and determine a first application specific ID for the selected third-party application description;

a MIME type extractor operative to also receive the file access request and locate a file from the user data store having a file identifier that matches the received file identifier included in the file access request, the MIME type extractor also operatively configured to extract a second application-specific ID from a MIME type associated with the located file; and

file access controller operative to grant access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID for the third-party software application associated with the selected third-party software application description matches the second application-specific ID from the MIME type associated with the located file.

13. The system according to claim 12 wherein the file access controller is operative to deny access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID for the third-party software application does not match the second application-specific ID for the located file.

14. The system according to claim 12 wherein the file access controller operative to grant access to the requested specific file is operative to grant, to the third-party software application, read-only access rights to the requested specific file.

15. The system according to claim 12 wherein the file access controller operative to grant access to the requested specific file is operative to grant, to the third-party software application, modify access rights to the requested specific file.

16. The system according to claim 12 and further operative to receive a file creation request over the communication network from the third-party software application, the file creation request including a client ID for the third-party software application and MIME type for the file to be created, the MIME type containing a third application-specific ID, wherein the client ID for the third-party software application is available only to the third-party software application and the network storage service;

the application ID checker being further operative to determine a fourth application-specific ID for the third-party software application by performing a query in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions that includes the received client ID included in the file creation request; and

file access controller being operative to grant permission to create a file to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the third application-specific ID for the third-party software application matches the fourth application-specific ID contained in the MIME type from the file creation request.

17. A method of file access control of a network storage service, the method comprising:

providing, on the network storage service, a third-party application database comprising a plurality of descriptions of third-party software applications configured to access files on the network storage service, wherein each respective third-party software application description;

is registered by a respective third-party application developer, and

includes application title, client ID, supported MIME types, and a unique application-specific ID,

wherein the client ID included in each third-party software application description is;

only known to the respective third-party application developer and a query processing component of network storage service, and

accessible by the third-party software application and the network storage service;

providing, on the network storage service, a user data store comprising files associated with users, each file within the user data store having an associated MIME type string containing an application-specific ID corresponding to an application which created the file, and a file identifier;

receiving a file access request at the network storage service over a communication network from a third-party software application operating on a computing device, the file access request including a client ID for the third-party software application and a file identifier for a specific file;

performing a query, by the query processing component, based on the file access request, in the third-party software application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions based on the received client ID included in the file access request;

determining a first application-specific ID for the selected third-party software application description;

extracting a second application-specific ID from a MIME type string associated with a file in the user data store having a file identifier that matches the received file identifier from the file access request; and

granting access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID associated with the selected third-party software application description matches the second application-specific ID from the MIME type string associated with the file in the user data store having the file identifier that matches the received file identifier from the file access request.

18. The method according to claim 17 and further comprising denying access to the requested specific file in the user data store to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the first application-specific ID for the third-party software application does not match the second application-specific ID associated with the file in the user data store having the file identifier that matches the received file identifier from the file access request.

19. The method according to claim 17 wherein the granting includes granting read-only access rights to the requested specific file to the third-party software application.

20. The method according to claim 17 wherein the granting includes granting modify access rights to the requested specific file to the third-party software application.

21. The method according to claim 17 wherein extracting an application-specific ID from the requested specific file comprises extracting an application-specific ID from the MIME type in the requested specific file.

22. The method according to claim 17 and further comprising:

receiving a file creation request at the storage service over the communication network from the third-party software application operating on the computing device, the file creation request including a second client ID for the third-party software application and MIME type string for the to be created, wherein;

the MIME type string comprises a third application-specific ID, and

the second client ID for the third-party software application is available only to the third-party software application and the query processing component of the network storage service;

determining a fourth application-specific ID for the third-party software application by performing a query in the third-party application database to select a particular third-party software application description from the plurality of descriptions that included the received client ID included in the file creation request; and

granting permission to create a file to the third-party software application in response to a determination that the third second application-specific ID for the third-party software application matches the fourth application-specific ID contained in the MIME type string from the file creation request.