System and method for importing and merging content items from different sources

• US 9,325,709 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Beckmann, Chris, Balakrishnan, Ramesh, Nayak, Rajeev, Wei, Yi
• Primary Examiner(s): Zecher, Dede
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHIANG, JASON
• Application Number:
  US13/725,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20140181935A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,222 Days
• Field of Search: 726/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/119 Details of migration of file systems migration mechanisms in storage systems G06F3/0647
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for importing and merging photos from different sources are disclosed. The system receives credentials from a user, who has an account with a content management system. The credentials are associated with content item storage entities such as photo repositories. The system accesses the photo repositories, using the plurality of credentials if authorization is required for data access. The system identifies source photo data in each of the photo repositories, and duplicates the source photo data in the content management system account to create consolidated photo data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of a content management system, a plurality of credentials from a user having an account with the content management system, wherein each credential is associated with at least one content item repository and each credential comprises at least one of a username, a password, a personal identification number (PIN), a one-time password, third-party service login information, or a self-identifying secret question and answer;

accessing, by a processor of the content management system, the content item repository using at least one of the plurality of credentials if authorization is required for data access;

identifying, by a processor of the content management system, source content item data in the content item repository;

duplicating, by a processor of the content management system, the identified source content item data from the content item repository into the account at the content management system to create consolidated content item data in the content management system account, wherein duplicating the source content item data further comprises creating, by a processor of the content management system, a respective subfolder in the account for each of the plurality of content item repositories and storing, by a processor of the content management system, duplicated source content item data in respective subfolders;

accessing at a regular interval, by a processor of a content management system, the content item repository using at least one the plurality of credentials if authorization is required for data access;

identifying, by a processor of the content management system, any change in the source content item data in the content item repository;

updating, by a processor of the content management system, the consolidated content item data in the content management system account to match the changes;

identifying, by a processor of the content management system, duplicate content item data in the consolidated content item data;

deleting, by a processor of the content management system, the duplicate content item data; and

providing, by a processor of the content management system, access to the duplicated source content item data, the access provided to a web interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a user has a plurality of credentials for a plurality of content item repositories, and wherein the plurality of content item repositories comprises at least one of a local storage, an e-mail server, an online photo-sharing service, an online file storage service, a social media service, a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed, or a mobile app.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising retrieving, by a processor, a ranking of the plurality of content item repositories, and processing identified source content item data in accordance with the ranking.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the source content item data is identified and duplicated via an application programming interface (API) connection to the at least one content item repository.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, by a processor of the content management system, metadata associated with the source content item data; and

storing, in the account at the content management system by a processor of the content management system, the metadata to complement the consolidated content item data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising organizing, by a processor of the content management system, the consolidated content item data based on at least one of the metadata or user input.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein organizing the consolidated content item data comprises at least one of generating, by a processor of the content management system, a logical content item album or storing, by a processor of the content management system, the consolidated content item data in a hierarchical file structure.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of a timestamp, a camera type, a lens type, an exposure, an aperture, a geo-location tag, a personal identification tag, an event tag, a rating, a user comment, or facial recognition data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the duplicate content item data is identified by one of user input or heuristics.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by a processor of the content management system, the plurality of credentials in the account at the content management system, to yield a plurality of stored credentials.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accessing, at a regular interval, by a processor of the content management system, the plurality of content item repositories, using the plurality of stored credentials if authorization is required for data access;

identifying, by a processor of the content management system, any changes in the source content item data in the plurality of content item repositories; and

updating, by a processor of the content management system, the consolidated content item data to match the changes.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing, by a processor of the content management system, a social network associated with a content item repository within the plurality of content item repositories;

identifying within the social network an associate of the user'"'"'s by a processor of the content management system, wherein the content item repository contains social content item data associated with the associate, and wherein the user is authorized to access the social content item data; and

duplicating, by a processor of the content management system, the social content item data in the account at the content management system.

13. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions for causing the processor of a content management system to;

receive a plurality of credentials from a user having an account with the content management system, wherein the plurality of credentials are associated with a plurality of content item repositories and each credential comprises at least one of a username, a password, a personal identification number (PIN), a one-time password, third-party service login information, or a self-identifying secret question and answer;

access the plurality of content item repositories using the plurality of credentials;

identify content item data in the plurality of content item repositories to yield source content item data;

duplicate the source content item data in the account at the content management system to create consolidated content item data in the content management system account, wherein duplicating the source content item data further comprises creating a respective subfolder in the account for each of the plurality of content item repositories and storing the duplicated source content item data in respective subfolders;

access, at a regular interval, the content item repository using the credential if authorization is required for data access;

identify any change in the source content item data in the content item repository;

update the consolidated content item data in the content management system account to match the changes;

identify duplicate content item data in the consolidated content item data;

delete the duplicate content item data; and

provide access to the duplicated source content item data, the access provided to a web interface.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of content repositories comprises at least one of a local storage, an e-mail server, an online photo-sharing service, an online file storage service, a social media service, a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed, or a mobile app.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the source content item data is identified and duplicated via an application programming interface (API) connection to at least one of the plurality of content item repositories.

16. The system of claim 15, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to retrieve a ranking of the plurality of content item repositories, and to process identified source content item data in accordance with the ranking.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further stores processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to:

retrieve metadata, associated with the source content item data, from the plurality of content item repositories;

store, in the account at the content management system, the metadata to complement the consolidated content item data; and

organize the consolidated content data based on at least one of the metadata or user input.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the

identifying duplicate content item data in the consolidated content item data by using one of user input or heuristics.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions for causing a processor of the content management system to:

receive authorization from a content item repository to access data in the content item repository by using at least one of a plurality of credentials provided by a user having an account with the content management system, wherein the data is associated with a user having an account with the content management system and each credential comprises at least one of a username, a password, a personal identification number (PIN), a one-time password, third-party service login information, or a self-identifying secret question and answer;

identify source content item data in the content item repository;

duplicate the identified source content item data from the content item repository into the account at the content management system to create consolidated content item data in the content management system account, wherein duplicating the identified source content item data further comprises creating a respective subfolder in the account for each of the plurality of content item repositories;

store duplicate copies of the source content item data in respective subfolders in the account at the content management system to yield consolidated content item data;

access, at a regular interval, the content item repository using at least one of the plurality of credentials if authorization is required for data access;

identify any change in the source content item data in the content item repository;

update the consolidated content item data in the content management system account to match the changes;

identify duplicate content item data in the consolidated content item data;

delete the duplicate content item data; and

provide access to the duplicated source content item data, the access provided to a web interface.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to:

access a social network associated with the content item repository;

identify within the social network an associate of the user'"'"'s, wherein the content item repository contains social content item data associated with the associate; and

duplicate the social content item data in the account at the content management system.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to:

retrieve metadata associated with the source content item data from the content item repository; and

store, in the account at the content management system, the metadata to complement the consolidated content item data.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to retrieve a ranking of the plurality of content item repositories, and to process identified source content item data in accordance with the ranking.