System and method for providing offline access in a hosted document service

• US 9,361,395 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Barrett-Kahn, David, Coukouma, Nikolas Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): OWYANG, MICHELLE N
• Application Number:
  US13/561,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054514A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• Field of Search: 707705-780
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A request for a document is received at a user device while in an offline state. The request includes a public uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to a location remote from the user device. The user device launches an application that intercepts the request and selects one of multiple local caches based on the public URL. Each of the multiple local caches is associated with a private URL. The user device accesses the selected local caches via a corresponding private URL to retrieve an editor. The user device modifies a URL history to replace the private URL with a public URL and provides the document, via the editor, to the user device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a user device while the user device is in an offline state, a request comprising a public uniform resource locator comprising;

(1) a domain identifier of a location remote from the user device, and (2) a document identifier of a remote copy of a document, the remote copy being stored at the location remote from the user device;

in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state, launching a launcher application using a fallback entry of an application cache manifest, the application cache manifest comprising a first list of all uniform resource locators used by the document;

intercepting, by the launcher application, the request;

selecting, by the launcher application, one of a plurality of local caches based on the document identifier;

constructing, by the launcher application, a private uniform resource locator comprising the domain identifier, the document identifier, and a cache identifier of the selected local cache;

accessing the selected local cache via the private uniform resource locator to retrieve an editor;

after accessing the selected local cache, adding the private uniform resource locator to a uniform resource locator history that comprises a second list of uniform resource locators of documents that were previously accessed using the user device;

modifying, at the user device, the uniform resource locator history to replace the private uniform resource locator with the public uniform resource locator; and

providing, while the user device is in the offline state, a local copy of the document that is stored locally on the user device, via the editor, to a display on the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the editor is a cold start editor that launches in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state,

the local copy is stored at a database on the user device, and

the cold start editor provides the local copy of the document to the display on the user device only after determining that a user at the user device is authorized to access the local copy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the editor is a cold start editor that launches in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state, the method further comprising:

in response to determining that the user device is in an online state, launching a warm start editor configured to communicate with the remote location to provide the remote copy of the document to the display on the user device and to continually synchronize the document with the remote location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting, by the launcher application, one of the plurality of local caches comprises:

examining, by the launcher application, whether the public uniform resource locator includes a link to the remote copy of the document;

in response to determining that the public uniform resource locator includes the link, extracting the document identifier; and

constructing the private uniform resource locator based at least in part on the document identifier, wherein the providing the local copy of the document comprises navigating to the private uniform resource locator.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the private uniform resource locator is constructed by querying a database on the user device to select the editor from a plurality of cold start editors, the editor being selected based on the document identifier.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the cold start editor determines that the user is authorized to access the local copy when the user is granted permission to store the local copy of the document locally on the user device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the uniform resource locator history is modified in order to mask the private uniform resource locator, such that the uniform resource locator history does not include any indication that while the user device was in the offline state, the private uniform resource locator was accessed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the launcher application does not intercept the request when the user device is not in the offline state.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of local caches is associated with a respective cache identifier, and using the launcher application to select one of the plurality of local caches further comprises selecting based on a type of the document.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a user device while the user device is in an offline state, a request comprising a public uniform resource locator comprising;

(1) a domain identifier of a location remote from the user device, and (2) a document identifier of a remote copy of a document, the remote copy being stored at the location remote from the user device;

in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state, launching a launcher application using a fallback entry of an application cache manifest, the application cache manifest comprising a first list of all uniform resource locators used by the document;

intercepting, by the launcher application, the request;

selecting, by the launcher application, one of a plurality of local caches based on the document identifier;

constructing, by the launcher application, a private uniform resource locator comprising the domain identifier, the document identifier, and a cache identifier of the selected local cache;

accessing the selected local cache via the private uniform resource locator to retrieve an editor;

after accessing the selected local cache, adding the private uniform resource locator to a uniform resource locator history that comprises a second list of uniform resource locators of documents that were previously accessed using the user device;

modifying, at the user device, the uniform resource locator history to replace the private uniform resource locator with the public uniform resource locator; and

providing, while the user device is in the offline state, a local copy of the document that is stored locally on the user device, via the editor, to a display on the user device.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein:

the editor is a cold start editor that launches in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state,

the local copy is stored at a database on the user device, and

the cold start editor provides the local copy of the document to the display on the user device only after determining that a user at the user device is authorized to access the local copy.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the editor is a cold start editor that launches in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state, the medium further comprising instructions defining the step of:

in response to determining that the user device is in an online state, launching a warm start editor configured to communicate with the remote location to provide the remote copy of the document to the display on the user device and to continually synchronize the document with the remote location.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the selecting, by the launcher application, one of the plurality of local caches comprises:

examining, by the launcher application, whether the public uniform resource locator includes a link to the remote copy of the document;

in response to determining that the public uniform resource locator includes the link, extracting the document identifier; and

constructing the private uniform resource locator based at least in part on the document identifier, wherein the providing the local copy of the document comprises navigating to the private uniform resource locator.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the private uniform resource locator is constructed by querying a database on the user device to select the editor from a plurality of cold start editors, the editor being selected based on the document identifier.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the cold start editor determines that the user is authorized to access the local copy when the user is granted permission to store the local copy of the document locally on the user device.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the uniform resource locator history is modified in order to mask the private uniform resource locator, such that the uniform resource locator history does not include any indication that while the user device was in the offline state, the private uniform resource locator was accessed.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the launcher application does not intercept the request when the user device is not in the offline state.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of local caches is associated with a respective cache identifier, and using the launcher application to select one of the plurality of local caches further comprises selecting based on a type of the document.

19. A system comprising a processor configured to:

receive, at a user device while the user device is in an offline state, a request comprising a public uniform resource locator comprising;

(1) a domain identifier of a location remote from the user device and (2) a document identifier of a remote copy of the document, the remote copy being stored at the location remote from the user device;

in response to receiving the request and determining that the user device is in the offline state, launch a launcher application by using a fallback entry of an application cache manifest, the application cache manifest comprising a first list of all uniform resource locators used by the document;

intercept, by the launcher application, the request;

select, by the launcher application, one of a plurality of local caches based on the document identifier of the public uniform resource locator,

construct, by the launcher application, a private uniform resource locator comprising the domain identifier, the document identifier, and a cache identifier of the selected local cache;

access the selected local cache via the private uniform resource locator to retrieve an editor;

after accessing the selected the local cache, add the private uniform resource locator to a uniform resource locator history that comprises a second list of uniform resource locators of documents that were previously accessed using the user device;

modify, at the user device, the uniform resource locator history to replace the private uniform resource locator with the public uniform resource locator; and

provide, while the user device is in the offline state, a local copy of the document that is stored locally on the user device, via the editor, to a display on the user device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to select, using the launcher application, one of the plurality of local caches by:

examining, by the launcher application, whether the public uniform resource locator includes a link to the remote copy of the document;

in response to determining that the public uniform resource locator includes the link, extracting the document identifier corresponding to the document; and

constructing the private uniform resource locator based at least in part on the document identifier, wherein the providing the local copy of the document comprises navigating to the private uniform resource locator.