Collection folders in a content management system

• US 9,430,669 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Staley, Aaron, Jain, Aditi, Ferrazares, Aisha, Chen, Alicia, Warty, Ashish, Adams, John, Hui, Joseph, Siegel, Kathryn, Jansson, Lennart, Pan, Matteus, Baesman, Rob, Xu, Siyao
• Primary Examiner(s): OWYANG, MICHELLE N
• Application Number:
  US14/530,555
• Publication Number:
  US 20160026815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 707705-788
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2445 Data retrieval commands; View definitions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3337 Translation of the query language, e.g. Chinese to English
• 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: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices

Abstract

A content management system allows a user to create a collection folder to which a submitting user can add content items without being able to access content items added to the folder by other submitting users. A collection folder is created in a namespace of a collecting user and folder is made available to multiple submitting users to allow the submitting users to add items to the folder. When a submitting user first request to store a content item in the collection folder, the content management system creates a sub-folder associated with the submitting user in the collection folder and stores the content item in the sub-folder. The submitting user is given rights to the sub-folder, but is not given rights to sub-folders created for other submitting users.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

creating, by a content management system, a folder in a namespace associated with a collecting user in response to the collecting user requesting creation of the folder, the folder associated with a project;

receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, identifying information associated with a plurality of submitting users, the plurality of submitting users including a first submitting user and a second submitting user;

transmitting, by the content management system to each of the plurality of submitting users based on the identifying information, a message inviting the submitting user to add a content item to the folder;

receiving, by the content management system from a first device associated with the first submitting user, a first content item with a request from the first submitting user to add the first content item to the folder;

receiving, by the content management system from a second device associated with the second submitting user, a second content item with a request from the second submitting user to add the second content item to the folder;

automatically creating, by the content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder and adding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on the request to add the first content item to the folder, the first sub-folder associated with the first submitting user;

automatically creating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder within the folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folder based on the request to add the second content item to the folder, the second sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the first submitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the second submitting user unable to access the first sub-folder;

providing, by the content management system to the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the second sub-folder;

receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, a request requesting a number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder;

responsive to receiving the request, determining, by the content management system, a numeric number of sub-folders included in the folder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of the plurality of submitting users; and

sending, by the content management system to a client device associated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders, the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional request to add a third content item to the folder; and

responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, denying the additional request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the first submitting user a write right to add one or more content items to the first sub-folder and a read right to access content items added by the first submitting user to the first sub-folder; and

responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, removing the write right from the first submitting user and allowing the first submitting user to retain the read right.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the collecting user requesting to grant administrative rights to an additional user, providing the additional user access to the first content item in the first sub-folder and to the second content item in the second sub-folder based on the granted administrative rights.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to creating the first sub-folder, adding to the first-sub folder a first copy of a seed document, the first submitting user having rights to edit the first copy in the first-sub folder; and

responsive to creating the second sub-folder, adding to the second-sub folder a second copy of a seed document, the second submitting user having rights to edit the second copy in the second-sub folder.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first sub-folder is associated with the first submitting user based on verified information provided by the first submitting user, the verified information identifying the first submitting user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the verified information includes a communication identifier and verifying the communication identifier comprises:

sending a message with verification information to the communication identifier; and

responsive to receiving the verification information from the first submitting user, approving the communication identifier as verified.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional request to add a third content item to the folder; and

responsive to the third content item not being in a format specified by the collecting user, denying the additional request.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable program instructions for performing operations comprising:

creating, by a content management system, a folder in a namespace associated with a collecting user in response to the collecting user requesting creation of the folder, the folder associated with a project;

receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, identifying information associated with a plurality of submitting users, the plurality of submitting users including a first submitting user and a second submitting user;

transmitting, by the content management system to each of the plurality of submitting users based on the identifying information, a message inviting the submitting user to add a content item to the folder;

receiving, by the content management system from a first device associated with the first submitting user, a first content item with a request from the first submitting user to add the first content item to the folder;

receiving, by the content management system from a second device associated with the second submitting user, a second content item with a request from the second submitting user to add the second content item to the folder;

automatically creating, by the content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder and adding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on the request to add the first content item to the folder, the first sub-folder associated with the first submitting user;

automatically creating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder within the folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folder based on the request to add the second content item to the folder, the second sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the first submitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the second submitting user unable to access the first sub-folder;

providing, by the content management system to the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the second sub-folder;

receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, a request requesting a number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder;

responsive to receiving the request, determining, by the content management system, a numeric number of sub-folders included in the folder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of the plurality of submitting users; and

sending, by the content management system to a client device associated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders, the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving an additional request to add a third content item to the folder; and

responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, denying the additional request.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

providing the first submitting user a write right to add one or more content items to the first sub-folder and a read right to access content items added by the first submitting user to the first sub-folder; and

responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, removing the write right from the first submitting user and allowing the first submitting user to retain the read right.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to the collecting user requesting to grant administrative rights to an additional user, providing the additional user access to the first content item in the first sub-folder and to the second content item in the second sub-folder based on the granted administrative rights.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to creating the first sub-folder, adding to the first-sub folder a first copy of a seed document, the first submitting user having rights to edit the first copy in the first-sub folder; and

responsive to creating the second sub-folder, adding to the second-sub folder a second copy of a seed document, the second submitting user having rights to edit the second copy in the second-sub folder.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first sub-folder is associated with the first submitting user based on verified information provided by the first submitting user, the verified information identifying the first submitting user.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the verified information includes a communication identifier and verifying the communication identifier comprises:

sending a message with verification information to the communication identifier; and

responsive to receiving the verification information from first submitting user, approving the communication identifier as verified.

16. A content management system comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage storing instruction that when executed by the one or more processors cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

creating a folder in a namespace associated with a collecting user in response to the collecting user requesting creation of the folder, the folder associated with a project;

receiving, from the collecting user, identifying information associated with a plurality of submitting users, the plurality of submitting users including a first submitting user and a second submitting user;

transmitting, to each of the plurality of submitting users based on the identifying information, a message inviting the submitting user to add a content item to the folder;

receiving, from a first device associated with the first submitting user, a first content item with a request from the first submitting user to add the first content item to the folder;

receiving, from a second device associated with the second submitting user, a second content item with a request from the second submitting user to add the second content item to the folder;

automatically creating, by the content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder and adding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on the request to add the first content item to the folder, the first sub-folder associated with the first submitting user;

automatically creating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder within the folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folder based on the request to add the second content item to the folder, the second sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the first submitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the second submitting user unable to access the first sub-folder;

providing, to the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the second sub-folder;

providing, to the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the second sub-folder;

receiving, from the collecting user, a request requesting a number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder;

responsive to receiving the request, determining a numeric number of sub-folders included in the folder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of the plurality of submitting users; and

sending, to a client device associated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders, the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instruction further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving an additional request to add a third content item to the folder; and

responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, denying the additional request.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the instruction further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

providing the first submitting user a write right to add one or more content items to the first sub-folder and a read right to access content items added by the first submitting user to the first sub-folder; and

responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, removing the write right from the first submitting user and allowing the first submitting user to retain the read right.