System and method for community centric resource sharing based on a publishing subscription model

• US 9,576,271 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2012
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Feng, Andrew, Bhandari, Atul, Kucharewski, Valerie
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien T
• Application Number:
  US13/598,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20120324364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,637 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The invention provides a Web service which enables a publisher to share his digital resources such as an address card or a calendar with a number of subscribers based on different sharing relationships. The Web service includes a host-based interface called “My Community”, for example, with which the publisher manages the share-relationships with his community members. The community members are organized into different groups. Each group includes a number of community members who have a common sharing relationship with the publisher with respect to one or more views of the shared resources. A resource may have multiple views. Each of the views has Metadata describing sharing-styles, as well as version, creation date, size, and the like. Each sharing style corresponds to a specific sharing relationship between a community member and the publisher.

Claims

1. A system for sharing digital resources of a publisher through a web service, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories operatively coupled to at least one of the one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause at least one of the one or more processors to;

receive a selection from a publishing user of a digital resource to share, wherein the digital resource is associated with a plurality of views;

receive a selection from the publishing user of a group of subscribing users, the selection indicating that the digital resource is to be shared with the group of subscribing users according to one of the plurality of views;

receive a selection of a sharing relationship from the publishing user, the sharing relationship specifying allowable interactions with the selected digital resource by the group of subscribing users; and

in accordance with the selection of the sharing relationship, control interactions of the selected group of subscribing users with the one of the plurality of views of the selected digital resource, including at least;

in accordance with a determination that the selected sharing relationship includes a first sharing relationship, sending a copy of the one of the plurality of views of the digital resource to the selected group of subscribing users, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a sharing style that corresponds to the selected sharing relationship for the selected group of subscribing users; and

in response to receiving from the publishing user a change notification concerning modification to the selected digital resource;

forwarding the change notification to the selected group of subscribing users, receiving from a subset of the selected group of subscribing users a request to block future notifications from the publishing user, and modifying the sharing relationship to enable blocking of future notifications from the publishing user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective version.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective creation date.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective size.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a user that requests the digital resource can edit information in a local copy of the digital resource, and

the edited information in the local copy of the digital resource is overwritten if the publishing user updates the digital resource.

6. The system of claim 1, including instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause at least one of the one or more processors to store the sharing relationship selected by the publishing user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein controlling the interactions of the selected group of subscribing users with the one of the plurality of views of the selected digital resource further includes:

in accordance with a determination that the selected sharing relationship includes a second sharing relationship, allowing the selected group of subscribing users to read the one of the plurality of views of the digital resource in a central repository; and

in accordance with a determination that the selected sharing relationship includes a third sharing relationship, allowing the selected group of subscribing users to write and update the one of the plurality of views of the digital resource.

8. A method for sharing digital resources of a publisher through a web service, the method comprising:

at a system comprising one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to at least one of the one or more processors;

receiving a selection from a publishing user of a digital resource to share, wherein the digital resource is associated with a plurality of views;

receiving a selection from the publishing user of a group of subscribing users, the selection indicating that the digital resource is to be shared with the group of subscribing users according to one of the plurality of views;

receiving a selection of a sharing relationship from the publishing user, the sharing relationship specifying allowable interactions with the selected digital resource by the group of subscribing users; and

in accordance with the selection of the sharing relationship, controlling interactions of the selected group of subscribing users with the one of the plurality of views of the selected digital resource, including at least;

in accordance with a determination that the selected sharing relationship includes a first sharing relationship, sending a copy of the one of the plurality of views of the digital resource to the selected group of subscribing users, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a sharing style that corresponds to the selected sharing relationship for the selected group of subscribing users; and

in response to receiving from the publishing user a change notification concerning modification to the selected digital resource;

forwarding the change notification to the selected group of subscribing users, receiving from a subset of the selected group of subscribing users a request to block future notifications from the publishing user, and modifying the sharing relationship to enable blocking of future notifications from the publishing user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective version.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective creation date.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective size.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein:

a user that requests the digital resource can edit information in a local copy of the digital resource, and

the edited information in the local copy of the digital resource is overwritten if the publishing user updates the digital resource.

13. The method of claim 8, including storing the sharing relationship selected by the publishing user.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a system for sharing digital resources of a publisher through a web service, the one or more programs comprising instructions to be executed by the one or more processors so as to:

receive a selection from a publishing user of a digital resource to share, wherein the digital resource is associated with a plurality of views;

receive a selection from the publishing user of a group of subscribing users, the selection indicating that the digital resource is to be shared with the group of subscribing users according to one of the plurality of views;

receive a selection of a sharing relationship from the publishing user, the sharing relationship specifying allowable interactions with the selected digital resource by the group of subscribing users; and

in accordance with the selection of the sharing relationship, control interactions of the selected group of subscribing users with the one of the plurality of views of the selected digital resource, including at least;

in accordance with a determination that the selected sharing relationship includes a first sharing relationship, sending a copy of the one of the plurality of views of the digital resource to the selected group of subscribing users, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a sharing style that corresponds to the selected sharing relationship for the selected group of subscribing users; and

in response to receiving from the publishing user a change notification concerning modification to the selected digital resource;

forwarding the change notification to the selected group of subscribing users, receiving from a subset of the selected group of subscribing users a request to block future notifications from the publishing user, and modifying the sharing relationship to enable blocking of future notifications from the publishing user.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective version.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective creation date.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the one of the plurality views has metadata describing a respective size.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein:

a user that requests the digital resource can edit information in a local copy of the digital resource, and

the edited information in the local copy of the digital resource is overwritten if the publishing user updates the digital resource.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, including stored instructions to be executed by the one or more processors so as to store the sharing relationship selected by the publishing user.