Collaboration sessions in a workspace on a cloud-based content management system

• US 9,978,040 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Lee, David T., Sheffield, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wan, Jasmine
• Application Number:
  US13/208,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20130014023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,475 Days
• Field of Search: 715751, 715721
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing discussion workspaces linked to workspaces containing work items stored in a web-based content management system with collaboration environment are disclosed. Workspaces can be organized hierarchically. Designated collaborators of a workspace containing work items can participate in an online discussion in the linked discussion workspace regarding the work items.

Claims

1. A method for managing a plurality of discussion workspaces in a cloud-based collaboration service, comprising:

generating, in the cloud-based collaboration service, the plurality of discussion workspaces for a plurality of workspaces,

wherein the plurality of workspaces includes a first folder having one or more files, wherein the first folder includes a sub-folder having at least one file, the first folder and the sub-folder organized as a folder-file hierarchy,

wherein the plurality of discussion workspaces includes a first discussion workspace that is associated with the first folder, the first discussion workspace maintaining communications relating to the one or more files in the first folder from at least one of a user of the cloud-based collaboration service or one or more collaborators of the user,

wherein the first discussion workspace includes a second discussion workspace that is associated with the sub-folder of the first folder, the second discussion workspace to maintain communications relating to the sub-folder from the one or more collaborators and the user, wherein the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace are organized in the same folder-file hierarchy as the first folder and the sub-folder,

receiving a request from a user to access communications relating to one or more of the plurality of workspaces; and

generating, in response to the request, a user interface to display the communications relating to the one or more of the plurality of workspaces, wherein the user interface includes a workspace area to enable the user to select one of the plurality of workspaces displayed in the workspace area, wherein the user interface includes a discussion area that is configured to display the communications based on a level of engagement of the user in the communications, wherein generating the user interface further includes;

receiving, from the user, a selection of the one of the plurality of workspaces displayed in the workspace area,

in an event the user is engaged in a first quantity of communications relating to the plurality of workspaces, configuring the discussion area to include communications from the plurality of discussion workspaces,

in an event the user is engaged in a second quantity of communications relating to the plurality of workspaces, which is larger than the first quantity, configuring the discussion area to (a) include communications from a discussion workspace that corresponds to the one of the plurality of workspaces selected by the user in the workspace area, and (b) exclude communications from other discussion workspaces of the plurality of discussion workspaces,

further wherein collaborating on the one or more files includes receiving at least one action including edits on the one or more files via the cloud-based collaboration service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the edits on the one or more files includes one or more of, updates, revisions, downloads, preview, or tags of the one or more files.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein communications in the first discussion workspace can be organized by user and the one or more collaborators according to topics submitted by the user and the one or more collaborators;

wherein the first discussion workspace further includes an event stream of actions associated with the one or more files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more collaborators are required to be pre-authorized to submit communications to the first discussion workspace.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first set of grouped stored files is contained in a first hierarchical container, and the first hierarchical container is contained in a second hierarchical container, and further wherein communications entered in a first discussion workspace associated with the first hierarchical container is visible in a second discussion workspace associated with the second hierarchical container.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first discussion workspace is maintained in real time or near real time.

7. A method for managing a plurality of discussion workspaces in a cloud enabled collaboration platform, comprising:

generating a first discussion workspace linked to a first workspace in a cloud enabled collaboration platform, wherein the first workspace includes work items, and wherein the first discussion workspace is distinct from the first workspace and maintains comments associated with the work items;

generating a second discussion workspace linked to a second workspace contained within the first workspace, the second discussion workspace being distinct from the first discussion workspace and used to maintain comments associated with the second workspace, the first workspace and the second workspace organized as a folder-file hierarchy, wherein the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace are organized in the same folder-file hierarchy as the first workspace and the second workspace; and

receiving and causing to be displayed in a discussion area of a web-based interface, a comment from a user of the first workspace, wherein the comment is accessible to a plurality of collaborators of the user in the discussion area, wherein the collaborators of the user are further able to respond to the comment of the user in the discussion area, wherein the discussion area is configured to display comments associated with at least one of the first workspace or the second workspace based on a level of engagement of the user in the comments by;

receiving, from the user, a selection of the first workspace or the second workspace in a workspace area of the web-based interface,

in an event the user is engaged in a first quantity of comments relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, configuring the discussion area to include comments from the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace,

in an event the user is engaged in a second quantity of comments relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, which is larger than the first quantity, configuring the discussion area to include comments from a discussion workspace that corresponds to the first workspace or the second workspace selected by the user and exclude comments from a discussion workspace corresponding to the first workspace or the second workspace that is not selected by the user,

further wherein, the user and collaborators of the user, are able to perform at least one action including edits on the work items via the cloud-based service.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, the actions including edits on the work items include one or more of, updates, revisions or downloads of the work items.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the collaborators are required to have access permission to the discussion area to access the discussion area or to leave comments in the discussion area, the method further comprising:

receiving a discussion topic from one of the collaborators and causing the discussion topic to be displayed in the discussion area to help collaborators organize displayed comments.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the first workspace includes a folder that is part of a folder tree structure used by a user to organize the work items stored by the system.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one action including edits on the work items include preview, or tags of the work items.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein authorized collaborators are permitted to invite a new user to join as a new collaborator of the first workspace and to participate in the discussion area.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying actions taken on the work items within the first workspace; and

causing to be displayed in the discussion area an event stream of the identified actions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the event stream is organized chronologically.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first workspace is a folder that is part of a folder tree structure used to organize work items stored by the system, and further wherein action taken on work items in a sub-folder within the folder are also part of the event stream.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed by a processor, causes a processor to execute a method enabling discussions in a cloud-based collaborative environment, the method, comprising:

generating a first discussion workspace associated with a first workspace in a cloud enabled collaboration platform, wherein the first workspace includes a first file of a user, wherein communications related to the first workspace from the user and collaborators of the user are received and maintained in the first discussion workspace, and further wherein communications in the first discussion workspace are limited to the user and the collaborators of the first file; and

generating a second discussion workspace associated with a second workspace contained within the first workspace, the second discussion workspace being distinct from the first discussion workspace, the second discussion workspace including a second file and used to maintain communications related to the second discussion workspace, the first workspace and the second workspace organized as a folder-file hierarchy, wherein the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace are organized in the same folder-file hierarchy as the first workspace and the second workspace, generating a user interface to display communications relating to at least one of the first workspace or the second workspace, wherein the user interface includes a workspace area to enable the user to select one of the first workspace or the second workspace, wherein the user interface includes a discussion area that is configured to display the communications based on a level of engagement of the user in the communications by;

receiving, from the user, a selection of the first workspace or the second workspace in the workspace area,

in an event the user is engaged in a first quantity of communications relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, configuring the discussion area to include communications from both the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace,

in an event the user is engaged in a second quantity of communications relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, which is larger than the first quantity, configuring the discussion area to include communications from a discussion workspace that corresponds to the first workspace or the second workspace selected by the user and exclude communications from a discussion workspace corresponding to the first workspace or the second workspace that is not selected by the user,

wherein, the user and collaborators of the user, are able to perform at least one action including edits on the first file via the cloud-based service.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the communications in the first discussion workspace are maintained in real time.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein one of the collaborators invites a new collaborator to join the communications.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory unit having instructions thereon which when executed by the processor, implements;

a discussion engine configured to;

generate a first online discussion workspace associated with a first workspace in a cloud-based environment, wherein the first workspace contains work items, and wherein the first online discussion workspace is distinct from the work items, the first online discussion workspace maintaining comments associated with the work items, and

generate a second online discussion workspace associated with a second workspace contained within the first workspace, the second online discussion workspace being distinct from the first online discussion workspace, the second online discussion workspace maintaining comments associated with the second workspace, the first workspace and the second workspace organized as a folder-file hierarchy, wherein the first online discussion workspace and the second online discussion workspace are organized in the same folder-file hierarchy as the first workspace and the second workspace, and

a user interface module configured to;

generate a user interface to display comments associated with at least one of the first workspace or the second workspace, wherein the user interface includes a workspace area to enable the user to select one of the first workspace or the second workspace, wherein the user interface includes a discussion area that is configured to display the comments based on a level of engagement of the user in the comments, wherein the user interface module is further configured to generate the user interface by;

receiving, from the user, a selection of the first workspace and the second workspace in the workspace area,

in an event the user is engaged in a first quantity of comments relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, displaying comments from both the first online discussion workspace and the second online discussion workspace, and

in an event the user is engaged in a second quantity of comments relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, which is larger than the first quantity, displaying comments from an online discussion workspace that corresponds to one of the first workspace or the second workspace selected by the user and excluding comments from an online discussion workspace corresponding to the first workspace or the second workspace that is not selected by the user,

wherein, the user and collaborators of the user, are able to perform actions including edits on the work items via the cloud-based service.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

an activity detector configured to detect actions related to the work items in the workspace; and

an event stream module configured to list the detected actions in the online discussion area.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first workspace is a folder that is part of a folder tree structure used by the user and the collaborators to organize work items stored in the cloud-based environment.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the discussion engine is further configured to allow a collaborator to create a topic for discussion for organizing the comments in the discussion area.

23. A system, comprising

a processor;

means for generating a first discussion workspace linked to a first workspace provided by a cloud-based environment, wherein the first workspace includes work items associated with a user and collaborators of the user

means for generating a second discussion workspace linked to a second workspace contained within the first workspace, the second discussion workspace being distinct from the first discussion workspace and used to maintain comments associated with the second workspace, the first workspace and the second workspace organized as a folder-file hierarchy, wherein the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace are organized in the same folder-file hierarchy as the first workspace and the second workspace; and

means for receiving and causing to be displayed in a discussion area of a web-based interface, a comment from the user, wherein the comment is accessible to the collaborators in the discussion area, wherein the collaborators of the user are further able to respond to the comment in the discussion area, wherein the discussion area is configured to display comments associated with at least one of the first workspace or the second workspace based on a level of engagement of the user in the comments by;

receiving, from the user, a selection of the first workspace or the second workspace in a workspace area of the web-based interface,

in an event the user is engaged in a first quantity of comments relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, configuring the discussion area to include comments from the first discussion workspace and the second discussion workspace,

in an event the user is engaged in a second quantity of comments relating to the first workspace and the second workspace, which is larger than the first quantity, configuring the discussion area to include comments from a discussion workspace that corresponds to one of the first workspace or the second workspace selected by the user and exclude comments from an discussion workspace corresponding to the first workspace or the second workspace that is not selected by the user,

wherein, the user and collaborators of the user, are further able to manipulate the work items via the cloud-based service.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein manipulation of the files includes editing of the work items, including one or more of updates, revisions or downloads of the work items.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein manipulation of the work items includes one or more of preview, or tags of the work items.