Techniques for invite enforcement and domain capture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10079817-B2
Application number	US-201615056829-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 29, 2016
Priority date	Feb 29, 2016
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

Techniques for invite enforcement and domain capture. In one embodiment, for example, a method performed in an online service computing environment comprises the operations of: storing, in a database, an association between a team of one or more user accounts and a domain name service domain; receiving a request to invite an e-mail address belonging to the domain name service domain to join the team; creating, in a database, a placeholder user account that is a member of the team; associating, in a database, the e-mail address with the placeholder user account; and after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, converting, in a database, the individual user account to a team account that is (a) a member of the team and (b) associated with the e-mail address.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for invite enforcement in an online service environment, the method comprising:
at one or more computing devices comprising one or more processors and storage media storing one or more computer programs executed by the one or more processors to perform the method, performing operations comprising:
storing, in a database, an association between a team of one or more user accounts and a domain name service domain;
receiving a request to invite a user at an e-mail address to join the team, the e-mail address belonging to the domain name service domain;
creating, in a database, a placeholder user account that is a member of the team;
associating, in a database, the e-mail address with the placeholder user account; and
after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, converting, in a database, an individual user account associated with the e-mail address to a team account that is (a) a member of the team and (b) associated with the e-mail address.

2. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
creating, in a database, the placeholder user account comprising a user account identifier that is different from a user account identifier of the individual user account.

3. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
creating, in a database, the placeholder user account comprising a durable team member identifier; and
associating, in a database, the durable team member identifier with the team account.

4. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, deleting or deactivating, in a database, the placeholder user account associated with the e-mail address.

5. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
after the invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, creating a new individual user account for a user that accepted the invitation.

6. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
after the invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, associating, in a database, content items associated with the placeholder user account with the team account.

7. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
before the invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, associating, in a database, content items associated with one or more of the one or more user accounts of the team with the placeholder user account.

8. The method of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
while the invitation is pending but before the invitation is accepted, placing the individual user account in a restricted state until the invitation is accepted.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the restricted state allows the invitation to be accepted by a user that successfully authenticates against the individual user account, but prohibits the user for using another feature of the online service that the user is able to use when authenticated against the individual user account when the individual user account is not placed in the restricted state.

10. A method for domain capture in an online service environment, the method comprising:
at one or more computing devices comprising one or more processors and storage media storing one or more computer programs executed by the one or more processors to perform the method, performing operations comprising:
identifying, in a database, an individual user account associated with an e-mail address that belongs to a domain name service domain associated with a team of one or more user accounts;
creating, in a database, a placeholder user account that is a member of the team but not visible to the one or more user accounts of the team;
associating, in a database, the e-mail address with the placeholder user account; and
after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, converting, in a database, the individual user account to a team account that is (a) a member of the team and (b) associated with the e-mail address.

11. A system for invite enforcement in an online service environment, comprising:
storage media;
one or more processors; and
one or more programs stored in the storage media and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
identifying, in a database, an individual user account associated with an e-mail address that belongs to a domain name service domain associated with a team of one or more user accounts;
creating, in a database, a placeholder user account that is a member of the team but not visible to the one or more user accounts of the team;
associating, in a database, the e-mail address with the placeholder user account; and
after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, converting, in a database, the individual user account to a team account that is (a) a member of the team and (b) associated with the e-mail address.

12. A system for invite enforcement in an online service environment, comprising:
storage media;
one or more processors; and
one or more programs stored in the storage media and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
storing, in a database, an association between a team of one or more user accounts and a domain name service domain;
receiving a request to invite a user at an e-mail address to join the team, the e-mail address belonging to the domain name service domain;
creating, in a database, a placeholder user account that is a member of the team;
associating, in a database, the e-mail address with the placeholder user account; and
after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, converting, in a database, the individual an individual user account associated with the e-mail address to a team account that is (a) a member of the team and (b) associated with the e-mail address.

13. The system of claim 12 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
creating, in a database, the placeholder user account comprising a user account identifier that is different from a user account identifier of the individual user account.

14. The system of claim 12 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
creating, in a database, the placeholder user account comprising a durable team member identifier; and
associating, in a database, the durable team member identifier with the team account.

15. The system of claim 12 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
after an invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, deleting or deactivating, in a database, the placeholder user account.

16. The system of claim 12 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
after the invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, creating a new individual user account for a user that accepted the invitation.

17. The system of claim 12 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
after the invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, associating, in a database, content items associated with the placeholder user account with the team account.

18. The system of claim 12 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
before the invitation for the e-mail address to join the team is accepted, associating, in a database, content items associated with one or more of the one or more user

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• O'Brien George
• Ibrishimov Emil
• Park Ken
• Stafford David
• Koutcherouk Heinrich

Classifications

• G06F21/6209

  to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself · CPC title

• H04L63/08 Primary

  for authentication of entities (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32) · CPC title

• G06F21/45

  Structures or tools for the administration of authentication · CPC title

• G06F2221/2117

  User registration · CPC title

• G06F16/337

  Profile generation, learning or modification · CPC title