Limited-functionality accounts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10412586-B2
Application number	US-201314109733-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2013
Priority date	Dec 17, 2013
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

Using a unique identifier from an electronic device to automatically create a limited-functionality account upon a predetermined event. Basing the limitations on the unique identifier that was used to create the limited-functionality account. Removing the limitations placed on a limited-functionality account upon the user of the account providing credentials adequate for the synchronized content management system to be able to enforce various policies.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
creating, by a content management system, a first type of user account, the first type of user account having a first level of functionality enabling both out-of-band sharing of content items on the content management system and in-band sharing of content items on the content management system;
creating, by the content management system, a second type of user account, the second type of user account having a second level of functionality enabling a first one of the out-of-band sharing of content items or the in-band sharing of content items and disabling a second one of the out-of-band sharing of content items or the in-band sharing of content items;
receiving, by the content management system, respective client signals from respective client devices and, based on respective client identification data associated with the respective client devices, determining respective types of identifiers associated with the respective client devices;
in response to determining that a respective type of identifier associated with a first client device comprises user credentials, registering, by the content management system, the first type of user account for the first client device based on the user credentials;
receiving, from the first client device, a first content item at the content management system and storing the first content item at the content management system in the first type of user account;
in response to determining that the respective type of identifier associated with a second client device comprises a phone number, registering, by the content management system, the second type of user account for the second client device based on the phone number;
receiving, from the second client device, a second content item at the content management system and storing the second content item at the content management system in the second type of user account;
enabling, by the content management system, both out-of-band sharing of the first content item on the content management system and in-band sharing of the first content item on the content management system; and
enabling, by the content management system, the first one of the out-of-band sharing of the second content item or the in-band sharing of the second content item and disabling the second one of the out-of-band sharing of the second content item or the in-band sharing of the second content item.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
creating, by the content management system, a third type of user account, the third type of user account having a third level of functionality disabling all sharing capabilities on the content management system; and
in response to determining that the respective type of identifier associated with a third client device comprises a device identifier that is different from the phone number, registering, by the content management system, the third type of user account for the third client device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein creating, by the content management system, the third type of user account comprises creating, by the content management system, a limited user account for the third client device based on the device identifier, wherein the device identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with the third client device, and wherein the limited user account is an only user account at the content management system that is associated with the media access control address associated with the third client device.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving, from the third client device associated with the third type of user account, the user credentials associated with the first type of user account, the user credentials comprising a password; and
in response to receiving the user credentials from the third client device, converting, by the content management system, the third type of user account into the first type of user account to yield a converted user account having the first level of functionality enabling the sharing capabilities on the content management system.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein disabling all sharing capabilities comprises disabling an ability to generate links to content items on the content management system and an ability to send, to other user accounts on the content management system, generated links to content items on the content management system.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein creating, by the content management system, the third type of user account comprises creating, by the content management system, a limited user account and registering the limited user account for use only by the third client device associated with the device identifier, wherein the limited user account is not linked to a particular user identity or account at the content management system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the in-band sharing comprises sending content sharing links through the content management system and out-of-band sharing comprises sending content sharing links outside of the content management system, and wherein disabling the second one of the out-of-band sharing of the second content item or the in-band sharing of the second content item comprises restricting an ability to send content sharing links through the content management system or restricting the ability to send content sharing links outside of the content management system.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a respective type of user account to create by the content management system for each of the respective client devices based on different access rules defined for different types of identifiers, the different access rules comprising a first rule enabling both out- of-band sharing of content items and in-band sharing of content items for user accounts created with user credentials, a second rule disabling the second one of the out-of-band sharing or the in- band sharing for user accounts created based on an associated phone number, and a third rule disabling all sharing for user accounts created based on an associated device identifier and without an associated phone number or user credentials.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
creating, by the content management system, respective types of user accounts, wherein each respective type of user account comprises a respective level of functionality;
creating, by the content management system, a third type of user account having a third level of functionality, wherein the first level of functionality, the second level of functionality and the third level of functionality provide different sharing capabilities for content items on the content management system;
registering, by the content management system, the respective client devices to the first type of user account having the first level of functionality when the respective type of identifier of the respective client devices comprises the user credentials, the user credentials comprising a password for the first type of user account;
registering, by the content management system, the respective client devices to the second type of user account having the second level of functionality when the respective type of identifier of the respective client devices comprises the phone number and does not include user credentials; and
registering, by the content management system, the respective client devices to the third type of user account having the third level of functionality when the respective type of identifier of the respective client devices comprises a devices identifier that is different from the phone number.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective client signals are associated with

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Kluesing Daniel
• Fjeldsoe-Nielsen Lars

Classifications

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W12/08 Primary

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W12/72

  Subscriber identity · CPC title

• H04W12/71

  Hardware identity · CPC title

• H04W12/43

  using shared identity modules, e.g. SIM sharing · CPC title