Cursor with last observed access state

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10691719-B2
Application number	US-201715857766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2017
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

The present technology pertains to an organization directory hosted by a synchronized content management system. The corporate directory can provide access to user accounts for all members of the organization to all content items in the organization directory on the respective file systems of the members' client devices. Members can reach any content item at the same path as other members relative to the organization directory root on their respective client device. In some embodiments novel access permissions are granted to maintain path consistency.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, when executed the instructions are effective to cause a content management system to:
determine a latest revision to a first namespace accessible by a user account of the content management system and one or more access permissions for the first namespace;
send, to a client device, information regarding the latest revision to the first namespace, wherein the client device is authorized to access the user account on the content management system;
send, to the client device, a cursor associated with the latest revision to the first namespace, wherein the cursor includes a token based on last known access state data, a namespace identifier, and information identifying the latest revision;
receive, at the content management system, a request to commit a change to the first namespace, wherein the request includes the cursor, and wherein the cursor further includes information based on the change to the first namespace;
determine that the token provides access permission to the first namespace based on the one or more access permissions to the first namespace;
determine that the change to the first namespace is an update to the first namespace; and
commit the change to the first namespace based on the change to the first namespace being an update to the first namespace and the token providing access permission to the first namespace.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the content management system to:
receive a request to read further revisions from the first namespace at the content management system, the request to read further revisions including the cursor; and
send any further revisions to the first namespace based on the cursor identifying access permission to the first namespace as part of the last known access state data.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions cause the content management system to:
prior to executing the instruction to send any further revisions to the first namespace, check the further revisions for a mount revision, and when the revisions to the first namespace include a mount revision, confirm access for the user account to the first namespace from an authorization service.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the content management system to:
receive a request to read revisions for the first namespace or commit revisions to the first namespace, wherein the request to read revisions does not include a last known access state; and
determine access permission to the first namespace for the user account from an authorization service.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the last known access state data includes a listing of paths for the first namespace to which the user account has partial access.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the content management system to:
send, to the client device, information regarding a latest revision to a second namespace accessible by the user account of the content management system, and wherein the cursor identifies the latest revision to the second namespace, and the last known access state data includes a second namespace and the first namespace.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the content management system to:
encrypt and sign the cursor.

8. A method comprising:
determining a latest revision to a first namespace accessible by a user account of the content management system and one or more access permissions for the first namespace;
sending, to a client device, information regarding the latest revision to the first namespace, wherein the client device is authorized to access the user account on the content management system;
sending, to the client device, a cursor associated with the latest revision to the first namespace, the cursor including a token based on last known access state data, a namespace identifier, and information identifying the latest revision;
receiving, at the content management system, a request to commit a change to the first namespace, wherein the request includes the cursor, and wherein the cursor further includes information based on the change to the first namespace;
determining that the token provides access permission to the first namespace based on the one or more access permissions to the first namespace;
determining that the change to the first namespace is an update to the first namespace; and
committing the change to the first namespace based on the change to the first namespace being an update to the first namespace and the token providing access permission to the first namespace.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising:
receiving a request to read further revisions from the first namespace at the content management system, the request to read further revisions including the cursor; and
sending any further revisions to the first namespace based on the cursor identifying access permission to the first namespace as part of the last known access state data.

10. The method of claim 9 , comprising:
prior to sending any further revisions to the first namespace, checking the further revisions for a mount revision; and
when the revisions to the first namespace include a mount revision, confirming access for the user account to the first namespace from an authorization service.

11. The method of claim 8 , comprising:
receiving a request to read revisions for the first namespace or commit revisions to the first namespace, wherein the request to read revisions does not include a last known access state; and
determining access permission to the first namespace for the user account from an authorization service.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the last known access state data includes a listing of paths for the first namespace to which the user account has traversal rights.

13. The method of claim 8 , comprising:
sending, to the client device, information regarding a latest revision to a second namespace accessible by the user account of the content management system, and wherein the cursor identifies a latest revision to the second namespace, and the last known access state data includes a second namespace and the first namespace.

14. The method of claim 9 , comprising:
signing the cursor prior to sending the cursor to the client device; and
prior to sending any further revisions to the first namespace, determining that the cursor is correctly signed.

15. A content management system comprising:
at least one or more processors;
at least one memory having instructions stored thereon, that when executed the instructions are effective to cause the at least one or more processors to:
determine a latest revision to a first namespace accessible by a user account of the content management system and one or more access permissions for the first namespace;
send, to a client device, information regarding the latest revision to the first namespace, wherein the client device is authorized to access the user account on the content management system;
encrypt and sign a cursor including a token based on last known access state data, a namespace identifier, and information identifying the latest revision;
send, to the client device, the cursor;
receive, at the content management system, a request to commit a change to the first namespace, wherein the request includes the cursor identifying information a

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Kleinpeter Thomas
• Albert Akos
• Lu Helen
• Staley Aaron

Classifications

• G06F16/27 Primary

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/11 Primary

  File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations G06F11/14) · CPC title

• H04L67/01

  Protocols · CPC title

• G06F16/178 Primary

  Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems · CPC title

• G06F16/1767

  Concurrency control, e.g. optimistic or pessimistic approaches · CPC title