Content management system with integrated email service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11356396-B2
Application number	US-201715474770-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2017
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed herein are techniques for combining content management system functionality with an email or messaging server. A system can associate an email with a content item, through express attachment, direct reference such as a link, indirect reference, or otherwise. The system can store the associated content item within content item storage or identify a stored content item that is identical to the content item that is associated with the email. The system can then enhance email service functionality with the stored content item. For example, the system can present the stored content item or information about the stored content item along with the email. The system can also automatically grant permissions to the stored content item with participants of the email.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause an email service of a content management system that synchronizes a plurality of shared content items between a plurality of user devices and a plurality of respective user accounts, executing on a server, to:
determine that an email account associated with an email is associated with a user account on the content management system;
determine that a first content item attached to or referenced by the email is a version of a second content item that was synchronized at the content management system before the email was generated, the second content item being stored at the content management system in association with permissions to synchronize edits by the user account and other user accounts;
in response to determining that the first content item is the version of the second content item, compare the first content item and the second content item and identify differences between the first content item and the second content item;
in response to determining that the first content item is the version of the second content item, associate the first content item, the second content item, and the email at the content management system;
determine that a modification of the second content item has been synchronized to the content management system; and
in response to determining that the second content item stored at the content management system has been modified, trigger a notification to participant user accounts other than the user account of a correspondence chain including the email.

2. The system of claim 1 , the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the content management system to:
receive a first indication, from a client-side email service at a client device and associated with the email service, that the user account is currently viewing the first content item via the client-side email service; and
based on the association between the first content item and the second content item, send, to a second user account associated with the second content item, a second indication that the first content item is being viewed within the email.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification includes a link granting access to the second content item stored at the content management system.

4. The system of claim 1 , the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
determine that a second participant of the email is associated with a second user account on the content management system; and
based on the determination of the second participant being a participant of an email that include the first content item, change permissions to the second content item stored at the content management system to include edit permissions for the second participant.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining that the first content item is the version of the second content item that was stored at the content management system includes:
determining that the first content item is already stored at the content management system by computing a hash value for at least a portion of the first content item and comparing the hash value with one or more hash values of one or more other content items or one or more portions of one or more content items already stored at the content management system.

6. The system of claim 1 , the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
generate a conversation identifier for the email based on one or more attributes of the email; and
storing the first content item at a path at the content management system assigned to the conversation identifier.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first content item is referenced by the email via a URL to the first content item or the second content item.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first content item associated with the email comprises recognizing the first content item is referenced by the email, wherein recognizing the first content item is referenced by the email includes:
analyzing a text of the email using natural language processing;
determining one or more attributes of the first content item associated with the email based on the analysis of the text; and
matching the first content item associated with the email with the second content item stored at the content management system by:
matching the one or more attributes of the first content item associated with the email with the second content item stored at the content management system.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein participants of the email include a sender and one or more addressed recipients, the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
identify an additional user account associated with the first content item or the second content item stored on the content management system;
add the additional user account to the one or more addressed recipients; and
send the email to the one or more addressed recipients including the additional user account.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first content item and the second content item are versions of a synchronized content item, the synchronized content item being synchronized by the content management system across one or more client devices.

11. The system of claim 10 , the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
identify a task associated with the synchronized content item; and
assign the task to at least one participant of the email.

12. A method comprising:
determining that a messaging account associated with an electronic correspondence is associated with a user account of a content management system, the content management system synchronizing a plurality of shared content items between a plurality of user devices and a plurality of respective user accounts;
determining that a first content item attached to or referenced by the electronic correspondence is a version of a second content item that was synchronized to the content management system before the electronic correspondence was generated, the second content item being stored at the content management system in association with permission to synchronize edits by the user account and other user accounts;
in response to determining that the first content item is the version of the second content item, comparing the first content item and the second content item and identify differences between the first content item and the second content item;
in response to determining that the first content item is the version of the second content item, associating the first content item, the second content item, and the electronic correspondence at the content management system;
determining that a modification of the second content item has been synchronized to the content management system; and
in response to determining that the second content item stored at the content management system has been modified, triggering a notification to participant user accounts other than the u

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Goel Samir
• Agrawal Abhishek
• Akhawe Devdatta
• Apte Renuka
• Bhargava Nikhil
• Piyush Pranav
• Naik Samir
• Sundin Nicholas

Classifications

• H04L51/08 Primary

  Annexed information, e.g. attachments · CPC title

• H04L51/48

  Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L51/216

  Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title