Traversal rights

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11630841-B2
Application number	US-202117159941-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2021
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	Apr 18, 2023
Grant date	Apr 18, 2023

Abstract

The present technology pertains to a 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 method comprising:
retrieving a path for a folder associated with an access change, wherein the access change pertains to a user account gaining access to the folder;
in response to the retrieval, identifying access rights to a superordinate folder superordinate to the folder in the path;
determining the superordinate folder was not accessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder; and
in response to the determination, adding, in a traversal dictionary, the path to the superordinate folder, wherein adding the path in the traversal dictionary gives the user account a traversal right to the superordinate folder, wherein the traversal right allows the user account to view the superordinate folder to access the folder, wherein the superordinate folder further comprises other content items that are visible to another user account but not visible to the user account with the traversal right.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adding the path to the superordinate folder in the traversal dictionary is for an organization directory, wherein user accounts associated with the organization directory, including the user account, access content items by same respective paths in the organization directory.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traversal dictionary is stored in association with each folder in a respective path for which access to at least one folder is a traversal right, and lists a next subordinate folder for which the user account has traversal rights.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying access rights to a next superordinate folder that is superordinate to the superordinate folder;
determining that the next superordinate folder was not accessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder; and
when the next superordinate folder was inaccessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder, adding, in the traversal dictionary, a path to the next superordinate folder.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the superordinate folder was not accessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder includes:
determining that the user account is not listed in a restrictive access control list for the superordinate folder.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to the retrieving the path for the folder, receiving a request to access the folder by the user account; and
determining whether the user account has traversal rights to access the folder based on the traversal dictionary.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining whether the folder is a team-shared folder where user accounts associated with an organization directory have rights to at least view a name of the team-shared folder.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
sending, to a client device associated with the user account, latest entries in a server file journal for the folder and a cursor including a namespace identifier and a server file journal identifier for the latest entries in the server file journal.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, when executed the instructions are effective to cause a content management system to:
retrieve a path for a folder associated with an access change, wherein the access change pertains to a user account gaining access to the folder;
in response to the retrieval, identify access rights to a superordinate folder superordinate to the folder in the path;
determine the superordinate folder was not accessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder; and
in response to the determination, add, in a traversal dictionary, the path to the superordinate folder, wherein adding the path in the traversal dictionary gives the user account a traversal right to the superordinate folder, wherein the traversal right allows the user account to view the superordinate folder to access the folder, wherein the superordinate folder further comprises other content items that are visible to another user account but not visible to the user account with the traversal right.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the adding the path to the superordinate folder in the traversal dictionary is for an organization directory, wherein user accounts associated with the organization directory, including the user account, access content items by same respective paths in the organization directory.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the traversal dictionary is stored in association with each folder in a respective path for which access to at least one folder is a traversal right, and lists a next subordinate folder for which the user account has traversal rights.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , comprising instructions to cause the content management system to:
identify access rights to a next superordinate folder that is superordinate to the superordinate folder;
determine that the next superordinate folder was not accessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder; and
when the next superordinate folder was inaccessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder, add, in the traversal dictionary, a path to the next superordinate folder.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , comprising instructions to cause the content management system to:
determine that the user account is not listed in a restrictive access control list for the superordinate folder.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , comprising instructions to cause the content management system to:
prior to the retrieving the path for the folder, receive a request to access the folder by the user account; and
determine whether the user account has traversal rights to access the folder based on the traversal dictionary.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , comprising instructions to cause the content management system to:
determine whether the folder is a team-shared folder where user accounts associated with an organization directory have rights to at least view a name of the team-shared folder.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , comprising instructions to cause the content management system to:
send, to a client device associated with the user account, latest entries in a server file journal for the folder and a cursor including a namespace identifier and a server file journal identifier for the latest entries in the server file journal.

17. A content management system comprising:
one or more processors; and
at least one memory having instructions stored thereon, that when executed the instructions are effective to cause the one or more processors to:
retrieve a path for a folder associated with an access change, wherein the access change pertains to a user account gaining access to the folder;
in response to the retrieval, identify access rights to a superordinate folder superordinate to the folder in the path;
determine the superordinate folder was not accessible by the user account prior to the user account gaining access to the folder; and
in response to the determination, add, in a traversal dictionary, the path to the superordinate folder, wherein adding the path in the traversal dictionary gives the user account a traversal right to the superordinate

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Kleinpeter Thomas
• Xu Tony
• Sydell Alex
• Bunger Nils
• Jau Sam
• Staley Aaron
• Lin Sara

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

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F16/178 Primary

  Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems · CPC title

• G06F16/148

  File search processing · CPC title