Accessing network based content items by a mobile device while offline

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11809381-B2
Application number	US-202217846818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2022
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods of accessing content items stored at a content management system by a mobile device, when the mobile device is not communicatively coupled to the content management system. The content management system can receive an indication to mark a content item (e.g., folder and the content items associated with the folder) as available to a mobile device when the mobile device is offline. The content management system can mark the content item, and any content items associated with the content item, for offline access by the mobile device and determine a synchronization schedule for the content item(s). The content management system can then initially send to the mobile device, the marked content item(s) in accordance with the synchronization schedule. While offline, the mobile device can make changes to the marked content items. The changes can be synchronized between the mobile device and content management system when the mobile device is online.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A content management system comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
access historical usage information of a content item associated with a user account within the content management system;
upon a determination by the content management system that an amount of historical usage of the content item is met, mark, by the content management system, the content item for offline access by a first client device associated with the user account;
provide, to the first client device, the content item marked for offline access for local storage and access on the first client device;
receive, from the first client device, an indication of a user interaction with an icon corresponding to the content item;
unmark the content item for offline access at the first client device based on receiving the indication of the user interaction; and
cause the first client device to remove the content item from the local storage of the first client device.

2. The content management system of claim 1 , the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
determine available storage is below a threshold amount on the first client device; and
based on the determined available storage being below the threshold amount, unmark a second content item previously marked for offline use.

3. The content management system of claim 1 , the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
determine available storage is below a threshold amount on the first client device;
receive an override command from the first client device; and
transmit the content item, wherein the first client device has available storage.

4. The content management system of claim 1 , the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
upon a second determination by the content management system that a second amount of historical usage of a second content item is met, mark, by the content management system, the second content item for offline access by a second client device associated with the user account; and
cause the first client device to display an indication that the second content item has offline access at the second client device based on confirmation from the content management system.

5. The content management system of claim 1 , wherein marking the content item is based on the indication received by the content management system to mark the content item for offline access, wherein the indication comprises metadata, a unique identifier, a Boolean flag, or a variable flag associated with the content item.

6. The content management system of claim 1 , the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
receive a second indication that the content item has been marked available offline via a web interface or client application that is not executing on the first client device and associated with the user account; and
send a push notification that the content item is to be synchronized to the first client device, wherein a content item synchronization service of a mobile application synchronizes the content item to the first client device.

7. The content management system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
receive a second indication that the content item has been marked available offline for the first client device and a second client device via a web interface or client application associated with an administrator user account;
send a first push notification that the content item is to be synchronized to the first client device, wherein a content item synchronization service of a first client application synchronizes the content item to the first client device; and
send a second push notification that the content item is to be synchronized to the second client device, wherein a second content item synchronization service of a second client application synchronizes the content item to the second client device.

8. The content management system of claim 1 , the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
determine, when the first client device is online after being offline, whether there is a conflict between a change made to the content item at the content management system while the first client device was offline and a version of the content item stored on the first client device; and
in response to determining that there is a resolvable conflict, resolve the resolvable conflict between the change to the content item and the content item stored at the first client device.

9. The content management system of claim 1 , wherein the marking indicates that the content item is synchronized with the first client device and the unmarking indicates that the content item is to be unsynchronized with the first client device, wherein providing the content item includes synchronized the content item with the first client device.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:
accessing historical usage information of a content item associated with a user account within a content management system;
upon a determination by the content management system that an amount of historical usage of the content item is met, marking, by the content management system, the content item for offline access by a first client device associated with the user account;
providing, to the first client device, the content item marked for offline access for local storage and access on the first client device;
receiving, from the first client device, an indication of a user interaction with an icon corresponding to the content item;
unmarking the content item for offline access at the first client device based on receiving the indication of the user interaction; and
causing the first client device to remove the content item from the local storage of the first client device.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:
determining available storage is below a threshold amount on the first client device; and
based on the determined available storage being below the threshold amount, unmarking a second content item previously marked for offline use.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:
determining available storage is below a threshold amount on the first client device;
receiving an override command from the first client device; and
transmitting the content item, wherein the first client device has available storage.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:
upon a second determination by the content management system that a second amount of historical usage of a second content item is met, marking, by the content management system, the second content item for offline access by a second client device associated with the user account; and
causing the first client device to display an indication that the second content item has offline access at the second client device based on confirmation from the content management system.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein marking the content item is based on the indication received b

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Kambuj Aakash
• Valloppillil Vinod
• Guo Yufei
• Gomez Avila Rodrigo
• Low Calvin
• Fraser William R
• Zhang David

Classifications

• G06F16/178 Primary

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