Data model and data service for content management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12019599-B2
Application number	US-202217825571-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2022
Priority date	Dec 21, 2020
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art for a content management system that can be highly flexible to the needs of its subjects. The present technology permits any object to be shared by providing a robust and flexible access control list mechanism. The present technology utilizes a data structure that is highly efficient that both minimizes the amount of information that needs to be written into any database, but also allows for fast reads and writes of information from authoritative tables that are a source of truth for the content management system, while allowing for maintenance of indexes containing more refined data that allow for efficient retrieval of certain information that would normally need to be calculated when it is needed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
maintaining a database including at least one table, wherein the database includes immutable rows with fields for data descriptive of changed data occurring relative to objects stored in a content management system, the fields including:
an object identifier (“ID”) referencing a specific object for which data in a respective row in the at least one table pertains;
access capability data for the specific object represented by the object ID;
object type data for the specific object represented by the object ID; and
recording a new immutable row in the at least one table when the changed data occurs relative to at least one of the objects stored in the content management system, wherein the new immutable row includes the object ID for at least one of the objects stored in the content management system to which the changed data has occurred and data pertaining to the changed data including a first access capability data that identifies a subject and a capability of the subject or a permission granted to the subject, and a first object type data for the at least one of the objects stored in the content management system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one table comprises at least three tables including:
a first object table containing the access capability data;
a second object table containing object activity data including the object type data; and
a third table containing ancestor data including a second object identifier (“ID”) referencing a second specific object that is a direct ancestor of the specific object represented by the object ID, wherein each of the at least three tables is indexed by the object D and clock value fields.

3. The method of claim 2 comprising:
maintaining a directory index in addition to the third table containing ancestor data, the directory index containing descendants of the specific object by identifying at least a third object identifier (“ID”) referencing a direct descendant of the specific object.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fields further comprise at least one of:
a clock value recording a system time in which the changed data relative to the specific object represented by the object ID occurred; and
an ancestor object ID referencing a second specific object that is a direct ancestor of the specific object represented by the object ID.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the clock value is based on a hybrid logical clock.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving a request to represent a directory tree at a specified time; and
accessing the database to identify ancestors of the specific object by first identifying a direct ancestor of the specific object, and then recursively identifying a further direct ancestor of the direct ancestor until no further direct ancestors are available.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one table includes descriptive data sufficient to perform its intended function.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the descriptive data does not include a description of an action resulting in the changed data for the specific object.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to:
maintain a database including at least one table, wherein the database includes immutable rows with fields for data descriptive of changed data occurring relative to objects stored in a content management system, the fields including:
an object identifier (“ID”) referencing a specific object for which data in a respective row in the at least one table pertains;
access capability data for the specific object represented by the object ID;
object type data for the specific object represented by the object ID; and
record a new immutable row in the at least one table when the changed data occurs relative to at least one of the objects stored in the content management system, wherein the new immutable row includes the object ID for at least one of the objects stored in the content management system to which the changed data has occurred and data pertaining to the changed data including a first access capability data that identifies a subject and a capability of the subject or a permission granted to the subject, and a first object type data for the at least one of the objects stored in the content management system.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the at least one table comprises at least three tables including:
a first object table containing access capability data;
a second object table containing object activity data including object type data; and
a third table containing ancestor data including a second object ID referencing a second specific object that is a direct ancestor of the specific object represented by the object ID, wherein each of the at least three tables is indexed by the object ID and clock value fields.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the fields further comprise at least one of:
a clock value recording a system time in which the changed data relative to the specific object represented by the object ID occurred; and
an ancestor object ID referencing a second specific object that is a direct ancestor of the specific object represented by the object ID.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the clock value is based on a hybrid logical clock.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the at least one table includes descriptive data to perform its intended function.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed by a computing system, further cause the computing system to:
receive a request to represent a directory tree at a specified time; and
access the database to identify ancestors of the specific object by first identifying a direct ancestor of the specific object, and then recursively identifying a further direct ancestor of the direct ancestor until no further direct ancestors are available.

15. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions thereon, the instructions are effective to cause the at least one processor to:
maintain a database including at least one table, wherein the database includes immutable rows with fields for data descriptive of changed data occurring relative to objects stored in a content management system, the fields including:
an object identifier (“ID”) referencing a specific object for which data in a respective row in the at least one table pertains;
access capability data for the specific object represented by the object ID;
object type data for the specific object represented by the object ID; and
record a new immutable row in the at least one table whenever the changed data occurs relative to at least one of the objects stored in the content management system, wherein the new immutable row includes the object ID for at least one of the objects stored in the content management system to which the changed data has occurred and data pertaining to the changed data including a first access capability data that identifies a subject and a capability of the subject or a permission granted to the subject, and a first object type data for the at least one of the objects stored in the content management system.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one table comprises at least three tables including:
a first object table containing access capability data;
a second object table containing object activ

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Passey Aaron
• Walker Braden
• Albert Akos

Classifications

• G06F16/278

  Data partitioning, e.g. horizontal or vertical partitioning · CPC title

• G06F16/275

  Synchronous replication · CPC title

• G06F16/273

  Asynchronous replication or reconciliation · CPC title

• G06F16/27

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

• G06F16/2219

  Large Object storage; Management thereof · CPC title