Content item purging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12105686-B2
Application number	US-202217886207-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2022
Priority date	Nov 12, 2013
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for content item purging are provided. A contact item purger, such as may be incorporated within a local client application of a content management system running on a user device, may leverage knowledge as to which items have been uploaded to the content management system, and how long such content items have been stored on the user device, to propose items for deletion from the user device so as to reclaim storage space. A contact item purger may run on one or more user devices, and may activate upon various triggering events, based on various conditions and parameters, with or without user interaction, thus maintaining available memory capacity at all times.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for reclaiming storage space at a computing device, the method comprising:
storing, by a content management system application installed on the computing device, attributes at the computing device for tracking upload status of a set of content items locally stored within a file system of the computing device, the set of content items under management of a content management system and monitored by the content management system application;
based, at least in part, on the attributes for tracking upload status of the set of content items, identifying, by the content management system application, a plurality of content items, of the set of content items, that have all been previously uploaded to a datastore of the content management system and therefore exist at a same time on both the file system of the computing device and the datastore of the content management system, the set of content items identified based on metadata indicating prior upload to the datastore; and
based, at least in part, on determining that the plurality of content items, in aggregate, occupy an amount of storage space in the file system exceeding a storage threshold amount and that each content item, of the plurality of content items, is stored in the file system for at least a time threshold, wherein the plurality of content items and exist on both the computing device and the datastore of the content management system, reclaiming, by the content management system application, storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items is based, at least in part, on deleting one or more content items, of the plurality of content items, from the file system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items is based, at least in part, on storing, in the file system, a truncated version of a respective content item of the plurality of content items.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items is based, at least in part, on storing, in the file system, a downsampled version of a respective content item of the plurality of content items.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an aggregate storage space based, at least in part, on a sum of a corresponding size in the file system of the plurality of content items; and

based, at least in part, on determining that the aggregate storage space exceeds the storage threshold amount, performing the reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, based, at least in part, on receiving user input confirming reclamation of storage space in the file system, performing the reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, based, at least in part, on determining that the computing device is operating on battery power and that a charge level of a battery of the computing device is above a threshold charge level, performing the identifying the plurality of content items, of the set of content items, that have all been previously uploaded to the datastore of the content management system.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, based, at least in part, on determining that the computing device is operating on alternating current power, performing the identifying the plurality of content items, of the set of content items, that have all been previously uploaded to the datastore of the content management system.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, based, at least in part, on determining that an amount of available storage space in the file system is below a threshold amount, performing the identifying the plurality of content items, of the set of content items, that have all been previously uploaded to the datastore of the content management system.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising memory with instructions stored thereon for reclaiming storage space at a computing device, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
storing, by a content management system application installed on the computing device, attributes at the computing device for tracking upload status of a set of content items locally stored within a file system of the computing device, the set of content items under management of a content management system and monitored by the content management system application;
based, at least in part, on the attributes for tracking upload status of the set of content items, identifying, by the content management system application, a plurality of content items, of the set of content items, that have all been previously uploaded to a datastore of the content management system and therefore exist at a same time on both the file system of the computing device and the datastore of the content management system, the set of content items identified based on metadata indicating prior upload to the datastore;
determining an aggregate storage space based on a sum of a corresponding size in the file system of the plurality of content items; and
based, at least in part, on determining that the aggregate storage space occupies an amount of storage space in the file system exceeding a threshold amount and that the plurality of content items exist on both the computing device and the datastore of the content management system, reclaiming, by the content management system application, storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items is based, at least in part, on deleting one or more content items, of the plurality of content items, from the file system.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items is based, at least in part, on storing, in the file system, a truncated version of a respective content item of the plurality of content items.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items is based, at least in part, on storing, in the file system, a downsampled version of a respective content item of the plurality of content items.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising: based, at least in part, on determining that each content item, of the plurality of content items, is stored in the file system for at least a threshold amount of time, performing the reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising, based, at least in part, on receiving user input confirming reclamation of storage space in the file system, performing the reclaiming storage space in the file system occupied by the plurality of content items.

16. A system comprising:
memory with instructions encoded thereon for reclaiming storage space at a computing device; and one or more processors that, when executing the instructions, cause the system to perform operations co

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Dwan Michael
• Grue Anthony
• Kluesing Daniel

Classifications

• G06F16/27

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

• G06F16/162 Primary

  Delete operations (erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652) · CPC title

• G06F16/215 Primary

  Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors · CPC title