Sharing information between tenants of a multi-tenant database

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016203157-A1
Application number	US-201615076595-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 21, 2016
Priority date	Jun 4, 2010
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In a method, system, and computer-readable medium having instructions for sharing information between tenants of a multi-tenant database, information is received on a connection between a first tenant of a multi-tenant database and a second tenant and the connection has information on a scope of data from the first tenant shared with the second tenant, data is allowed for a record of the first tenant to be accessible to the second tenant in accordance with the connection, information is received on a file related to the record of the first tenant, and data is allowed from the file to be accessible to the second tenant in accordance with the connection.

First claim

1 - 9 . (canceled)

10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are capable of causing a computer system to implement operations comprising:
storing data of a first user of a multi-tenant database, wherein the data includes a file of the first user; receiving, from the first user, information about a connection between the first user and a second user of the database, wherein the information indicates that the data of the first user is to be shared with the second user; storing the information after notifying the second user of the connection; receiving a first request from the second user for at least a portion of the data of the first user, wherein the portion includes the file; and in response to receipt of the first request and based on the stored information:
generating a first query to retrieve the portion of the data from the database; and
providing, to the second user, the portion of the data retrieved using the first query.

11 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the stored information indicates that a particular record is to be shared with the second user; and
wherein the operations further comprise:
sharing the file with the second user in response to the particular record identifying a file name of the file.

12 . The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
storing a parent record and a corresponding child record in the database, wherein the particular record is the parent record, and wherein the child record includes contents of the file shared with the second user.

13 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
storing the data of the first user in a first portion of the database and data of the second user in a second portion of the database, wherein the first portion is separate from the second portion; in response to storing the information, replicating data of the file from the first portion to the second portion; and in response to receipt of the first request, generating the first query to retrieve the replicated data from the second portion.

14 . The computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
synchronizing data of the file in the first portion with the replicated data of the file in the second portion.

15 . The computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
storing a mapping table that associates a first location at which data of the file is stored in the first portion with a second location at which replicated data of the file is stored in the second portion.

16 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the stored information indicates whether the second user is permitted to modify the data to be shared with the second user.

17 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to notifying the second user of the connection, receiving an approval of the connection from the second user; and storing the information in response to the received approval.

18 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
after storing the information, storing additional data of the first user; and determining, based on the stored information, whether to share the additional data with the second user.

19 . A method, comprising:
a computer system storing data for a plurality of clients as records in separate logical portions of a database, wherein each logical portion is associated with a respective one of the plurality of clients; the computer system receiving connection information indicating that a first of the plurality of clients has authorized sharing a record of the first client with a second of the plurality of clients, wherein the record identifies a file of the first client; and the computer system receiving, from the second client, a request for content of the file; in response to receiving the request:
the computer system determining, based on the connection information, that the second client is permitted to access the requested content; and
the computer system querying the database for the requested content in response to the determining.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
the computer system storing the connection information in a mapping table of the database, wherein the mapping table associates the record of the first client with a record of the second client.

21 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
the computer system replicating content from the record of the first client to the record of the second client, wherein the querying is associated with the record of the second client, wherein the record of the first client is located in a logical portion of the first client, and wherein the record of the second client is located in a logical portion of the second client.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the record of the second client includes a key corresponding to the record of the first client.

23 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the record of the first client is a parent record that references a child record, wherein the child record includes the content of the file.

24 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
the computer system presenting history information associated with the record of the first client be shared with the second client.

25 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
the computer system notifying the second client about the first client authorizing sharing the record of the first client; and the computer system receiving authorization from the second client to store the connection information.

26 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are capable of causing a computer system to implement operations comprising:
receiving, from a first client, a request to share one or more records in a database with a second client; in response to receiving an approval to grant the request from the second client, storing connection information indicating that the second client is permitted to access the one or more shared records; receiving, from the second client, a data request for content of a file referenced by one of the shared records; in response to receiving the data request:
determining, based on the connection information, that the second client is permitted to access the requested content; and
providing, based on the determining, the requested content from the database.

27 . The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the operations further comprise:
storing data for a plurality of clients as records in separate logical portions of the database, wherein each logical portion is associated with a respective one of the plurality of clients, wherein the storing includes storing the shared one or more records in a logical portion associated with the first client.

28 . The computer readable medium of claim 27 , wherein the operations further comprise:
storing the connection information in a mapping table that associates the shared record that references the file to a record in a logical portion associated with the second client; and providing the requested content from the record in the logical portion associated with the second client.

29 . The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the operations further comprise:
providing the requested content from a child record associated with

Assignees

• Salesforce Com Inc

Inventors

• Kuruganti Aditya S
• Fell Simon Z
• Pasala Jayaprakash
• Sanikommu Samatha
• Doshi Kedar
• Lai Sanjaya

Classifications

• G06F17/30165 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L63/102

  Entity profiles · CPC title

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• G06F17/30545

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/25 Primary

  Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems · CPC title