Control transfer of shared content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017193001-A1
Application number	US-201514983919-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example computer implemented method to manage and transfer access to a synchronized content item across multiple users includes displaying a local version of the content item in an application window of a first application. The local version of the content item can be associated with a cloud version of the content item stored on a content management system. The method also includes displaying a content item control interface in the application window with the displayed content item. This content item control interface can be displayed by a second application responsible for synchronizing the local version of the content item with the cloud version of the content item and for managing content item controls through the content management system. The content item level control interface can include a content item editing permission interface that can allow a user to claim or release an editing permission to the content item.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: computer executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed by a computer being effective to cause the computer to:
display a local version of a content item in an application window of a first application executing on a client device of a first user, wherein the local version of the content item is associated with a cloud version of the content item stored on a content management system, wherein the first user is one of a plurality of users having access to the content item stored in the shared collection; and display a content item control interface with the application window displaying the content item, the content item control interface being displayed by a second application responsible for synchronizing the local version of the content item with the cloud version of the content item and for managing content item controls through the content management system, the content item control interface effective to allow the first user to claim or release an editing permission to the content item, wherein the editing permission can only be claimed by one user of the plurality of users at a time.

2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the computer to:
receive a user input in the content item control interface effective to claim the editing permission for the content item; send, by the second application, a first communication to the content management system, the first communication indicating that the first user has the editing permission, whereby the content management system is configured to not accept updates from all other of the plurality of users except the first user.

3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the computer to:
receive a user input in the content item control interface effective to release the editing permission for the content item; and send, by the second application, a second communication to the content management system, the second communication indicating that the first user has released the editing permission, whereby the content management system is configured to allow any of the plurality of users to claim the editing permission for the content item.

4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the computer to:
send, by the second application, a history entry to the content management system for inclusion in a history of the content item.

5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the computer to:
display, by the second application, the history of the content item, the history including modification events including the history entry.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the computer to:
detect, by the second application, a modification made to the content item; and determine, by the second application, a summary of the modification; wherein the history entry includes the summary of the modification.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the computer to:
display, by the second application, an indication of which of the plurality of users has the editing permission of the content item.

8 . A system comprising:
a processor; a computer-readable medium; and non-transitory computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to: display a local version of a content item in an application window of a first application executing on a client device of a first user, wherein the local version of the content item is associated with a cloud version of the content item stored on a content management system, wherein the first user is one of a plurality of users having access to the content item stored in the shared collection; and display a content item control interface at least partially in the application window with the displayed content item, the content item control interface being displayed by a second application responsible for synchronizing the local version of the content item with the cloud version of the content item and for managing content item controls through the content management system, the content item level control interface including a content item editing permission interface effective to allow the first user to claim or release an editing permission to the content item, wherein the editing permission can only be claimed by one user of the plurality of users at a time.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the system to:
receive a user input in the content item control interface effective to claim the editing permission for the content item; send, by the second application, a first communication to the content management system, the first communication indicating that the first user has the editing permission, whereby the content management system is configured to not accept updates from all other of the plurality of users except the first user.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the system to:
receive a user input in the content item control interface effective to release the editing permission for the content item; and send, by the second application, a second communication to the content management system, the second communication indicating that the first user has released the editing permission, whereby the content management system is configured to allow any of the plurality of user to claim the editing permission of the content item.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the system to:
send, by the second application, a history entry to the content management system for inclusion in a history of the content item.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the system to:
display, by the second application, a history of the content item, the history including modification events.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the system to:
detect, by the second application, a modification made to the content item; and determine, by the second application, a summary of the modification; wherein the history includes a history entry including the summary of the modification.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further effective to cause the system to:
display, by the second application, an indication of which of the plurality of users has the editing permission of the content item.

15 . A method comprising:
displaying a local version of a content item in an application window of a first application executing on a client device of a first user, wherein the local version of the content item is associated with a cloud version of the content item stored on a content management system, wherein the first user is one of a plurality of users having access to the content item stored in the shared collection; and displaying a content item control interface in the application window with the displayed content item, the content item control interface being displayed by a second application responsible for synchronizing the local version of the content item with the cloud version of the

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Agrawal Abhishek
• Andersson Rasmus

Classifications

• G06F40/166

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title

• G06Q10/107

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06F16/176

  Support for shared access to files; File sharing support · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title