Collection folders in a content management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9430669-B2
Application number	US-201414530555-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2014
Priority date	Jul 23, 2014
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

A content management system allows a user to create a collection folder to which a submitting user can add content items without being able to access content items added to the folder by other submitting users. A collection folder is created in a namespace of a collecting user and folder is made available to multiple submitting users to allow the submitting users to add items to the folder. When a submitting user first request to store a content item in the collection folder, the content management system creates a sub-folder associated with the submitting user in the collection folder and stores the content item in the sub-folder. The submitting user is given rights to the sub-folder, but is not given rights to sub-folders created for other submitting users.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
creating, by a content management system, a folder in a namespace associated with a collecting user in response to the collecting user requesting creation of the folder, the folder associated with a project;
receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, identifying information associated with a plurality of submitting users, the plurality of submitting users including a first submitting user and a second submitting user:
transmitting, by the content management system to each of the plurality of submitting users based on the identifying information, a message inviting the submitting user to add a content item to the folder;
receiving, by the content management system from a first device associated with the first submitting user, a first content item with a request from the first submitting user to add the first content item to the folder;
receiving, by the content management system from a second device associated with the second submitting user, a second content item with a request from the second submitting user to add the second content item to the folder;
automatically creating, by the content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder and adding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on the request to add the first content item to the folder, the first sub-folder associated with the first submitting user;
automatically creating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder within the folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folder based on the request to add the second content item to the folder, the second sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the first submitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the second submitting user unable to access the first sub-folder;
providing, by the content management system to the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the second sub-folder;
receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, a request requesting a number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder;
responsive to receiving the request, determining, by the content management system, a numeric number of sub-folders included in the folder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of the plurality of submitting users; and
sending, by the content management system to a client device associated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders, the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an additional request to add a third content item to the folder; and
responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, denying the additional request.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the first submitting user a write right to add one or more content items to the first sub-folder and a read right to access content items added by the first submitting user to the first sub-folder; and
responsive to an expiration time associated with the folder being surpassed, removing the write right from the first submitting user and allowing the first submitting user to retain the read right.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to the collecting user requesting to grant administrative rights to an additional user, providing the additional user access to the first content item in the first sub-folder and to the second content item in the second sub-folder based on the granted administrative rights.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to creating the first sub-folder, adding to the first-sub folder a first copy of a seed document, the first submitting user having rights to edit the first copy in the first-sub folder; and
responsive to creating the second sub-folder, adding to the second-sub folder a second copy of a seed document, the second submitting user having rights to edit the second copy in the second-sub folder.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sub-folder is associated with the first submitting user based on verified information provided by the first submitting user, the verified information identifying the first submitting user.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the verified information includes a communication identifier and verifying the communication identifier comprises:
sending a message with verification information to the communication identifier; and
responsive to receiving the verification information from the first submitting user, approving the communication identifier as verified.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an additional request to add a third content item to the folder; and
responsive to the third content item not being in a format specified by the collecting user, denying the additional request.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable program instructions for performing operations comprising:
creating, by a content management system, a folder in a namespace associated with a collecting user in response to the collecting user requesting creation of the folder, the folder associated with a project;
receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, identifying information associated with a plurality of submitting users, the plurality of submitting users including a first submitting user and a second submitting user;
transmitting, by the content management system to each of the plurality of submitting users based on the identifying information, a message inviting the submitting user to add a content item to the folder;
receiving, by the content management system from a first device associated with the first submitting user, a first content item with a request from the first submitting user to add the first content item to the folder;
receiving, by the content management system from a second device associated with the second submitting user, a second content item with a request from the second submitting user to add the second content item to the folder;
automatically creating, by the content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder and adding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on the request to add the first content item to the folder, the first sub-folder associated with the first submitting user;
automatically creating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder within the folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folder based on the request to add the second content item to the folder, the second sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the first submitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the second submitting user unable to access the first sub-folder;
providing, by the content management system to the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the second sub-folder;
receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user, a request requesting a number of individual submitting users that have added content items to the folder;
responsive to receiving the request, determining, by the content management system, a numeric number of sub-folders included in the folder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of the plurality of submitting users; and
sending, by the content management system to a client device associated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders, the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number of individual submitting users that have added content items

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Staley Aaron
• Jain Aditi
• Ferrazares Aisha
• Chen Alicia
• Warty Ashish
• Adams John
• Hui Joseph
• Siegel Kathryn
• Jansson Lennart
• Pan Matteus
• Baesman Rob
• Xu Siyao

Classifications

• G06F21/6245 Primary

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title

• G06F16/16

  File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems · CPC title

• G06F2221/2141

  Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices · CPC title

• G06F21/6218 Primary

  to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database · CPC title

• G06F16/176

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