U.S. patent application number 14/247840 was filed with the patent office on 2015-08-27 for systems and methods for ephemeral eventing.
This patent application is currently assigned to Dropbox, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Dropbox, Inc.. Invention is credited to Andrew Haven, Thomas Kleinpeter, Stephen Poletto, Nils Peter Welinder, Thomas Wright.
Application Number | 20150244836 14/247840 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53786171 |
Filed Date | 2015-08-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150244836 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Poletto; Stephen ; et
al. |
August 27, 2015 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EPHEMERAL EVENTING
Abstract
Embodiments are provided for ephemeral eventing. Ephemeral
eventing may involve sending metadata portions associated with
content items from a user device to a content management system
prior to uploading the content portions of the content items. The
content management system may then assign the content items to one
or more events. The event assignments may then be sent back to the
user device, allowing the content items to be locally displayed
according to their events as if the content items had already been
uploaded to the content management system.
Inventors: |
Poletto; Stephen; (San
Francisco, CA) ; Wright; Thomas; (San Francisco,
CA) ; Welinder; Nils Peter; (San Francisco, CA)
; Kleinpeter; Thomas; (San Francisco, CA) ; Haven;
Andrew; (San Francisco, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Dropbox, Inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Dropbox, Inc.
San Francisco
CA
|
Family ID: |
53786171 |
Appl. No.: |
14/247840 |
Filed: |
April 8, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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61945809 |
Feb 27, 2014 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/203 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 43/0894 20130101;
H04L 67/26 20130101; G06F 16/58 20190101; H04L 67/1085 20130101;
H04L 67/06 20130101; H04L 29/0809 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101;
H04L 29/08117 20130101; H04L 67/1097 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: identifying a content item on a user device
connected to a content management system over a data network, the
content item comprising a content portion and a metadata portion;
providing, in a first upload and during a first time period, the
metadata portion of the content item to the content management
system; receiving, from the content management system, event
assignment metadata that associates the content item with an event;
and providing, in a second upload and during a second time period,
the content portion of the content item to the content management
system, wherein the second time period expires after the first time
period.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing a display
of the content item on the user device within an events view that
comprises at least some of the event assignment metadata before the
content portion is uploaded to the content management system.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: providing the display
of the content item in the events view within an expedited time
period.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning the content
item to the event based on the event assignment metadata.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein uploading providing the metadata
portion comprises: uploading geographic and temporal data
associated with the content item.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata portion comprises
one or more of a geolocation, a creation timestamp, at least one
access timestamp, at least one upload timestamp, at least one
sharing timestamp, user sharing data, user access data, a device_ID
that identifies the user device, a local_ID that identifies the
content item on the user device, or content features extracted from
the content item.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: queuing the content
portion for uploading to the content management system one of
automatically or manually; and uploading the content portion based
on network conditions, wherein the network conditions required to
upload the content portion varies according to a type of content
represented in the content item.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: if a network
connection is not available for providing the metadata portion,
queuing the metadata portion for uploading to the content
management system.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: aggregating the
metadata portion with other queued metadata portions, wherein
providing the metadata portion comprises bulk uploading the
metadata portion and other queued metadata portions.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the event assignment metadata
comprises at least a first event ID.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: receiving, from the
content management system, a second event ID for the content item
upon the content management system determining that the first event
ID and the second event ID refer to the same event.
12. A content management system, comprising: a memory; and at least
one processor, the at least one processor configured to: receive a
metadata portion of a content item from a user device; create an
ephemeral item based on the metadata portion, the ephemeral item
comprising an incomplete version of the content item queued for
receiving a content portion of the content item; assign event data
to the ephemeral item based on the metadata portion; and send the
event data to the user device for rendering of the content item
within a user interface utilizing the event data prior to receiving
the content portion of the content item.
13. The content management system of claim 12, further comprising:
a database stored in the memory, wherein the at least one processor
is configured to: generate an entry in the database comprising at
least a portion of the metadata portion.
14. The content management system of claim 13, wherein the metadata
portion comprises: a user account ID; a local ID; and at least one
descriptive metadata item.
15. The content management system of claim 14, wherein the metadata
portion further comprises one or more of a geolocation, a creation
timestamp, at least one access timestamp, at least one upload
timestamp, at least one sharing timestamp, user sharing data, user
access data, a device_ID that identifies the user device, a
local_ID that identifies the content item on the user device; or
content features extracted from the content item.
16. The content management system of claim 13, wherein the at least
one processor is further configured to, after sending the event
data: receive a content portion of the content item; and store the
content portion in the memory.
17. The content management system of claim 16, wherein the at least
one processor is configured to: convert the ephemeral item to a
second content item.
18. The content management system of claim 17, wherein in
converting the ephemeral item to a content item, the at least one
processor is configured to: assign a global ID to the entry; update
an address field of the entry with an address of the content
portion in the memory; and send the global ID to the user
device.
19. The content management system of claim 13, wherein the at least
one processor is configured to: refine the event data based on
additional information available to the content management system;
store the refined event data in the entry; and send the refined
event data to the user device.
20. The content management system of claim 19, wherein the at least
one processor is configured to: refine the event data one of
continuously or periodically while the event data is not locked by
one of a user of the user device or the content management
system.
21. A method comprising: receiving, at a content management system
in a first upload and during a first time period, a metadata
portion of a content item from a user device connected to the
content management system over a data network, the content item
comprising a content portion and the metadata portion; assigning
the content item to an event based on the metadata portion with a
data processor of the content management system; sending event
assignment metadata that associates the content item with the event
from the content management system to the user device; and
receiving, in a second upload and during a second time period, the
content portion of the content item at the content management
system, wherein the second time period expires after the first time
period.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein sending the event assignment
metadata permits the user device to provide a display the content
item in an events view within an expedited time period.
23. The method of claim 21, further comprising: receiving
additional event data associated with the event at the content
management system; and refining the event assignment metadata based
on the additional event data.
24. The method of claim 21, wherein assigning the content item to
an event comprises: creating an ephemeral item entry in a content
item database stored in a memory of the content management system,
wherein the ephemeral item entry comprises at least a portion of
the metadata portion and at least a portion of the event assignment
metadata.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising: storing the content
portion in the memory; associating the content portion with the
ephemeral item; and converting the ephemeral item entry into a
second content item by populating a global ID field and an address
field of the ephemeral item entry, wherein the global ID field
comprises a common identifier for the content item and the second
content item, and wherein the address field comprises one of a
physical address or a logical address that indicates where in the
memory the second content item is stored.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein associating the content portion
with the ephemeral item comprises: matching a first local_ID
associated with the content item with a second local_ID stored in
the ephemeral item entry.
27. The method of claim 25, further comprising: sending the
global_ID to the user device.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 61/945,809, filed on Feb. 27, 2014, entitled
"SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EMPHEMERAL EVENTING," the disclosure of
which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Various embodiments generally relate to systems and methods
for ephemeral eventing.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Economies of scale and increases in the availability of
high-speed network connections have made it cheap and convenient
for users to store digital content in a remote storage system
instead of, or in addition to, local user device storage
components. Besides simply storing users' data, such remote storage
systems can offer various content management solutions to improve
the user experience. The user experience may suffer, however, when
content cannot be immediately synchronized between a user's local
user device and the content management system.
[0004] Synchronizing content items may involve sending content
items from a user device to the content management system,
performing at least one management function on the content items at
the content management system, and sending the content items and/or
the output of the management functions to the user device (and
additional user devices as appropriate). In circumstances in which
the content items cannot be synchronized quickly, the user may not
be able to take advantage of the management functionality provided
by the content management system.
SUMMARY
[0005] Systems and methods for ephemeral eventing are provided.
Ephemeral eventing may improve the user experience by permitting a
user to view content items within a user interface on a local user
device in the context of logical sets, called "events," while the
content item is queued for uploading, but not yet uploaded, to the
server. In order to provide a seamless user experience, metadata
associated with content items stored on the local user device may
be sent to the content management system, which may then determine
appropriate eventing data for the content item and send the
eventing data back to the local user device. The local user device
may then immediately render the content items in a user interface
according to the eventing data received from the content management
system. Because metadata typically represents only a small fraction
of a content item's file size, the metadata upload/eventing data
download may be processed quickly enough such that the user
perceives no delay between, for example, taking a picture with an
user device and having that picture rendered on a display of the
user device in a user interface that incorporates the eventing
data. Transmission of the content portion of the content item may
then be scheduled for an appropriate time, such as when the user
device is connected to a high-bandwidth network connection.
[0006] Metadata received at the content management system may be
used to create an ephemeral item, store the ephemeral item in a
content item database, and assign eventing data to the ephemeral
item. The eventing data may then be sent back to the user device
from which the metadata was received to permit immediate rendering
of the content item along with the eventing data. Once the content
portion of the content item is received at the content management
system, the ephemeral item may be replaced by the content item. The
content management system may periodically or continuously refine
the eventing data associated with content items both on the content
management system and on the user device based upon various
factors, including data retrieved from the content management
system, data retrieved from a 3.sup.rd party server, data retrieved
from an Internet news source, calendar entry data, and/or shared
content items, for example.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The above and other aspects and advantages of the invention
will become more apparent upon consideration of the following
detailed description, taken in conjunction with accompanying
drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts
throughout, and in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an exemplary content
management system for ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some
embodiments;
[0009] FIGS. 2A and 2B show a user interfaces for viewing content
items in an event view, in accordance with some embodiments;
[0010] FIG. 3 shows a block diagram for executing ephemeral
eventing, in accordance with some embodiments;
[0011] FIG. 4 shows a portion of an illustrative content item
database for ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some
embodiments;
[0012] FIGS. 5-12 show flowcharts of illustrative processes for
ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some embodiments; and
[0013] FIG. 13 shows a schematic view of an exemplary content
management system for ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some
embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0014] Methods, systems, and computer readable mediums for
ephemeral eventing are presented. For purposes of description and
simplicity, methods, systems and computer readable media will be
described for a content storage and management service, and in
particular, content item event classification. However, the terms
"content storage service" and "content management system" are used
herein to refer broadly to a variety of storage providers and
management service providers as well as handling a wide variety of
types of content, files, portions of files, and/or other types of
data. Those with skill in the art will recognize that the methods,
systems, and mediums described may be used for a variety of storage
providers/services and types of content, files, portions of files,
and/or other types of data.
[0015] In order to intelligently display content items on a local
user device, an application executing on the content management
system may categorize content items into events that include all
content items associated with the same event. Verification that a
content item belongs to a particular event may involve algorithms
that analyze a content item's metadata. The metadata may include,
for example, a geolocation, various timestamps (e.g., one or more
creation timestamps, access timestamps, upload timestamps, and/or
sharing timestamps), sharing data (e.g., with which users the
content item was shared), access data (e.g., the number of users
currently viewing the content item and/or the number of times the
content item has been accessed, shared, and/or downloaded), a
device_ID that identifies the user device, a local_ID that
identifies the content item on the user device, and/or content
features extracted from the content. To further distinguish events
that occurred within the same time and space, such as, for example,
Thanksgiving dinner and a football game at the yard across the
street, metadata that identifies the faces, locales, landmarks,
and/or printed time stamps depicted in the content items may also
be analyzed.
[0016] Content item metadata, typically generated when the content
item is created, may be sent to a content management system for
immediate categorization. Because the size of the metadata portion
of a typical content item is often very small, transmission of the
metadata may be conducted over any suitable network connection
available to the user device--even a network connection that is not
suitable to easily handle transmission of the content portion of
the content item. Similarly, eventing data received from the
content management system, like the metadata, is often very small,
and may be received over any suitable network connection.
[0017] Eventing data may incorporate several individual event
attributes for describing the event and distinguishing the event
from other events categorized on the content management system.
Thus, the eventing data may include a unique event ID, an event
name, an event timestamp, and/or various event tags that a user may
find useful for viewing, sorting, organizing, and sharing their
content items. One or more of these event attributes may be
displayed along with the content items associated with the event in
an "event view" user interface on the local user device.
[0018] It is noted that the terms "device" and "content management
system" are used herein to refer broadly to a wide variety of
storage providers and data management service providers, electronic
devices and user devices. It is also noted that the term "content
item" is user herein to refer broadly to a wide variety of digital
data, documents, text content items, audio content items, video
content items, portions of content items, and/or other types of
data. Content items may also include files, folders or other
mechanisms of grouping content items together with different
behaviors, such as collections of content items, playlists, albums,
etc. The term "user" is also used herein broadly, and may
correspond to a single user, multiple users, authorized accounts,
an application or program operating automatically on behalf of, or
at the behest of a person, or any other user type, or any
combination thereof. The term "gesture" and "gestures" are also
used herein broadly, and may correspond to one or more motions,
movements, hoverings, inferences, signs, or any other such physical
interactions with one or more sensors, or any combination thereof,
including vocal commands or interpretations of eye movements based
on retinal tracking. The term "continuous real-time image" is also
used herein broadly, and may correspond to live images captured via
one or more image capturing components, continuous images captured,
recorded images, or any other type of image that may be captured
via an image capturing component, or any combination thereof.
[0019] The present invention may take form in various components
and arrangements of components, and in various techniques, methods,
or procedures and arrangements of steps. The referenced drawings
are only for the purpose of illustrating embodiments, and are not
to be construed as limiting the present invention. Various
inventive features are described below that can each be used
independently of one another or in combination with other
features.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary system in accordance with various
embodiments. System 100 may include user devices 102a and 102b,
which may communicate with content management system 104 across
network 106. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize
that although only two user devices are shown within system 100,
any number of user devices may interact with content management
system 104 and/or network 106, and the aforementioned illustration
is merely exemplary.
[0021] Network 106 may support any number of protocols, including,
but not limited to, Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol
("TCP/IP"), Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP"), and/or wireless
application protocol ("WAP"). For example, user device 102a and
user device 102b (collectively 102) may communicate with content
management system 104 using TCP/IP, and, at a higher level, use a
web browser to communicate with a web server at content management
system 104 using HTTP.
[0022] A variety of user devices 102 may communicate with content
management system 104, including, but not limited to, desktop
computers, mobile computers, mobile communication devices (e.g.,
mobile phones, smart phones, tablets), televisions, set-top boxes,
and/or any other network enabled device. Various types of user
devices may include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile
phones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs),
laptop computers, digital music players, and/or any other type of
user device capable of including a touch-sensing display interface.
Various touch-sensing display interfaces may include, but are not
limited to, liquid crystal displays (LCD), monochrome displays,
color graphics adapter (CGA) displays, enhanced graphics adapter
(EGA) displays, variable-graphics array (VGA) displays, or any
other display, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the
touch-sensing display interface may include a multi-touch panel
coupled to one or more processors to receive and detect gestures.
Multi-touch panels, for example, may include capacitive sensing
mediums having a one or more of row traces and/or driving line
traces, and one or more column traces and/or sensing lines.
Although multi-touch panels are described herein as one example for
touch-sensing display interface, persons of ordinary skill in the
art will recognize that any touch-sensing display interface may be
used. Furthermore, various types of user devices may, in some
embodiments, include one or more image capturing components. For
example, user devices 102 may include a front-facing camera and/or
a rear facing camera.
[0023] Content management system 100 may allow a user with an
authenticated account to store content, as well as perform
management tasks, such as retrieve, modify, browse, synchronize,
and/or share content with other accounts. In some embodiments, a
counter-part user interface (e.g., stand-alone application, client
application, etc.) on user devices 102 may be implemented using a
content management interface module to allow a user to perform
functions offered by modules of content management system 104. A
more detailed description of system 100 is presented below, with
reference to FIG. 13.
[0024] FIGS. 2A and 2B show user interfaces 200a and 200b,
respectively, for viewing content items in an event view, in
accordance with some embodiments. User interfaces 200a and 200b may
be displayed on a display of an user device (e.g., user device 102a
of FIG. 1) and may be generated using a content management
application (e.g., content management application 114a of FIG. 1)
and/or another application installed on the user device. In
particular, user interface 200a may be generated by a camera
application installed on the user device, and content item 220,
displayed in user interface 200a, may have been recently captured
using camera (e.g., camera 138a of FIG. 1). In some embodiments,
the content management application may include image capturing
functionality to permit facile navigation between an
image-capturing user interface and an event view user interface as
depicted in user interface 200b. However, it should be understood
that the content management application need not include
image-capturing functionality, and images captured using another
image-capturing application may be imported into the content
management application for viewing in an events view.
[0025] User interface 200b may illustrate an "events view" for
viewing content items according to logically defined events. Events
may be defined generally based upon geolocation data, timestamp
data, and/or any other suitable identifying data associated with
the content items. Such identifying data may be stored in a
metadata portion of the content item and may be either generated
automatically when the content item is created or entered/edited
manually by a user. Processes for organizing content items into
individual events are discussed below in detail with respect to
FIGS. 7-9.
[0026] User interface 200b may include content items 220-228
organized and displayed according to events 210 and 212. In
particular, content items 220, 222, and 224 are displayed within
event 210 and content items 226 and 228 are displayed within event
212. Event captions 211 and 213 are displayed within, and describe,
events 210 and 212, respectively. Event captions 211 and 213 may
include any suitable event attributes that describe and/or define
the event, including the event name, event timestamp, the number of
content items associated with the event, etc. Event attributes may
be derived, for example, from the metadata associated with the
content item associated with the event, or from any other suitable
source, as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 7
and 8.
[0027] In some embodiments, user interface 200b may be scrollable
to facilitate browsing through the user's content items. The user
may scroll through the various events and content items of user
interface 200b by interacting with the user interface using
gestures (e.g., swiping up/down) if user interface 200b is
displayed on a touchscreen enabled device and/or using user
interface features (e.g., scrollbars). Events in user interface
200b may be displayed in any suitable order, such as in
chronological order, for example. In further embodiments, only one
event may be displayed within a user interface at one time. In such
embodiments, a user may be permitted to scroll through content
items associated only with that particular event. Other events may
be accessible by interacting with the user interface using gestures
(e.g., swiping left/right) if the user interface is displayed on a
touchscreen enabled device and/or using user interface features
(e.g., navigable menus).
[0028] Content items 220-228 may be associated with event data and
seamlessly displayed in the events view of user interface 200b
before they are uploaded to a content management system (e.g.,
content management system 100 of FIG. 1). It should be understood
that the term "seamless" as used herein may refer to an event
occurring in an expedited time period. The expedited time period
may be short enough that a human being may experience the event has
having occurred immediately or with little noticeable delay. For
example, in some circumstances, the user may not perceive any delay
between generating a content item (e.g., capturing an image via a
camera) or receiving a content item (e.g., via a sharing event) and
experiencing the content item being displayed along with event data
received from the content management system. Accordingly, the user
may interact with the content items on the local user device as if
they had already been uploaded to the content management system
even if the user's user device has intermittent network
connectivity and/or limited network connectivity.
[0029] Thus, in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B,
if content item 220 represents an image that the user recently
captured using a camera of the user device, a metadata portion of
content item 220 may be sent to the content management system. The
metadata may include, for example: a geolocation (e.g., latitude
and longitude coordinates); various timestamps (e.g., timestamps
based on a local clock of the user device or a timestamp that is
synchronized with a trusted source, such as via the Network Time
Protocol ("NTP")), such as one or more creation timestamps, access
timestamps, upload timestamps, and/or sharing timestamps; sharing
data (e.g., with which users the content item was shared); access
data (e.g., the number of users currently viewing the content item
and/or the number of times the content item has been accessed,
shared, and/or downloaded); a device_ID that identifies the user
device; a local_ID that identifies the content item on the user
device; and/or content features extracted from the content item
(e.g., potentially recognizable faces, landmarks, objects, printed
timestamps, tags associated with the content item, etc.). Once the
metadata is received at the content management system, one or more
eventing algorithms can analyze the metadata, assign event data
(e.g., an event_ID, an event name, an event location, an event
timestamp, etc.) to the content item, and send the event data back
to the user device. Upon receipt of the event data, content item
220 may be displayed in the events view of user interface 220b.
Because the uploading of metadata and downloading of event data can
take place almost instantaneously, even over a limited network
connection, content item 220 may be seamlessly displayed along with
its event data without the user perceiving any delay.
[0030] FIG. 3 shows user interface 300 for selecting options
relating to ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some
embodiments. User interface 300 displays various user-selectable
camera upload options, including Camera Upload option 302, Use
Cellular Data option 304, Event Updating option 306, and Background
Uploading option 308. Options 302-308 may be accessible by
accessing Settings option 310 within a content management
application on an user device (e.g., content management application
114a of user device 102 of FIG. 1).
[0031] Camera Upload option 302 may allow a user to select whether
or not photos and videos on the user device will be uploaded to a
content management system (e.g., content management system 100 of
FIG. 1). According to various embodiments, selecting Camera Upload
option 302 may initiate automatic uploading of all photos and
videos captured using a camera of the user device and/or all photos
and videos shared to the user device (e.g., via e-mail, the content
management system, SMS, MMS, a third-party social networking
system, etc.) or otherwise obtained by the user device (e.g., via
an Internet download). Uploading content items like photos and
videos to the content management system may be beneficial for both
providing backups of the content items and enabling content
management functionalities available via the content management
system.
[0032] Use Cellular Data option 304 may allow a user to select
whether or not photos and videos will be uploaded to the content
management system via a cellular networking connection available to
the user device. Such cellular networking connections may include
EDGE, 3G and LTE services, for example. If Use Cellular Data option
304 is enabled, photos and/or videos may be automatically or
manually uploaded to the content management system over a cellular
data connection available to the user device. However, because
cellular service providers often charge premiums for exceeding data
quotas over cellular networks, and cellular networks tend to be
slower than other network connections (e.g., Ethernet and WiFi), it
may be ill advised to allow automatic uploading of potentially
thousands of large content items over a cellular data connection.
Accordingly, if Use Cellular Data option 304 is disabled, the user
device may wait until a non-cellular network connection, such as
Ethernet or WiFi, is available before uploading content items to
the content management system.
[0033] Event Updating option 306 may allow a user to select whether
or not eventing data for content items that are queued to be
uploaded to the content management system may be updated even if
the content items have not yet been uploaded. If Event Updating
option 306 is enabled, therefore, metadata associated with the
content items may be sent to the content management system and
eventing data may be received from the content management system
even if the content items have yet to be uploaded. In some cases,
the eventing data can be updated even if the only network
connection available to the user device is a cellular data
connection. Because the metadata portion of a content item may be
orders of magnitude smaller than the content portion of the content
item, sending only the metadata portion of the content item over a
cellular network connection poses fewer downsides as compared with
sending the full content item. For example, Exif, a typical
metadata standard for use with JPEG images, limits the metadata to
64 kB, while the content portion of a JPEG may be several MB in
size. The issue is even more dramatic in the case of video files
which may be tens or hundreds of GB in size.
[0034] Activating Event Updating option 306 may provide benefits to
the user whether or not Use Cellular Data option 304 is enabled. If
Use Cellular Data option 304 is disabled, the metadata portions of
queued content items may be uploaded while the user device waits
for a suitable non-cellular network connection for sending the
content portions. On the other hand, if Use Cellular Data option
304 and Event Updating option 306 are both enabled, the metadata
portions of the queued content items may be uploaded separately
from the content portions. In some embodiments, the metadata
portions may be prioritized so that eventing data may be received
from the content management system as soon as possible and before
using any network bandwidth to upload the much larger content
portions of the content items. It should be recognized that upload
prioritization of the metadata portions over the content portions
of content items may also be used even if a suitable non-cellular
network connection is available.
[0035] Background Uploading option 308 may allow a user to select
whether or not content items will be uploaded to the content
management system without explicitly invoking the content
management application on the user device. If Background Uploading
option 308 is enabled, the user device may automatically upload
queued content items to the content management system whenever a
suitable network connection is recognized. For example, if Use
Cellular Data option 304 is disabled, the user device may begin to
upload queued content items to the content management system upon
the user device connecting to a suitable non-cellular network
connection. If Use Cellular Data option 304 is enabled, the user
device may upload queued content items whenever the user device is
connected to any network connection, including a cellular data
connection, and even when the content management application is not
actively running on the user device.
[0036] According to some embodiments, options 302-308 may not be
user selectable. Rather, the content management application may
either lock one or more of options 302-308 into default selections
or allow one or more of options 302-308 to be automatically
selected based on, for example, the type of user device (e.g.,
smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, desktop computer, etc.) on
which the content management application is installed and/or a
level of service associated with the user's account with the
content management system (e.g., basic, enhanced, business,
etc.).
[0037] FIG. 4 shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary
content management system 400 offering ephemeral eventing
capabilities, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
In particular, the system of FIG. 4 may include content management
system 400 connected to user device 402a and user device 402b over
a network connection, which may correspond to content management
system 100, user devices 102, and network 106 of FIG. 1,
respectively. Further, content management system 400 may
communicate with one or more third-party servers over the network
connection.
[0038] User device 402a may display content items (generally
referred to as content items 420) within user interface 410 using
an events view. User interface 410 and content items 420 may
correspond, for example, to user interface 200b and content items
220-228 of FIG. 2. Content items 420 may represent content items
that are resident on user device 420a and may be queued for
uploading to content management system 400.
[0039] Different portions of content items 420 may be transferred
to content management system 400 separately. Accordingly, metadata
portions 420a may be uploaded separately from both extracted
features 420b and content portions 420c. When and how the different
portions of content items 420 are uploaded to content management
system 400 may depend on both network conditions and user-selected
options (e.g., options 302-308 of FIG. 3). As just one example,
metadata 420a and extracted features 420b may be sent to content
management system 400 as soon as any network connection is
available to the user device, while content 420c may only be sent
upon both the user invoking the content management application on
the user device and a broadband network connection being available
to the user device.
[0040] Portions 420a-420c may be received at an interface module
(e.g., interface module 104 of FIG. 1) of content management system
400 and transferred to an eventing module 432. Eventing module 432
may include a content item database 436 and software that may
implement eventing algorithms 434 that organize ephemeral items 438
and content items 439 stored in content item database 436 into
logically defined events. As used herein, the term "ephemeral item"
may refer to an incomplete version of a content item that is stored
in a memory (e.g., data store 118 of FIG. 1) of a content
management system. The ephemeral item may be considered incomplete,
for example, when it is not associated with a content portion of
the content item stored in the memory. That is, an ephemeral item
may only include metadata 420a and/or extracted features 420b
associated with a content item that is queued for uploading on user
device 402a. As used herein, the term "content item" may refer to a
full version of a content-related file (e.g., an image, a video, an
audio file, a document, etc.) that includes both the content
portion and the metadata portion. Ephemeral items may be used as
placeholders that enable the content management system to perform
at least some content management functionalities (e.g., eventing)
prior to receipt of the full content item.
[0041] After one or more eventing algorithms are run on ephemeral
items 438 and/or content items 439 stored in content item database
436, event data generated by eventing module 432 may be sent to
user device 402a to enable the viewing of content items 420 in user
interface 410, which may represent an events view user interface.
Event data 440 may be transferred to user device 402a at any time
after at least a portion of event data 440 is generated or altered
by an eventing algorithm. For example, after receipt of metadata
420a, eventing module 432 may generate and send at least one event
attribute back to user device 402a. Examples of event attributes
may include a unique event_ID that identifies the event on both
content management system 400 and user device 402a, an event name,
an event timestamp, the number of content items currently
associated with the event, and/or various event tags that a user
may find useful for viewing, sorting, organizing, and sharing
content items.
[0042] According to some embodiments, event attributes may be
refined as content management system 400 collects additional data
about the event. The additional data may be derived from various
sources, including: other content items and/or events already
stored on the content management system; similar content items
and/or events stored on a second user device 402b, which may or may
not be associated with the same user account as user device 402a;
similar content items/events stored on third-party servers; similar
events discussed in a news outlet; similar events that match one or
more calendar entries; shared content items that match the event;
and/or features extracted from content items matching the event.
Each time the eventing module 432 refines an event's event
attributes, the event data may be sent to user device 402a. In some
embodiments, a user may be permitted to lock an event to prevent
further refinement of event attributes with respect to how the
event is defined on user device 402a.
[0043] FIG. 5 shows a portion of an exemplary content item database
500 for ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some embodiments.
Content item database 500, which may correspond to content item
database 436 of FIG. 4, may include various data fields for
creating associating event data with ephemeral items and content
items. In particular, content item database 500 may include: a
user_account_ID field 502; a local_ID field 504; a global_ID field
506, a content_item_address field 508; descriptive metadata fields
510a-510n; an event_ID field 512, and event attribute fields
514a-514n.
[0044] When a metadata portion (e.g., metadata 420a of FIG. 4) of a
content item is received at the content management system, the
eventing module may compare the metadata portion with data already
stored in content item database 500. For example, the eventing
module may compare one or more metadata entries (e.g., a
user_account_ID, a local_ID, and or a timestamp) with metadata
entries already stored in content item database 500 to determine
whether an ephemeral item or content item associated with the
metadata is already stored in content item database 500. If the
comparison indicates that an ephemeral item or content item is
already stored in content item database 500 the eventing module may
incorporate any additional data received with the metadata portion
into the corresponding entry. If no new data is received, the
metadata portion may be ignored by the eventing module. For
example, an additional set of metadata, including a
user_account_ID, local_ID, timestamp, and geolocation may be
uploaded with an initial metadata upload associate with a
particular content item stored on a user device. In time, more
metadata may be associated with the content item, and that metadata
may be used to fill in empty fields in content item database 500.
It should be understood that descriptive metadata fields 510a-510n
may represent any number of metadata fields representing any type
of metadata associated with the corresponding content item.
[0045] If the eventing module determines that no ephemeral item or
content item is already associated with the received metadata
portion, a new ephemeral item may be created. Creating the new
ephemeral item may include creating a new entry in content item
database 500 and populating the database fields with any suitable
data received with the metadata portion. Thus, in one particular
example, upon receipt of a metadata portion, row 2 of content item
database 500 may be populated with: user_account_ID=Lisa_Lorentz;
Local_ID=YD82V23H; Timestamp=2013-10-30 T 22:42 UTC; and
Geolocation=37.763236, -122.404642. The entry created in row 2 may
be considered an ephemeral item because it is not yet associated
with a content portion stored in a memory of the content management
system. In contrast, the entry created in row 1 may be considered a
content item because it is associated with its content portion (by
reference to its physical or logical address) that is stored in a
memory the content management system.
[0046] Once an ephemeral item or content item has been created, the
eventing module can analyze the received metadata portion for the
item and generate eventing data. The eventing data can include an
event_ID field 512 and any number of event attribute fields
514a-514n. For example, continuing with the entry of row 2, the
eventing module populated the event-related fields with:
event_ID=DT38X31R and event_name=Even and Paula's Wedding. The
event-related fields can then be compiled into eventing data for
transmission back to the user device for immediate rendering of the
associated content item within an events view user interface. Thus,
the content item stored on the user device and associated with row
2 can be displayed in an events view showing that the content item
is related with Even and Paula's Wedding. Further event attribute
fields 514a-514n may be populated as more data is received from
various sources inside and outside of the content management
system, and as those additional fields are populated, the updated
or refined eventing data may be sent to the user device for further
enriching the events view.
[0047] Once the content portion of a content item is uploaded to
the content management system, the ephemeral item defined in
content item database 500 may be converted to a content item.
Converting an ephemeral item to a content item may include
populating a global_ID field and an address field. The global_ID
field may represent a unique identifier for the content item on the
content management system. After the global_ID is assigned, it may
be sent to the user device such that all future correspondence
between the user device and the content management system regarding
that content item can be conducted with reference to the global_ID.
Assigning each content item a unique global_ID may assist the
content management system in carrying out eventing, sharing,
editing, and other functionalities. The address field may simply
reflect the physical or logical address in memory where the content
item is actually stored.
[0048] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an illustrative process 600 for
ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some embodiments. Process
600 may begin at step 601, in which a content item (e.g., content
item 220 of FIG. 2) on an user device (e.g., user device 102a of
FIG. 1) connected to a content management system (e.g., content
management system 100 of FIG. 1) may be identified. The identified
content item may be a content item that is queued for uploading to
the content management system or a content item that may be queued
for uploading in the future. For example, a content management
application installed on the user device may give the user the
option (e.g., via Camera Upload option 302 of FIG. 3) to
automatically upload content items captured with and/or shared with
the user device. If such an option is selected, content items may
be queued for upload as soon as they are received and, therefore,
may be identified at the same time. If such an option is not
selected, the user may manually identify content items. The content
item may be any content-related file that includes both a content
portion and a metadata portion, such as an image, a video, an audio
file, or a document, for example.
[0049] At step 603, a metadata portion of the identified content
item may be uploaded to the content management system. Uploading
the metadata portion may include sending the metadata portion over
a network connection between the user device and the content
management system. The network connection may be any connection
suitable for transferring at least small amounts of data. If no
suitable network connection exists, the metadata portion may be
queued for uploading until such a time that a suitable network
connection does exist. In some embodiments, queued metadata
portions may be aggregated for bulk transfer between the user
device and the content management system.
[0050] At step 605, the user device may receive eventing data that
assigns the content item to an event. As described above, an event
may represent a logical set of content items. Thus, referring to
FIG. 5, an event might be assigned for all content items associated
with "Even & Paula's Wedding" or "Dinner at Marlowe." The
eventing data received at the user device may include a unique
event_ID that identifies the event separately from other events
defined on the content management system. If, during refinement of
the eventing data, the eventing module determines that two unique
event_IDs refer to the same event, the event_IDs may be merged, and
event attributes associated with the merged event_IDs may be merged
and/or combined according to eventing algorithms used by the
eventing module.
[0051] At step 607, the content item may be displayed on the user
device within the event to which it was assigned. Thus, if the user
views the content item in a user interface with an events view
(e.g., user interface 200b of FIG. 2), the content item may be
displayed along with other content items assigned to the same
event, and at least some eventing data received from the content
management system may be displayed to the user. The user may be
permitted to view the content item in the events view even before
the content item itself is uploaded to the content management
system using the metadata upload/event data download steps. Because
metadata and event data may be sent quickly, even over a relatively
slow network connection, the user may perceive seamless integration
of the content item into the events view. In some embodiments, the
content item may be capable of being displayed in the events view
within a time period that appears seamless to a user of the user
device (e.g., less than 100 ms, less than 1 s, or less than 10
s).
[0052] At step 609, the content portion of the content item may be
uploaded to the content management system. Scheduling of the upload
of the content portion may be dependent on network conditions
available to the user device. For example, the content portion may
be queued for uploading until a high-speed network signal (e.g.,
WiFi) is available. Further, scheduling of the upload may depend on
the size and/or type of content in the content portion. For
example, the user device may upload the content portion of a
document with only access to a cellular data signal, while
requiring that a high-speed network signal be present for uploading
images or videos.
[0053] FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an illustrative process 700 for
ephemeral eventing, in accordance with some embodiments. Process
700 may begin at step 701, in which a content management system may
receive a metadata portion of a content item from a user device.
The metadata portion may include, for example, creation time
timestamp, geolocation, orientation, rotation, title, and/or any
other attributes or data relevant to the content item. In some
embodiments, the metadata portion may be received at an interface
module (e.g., interface module 104 of FIG. 1) of the content
management system and transferred to an eventing module (e.g.,
eventing module 430 of FIG. 4) of the content management
system.
[0054] At step 703, the eventing module may create an ephemeral
item entry in a content item database. When first created, fields
of the database representing the ephemeral item entry may be
populated with all or a portion of the metadata portion received
from the user device (e.g., a user_account_ID, a local_ID, a
timestamp, and a geolocation). An ephemeral item entry may be a
temporary database entry, which may be replaced when and if a
corresponding content portion is uploaded to the content management
system.
[0055] Once the ephemeral item entry is created, the eventing
module may assign event data to the ephemeral item entry based at
least on the metadata portion at step 705. Assigning event data to
the ephemeral item entry may include running at least one eventing
algorithm on data included within the metadata portion. The
eventing algorithm may assign event data to the ephemeral item in
order to group the ephemeral item into an event, or a logical set.
The event may include, for example, all content items (and
ephemeral items) associated with a particular time and/or location
range.
[0056] At step 707, the content management system may send the
event data to a user device (e.g., user device 102a of FIG. 1) for
expedited rendering of the content item within a user interface
utilizing the event data. The event data may be sent over any
suitable network (e.g., network 106 of FIG. 1) and over any
suitable network connection (e.g., a cellular data connection, a
WiFi connection, or an Ethernet connection). Because the reception
of the metadata portion, creation of the ephemeral item, assignment
of the event data, and transmission of the event data may be
completed very quickly, a user of the user device may view the
content item within the user interface utilizing the event data in
a manner that appears instantaneous. Thus, a user of the user
device may perceive that the user device is seamlessly
interconnected with the content management system even if content
items resident on the user device have not yet been uploaded to the
content management system.
[0057] FIG. 8 shows an illustrative process 800 for providing event
data to a user device, in accordance with some embodiments. Process
800 may begin at step 801, in which a module of a content
management system (e.g., eventing module 432 of FIG. 4) may receive
metadata, including geolocation data and timestamp data, from a
user device. The geolocation data may have been received as part of
a metadata portion of a content item as described above. The
content management system may then assign event data to the content
item based at least on the geolocation data and the timestamp data
as described below.
[0058] At step 803, the eventing module may parse a content item
database (e.g., content item database content item database 500 of
FIG. 5) for database entries with timestamp data within an event
time period of the timestamp data. The event time period may be a
content management system defined time period extending from the
most recent timestamp associated with a content item or ephemeral
item already associated with the event. Thus, if the defined time
period is one hour, the event time period for the event may extend
one hour beyond the most recent timestamp associated with a content
item associated with the event.
[0059] If, the timestamp data is within the event time period,
process 800 may continue to step 805, in which the eventing module
may determine whether or not the geolocation data is within a
defined range from an event geolocation associated with the event.
Because two content items generated close to one another in time
but at different locations may be best categorized as belonging to
two separate events, the eventing module may categorize a content
item generated a defined distance away from other content items
associated with the event into a second event. For example,
consider two images generated by a user device (e.g., user device
102a of FIG. 1) within a short time period of one another (e.g., 30
min). If the geolocation data indicates that the first image was
generated at an office building and the second image was generated
at a ballgame some distance (e.g., 5 miles) from the office
building, the content management system may conclude that the
images belong to different events.
[0060] If either the timestamp data or the geolocation data
indicate that the content item should be assigned to a new event,
the content management system may create a new event at step 805.
Creating a new event may include generating an ephemeral item entry
in the content management database that includes at least a portion
the metadata (e.g., a local ID, user account information, the
geolocation data, the timestamp data, and/or any other suitable
metadata) and no other data already extant on the content
management system. On the other hand, if the timestamp is within
the event time period of the timestamp data and the geolocation
data is within the defined range, after creating the ephemeral item
entry, the eventing module may add the ephemeral item to the event
by populating at least one event attribute field of the entry
(e.g., at least an event ID field) with data already extant in the
database associated with the event at step 809.
[0061] At step 811, the content management system may send the
event data to the user device. As described above, the content
management system may send the event data to the user device prior
to receiving a content portion of the content item. In this manner,
a user may be permitted to view the content item in an events view
on the user device without perceiving any delay between generating
and so viewing the content item.
[0062] FIG. 9 shows an illustrative process 900 for providing event
data to a user device, in accordance with some embodiments. Process
900 may begin at step 901, in which a module of a content
management system (e.g., eventing module 432 of FIG. 4) may receive
metadata, including geolocation data and timestamp data, from a
user device. The geolocation data may have been received as part of
a metadata portion of a content item as described above. That is,
the geolocation data may be used for ephemeral eventing in
accordance with some embodiments. The geolocation data may any
suitable data (e.g., country, region, city, postal/zip code,
latitude, longitude, and/or time zone) for representing a location
associated with the content item. The geolocation data may be
derived from any suitable source, including a location associated
with an Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or MAC address
associated with an user device that generated the content item, a
location determined using WiFi positioning system or GPS system, or
user-disclosed location information.
[0063] At step 903, the eventing module may determine whether the
geolocation is within a defined range of home. The user's home
location may be defined using any suitable method, such as using a
user-provided address or using an algorithm run by the content
management system that may determine the user's home location by
analyzing a number of factors, including the location where a user
device associated with the account is located at night. Further,
the content management system may define more than one "home"
location for a user, such that other places that the user spends a
lot of time (e.g., work) are considered home locations as well. The
defined range of home may also be user or system defined. Thus, the
content management system may define the range as a range within
which the user spends a large proportion of time (e.g., 95% or
more), or the user may define the range (e.g., within 5 miles).
[0064] If it is determined that the geolocation of the content item
is within a defined range of home, the eventing module may use a
default time period for assigning eventing data to the content item
at step 905. In some embodiments, the default time period may be
defined as a time period starting from receipt of metadata
associated a first content item with geolocation data within a
defined range (e.g., 0.25 miles) and extending for a predefined
period of time (e.g., one hour). In other embodiments, the default
time period may be defined as a time period starting from receipt
of metadata associated a first content item with geolocation data
within a defined range and continuing as long as additional content
items are received within a predefined period of time (e.g., 1
hour). Using a default time period for content items with
geolocation metadata indicating that they are associated with a
location within a defined range of home may be appropriate because
single events that take place close to home (e.g., dinner or a
movie) may generally be better conceptualized as taking place over
a short period of time. On the other hand, events that take place
far from home (e.g., a trip to Europe) may be best conceptualized
over a long period of time such that all content items associated
with the event far from home are organized into one event instead
of being organized into a series of disjointed events.
[0065] If the geolocation is not within a defined range of home,
the content management system may determine whether the content
item is associated with a new home location at step 907. The
determination may be made using a pattern of geolocation data
associated with content items generated from a user device and/or
input received from the user. For example, if the content
management system detects a change in the pattern of geolocation
data received, a query may be provided to the user device to
determine whether the user has a new home location. If the
geolocation is associated with a new home location, process 900 may
continue to step 905 and implement the default time period.
However, if the geolocation is not associated with a new home
location, process 900 may continue to step 909 at which an extended
time period may be applied to the content item. As discussed above,
the extended time period may be longer than the default time period
such that content items associated with a location far from home
are grouped together in one logical event.
[0066] At step 911, the content management system may determine
whether an event already exists that matches the geolocation data
and timestamp data associated with the content item. Determining
that a matching event exists may include determining that the
timestamp data associated with the content item is within the event
time period of an already existing event. According to some
embodiments, the event time period of an already existing event may
be defined as extending for a time period equal to either the
default time period or extended time period, as appropriate, from
the most recent timestamp associated with a content item already
associated with the event. For example, if the default time period
(e.g., one hour) applies for categorizing a content item, that
content item will be assigned to an already existing event if the
most recent timestamp of a content item in that event indicates
that it was generated less than one hour prior.
[0067] Additionally, the content item may require that the
geolocation data is within a defined range from an event
geolocation associated with the event. In particular, the content
management system may search through a database that includes event
data (e.g., content item database 500 of FIG. 5) to determine
whether an event matching the received geolocation and timestamp
data already exists. The event geolocation may represent, for
example, an average location for content items associated with the
event. The defined range from the event geolocation may vary
depending on whether the geolocation indicates that the content
item was generated within a defined range of home or not. That is,
for geolocation data that is outside the user's home area, the
defined event geolocation range may be larger than if the
geolocation data indicates that the content item was generated
within the user's home area. In some embodiments, the event
geolocation range may vary as a function of the distance from the
user's home location. In one example, the content management system
may assign the content item to a new event, even if the content
item was generated within the event time period if the geolocation
data indicates that the content item was generated outside of the
event geolocation.
[0068] If the event already exists, the event data associated with
that event may be associated with the content item associated with
the geolocation and timestamp data at step 913. Associating the
event data may include, as described above with respect to FIG. 7,
creating an ephemeral item entry in the content item database using
metadata associated with the content item, including the
geolocation and timestamp data, and populating event attribute
fields with data already extant in the database associated with the
event.
[0069] If the event does not already exist, the content management
system can create a new event ID at step 915. Creating the new
event ID may include populating an event_ID field of the database
with a unique identifier that identifies the event. At step 917,
the content management system may edit event attributes associated
with the event with any suitable available data. For example, event
attribute fields associated with the location and time of the event
may be updated based on the geolocation and timestamp data
associated with the content item. Other event attribute fields
(e.g., the event name, the number of content items associated with
the event, names and/or faces of people associated with the event,
the user device used to generate the content items associated with
the event, etc.) may also be populated if such data is included
with the metadata portion received at the content management
system.
[0070] Whether the event already existed or the event was just
created, the event data may be sent to the user device at step 919.
The event data may be used on the user device for expedited
rendering of the content item in an events view user interface
(e.g., user interface 200b of FIG. 2). In some cases, the rendering
in an events view can be immediate and/or appear seamless to the
user of the user device.
[0071] At step 921, the content management system may determine
whether the event is locked. If the event is locked, process 900
may end at step 923. An event may be locked, for example, if the
user manually locks the event such that no additional event data
can be associated with the event or if a predefined period of time
passes (e.g., 2 years) since the event was last updated.
[0072] If the event is not locked, event data may be refined at
step 925. Refining event data may include incorporating additional
data acquired by the content management system about a particular
event. The additional data may be received from any number of
sources, including additional content items received from the user
device, additional content items associated with other user
accounts registered with the content management system, content
items that were shared with the user, additional content items
located on third-party servers (e.g., third-party servers
associated with social networking applications or search-engine
accessible Internet webpages), information derived from news
stories associated with the event, and/or features extracted from
the content item (e.g., faces, landmarks, objects, etc.) that match
features previously recognized by the content management system.
After the event data is refined, process 900 may return to step 917
to edit the event data. The event data may be updated for every
content item associated with the event or a subset of content items
associated with the event.
[0073] Steps 921, 925, 917, and 919 may be repeated (e.g.,
continuously, periodically, and/or upon receiving new data at the
content management system) as long as the event is not locked.
[0074] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an illustrative process 1000
for refining event data, in accordance with some embodiments. In
particular, process 1000 may be used to update and/or refine event
data by searching event data sources for data that may be used to
augment or change data associated with a particular event. Process
1000 may begin at step 1001, in which an eventing module of a
content management system (e.g., eventing module 432 of FIG. 4) may
analyze event data associated with a content item or an ephemeral
content item stored in a content item database (e.g., content item
database 436 of FIG. 4). Analyzing the event data may include
parsing, for a particular event, event attributes (e.g., event_ID,
event name, event geolocation, event timestamp) and defining search
terms based on those event attributes.
[0075] At step 1003, the eventing module may determine whether a
similar event is found on the content management system. In some
embodiments, the eventing module may search using the search terms
generated in step 1001 for similar event data associated with
content items stored for the user's account on the content
management system. Thus, events that were defined separately for
content items associated with the user's account may be
consolidated using process 1000. Consolidating an event using event
data associated with content items stored for the user's account
may include choosing a single event ID, event name, event
timestamp, and event geolocation for all content items/ephemeral
items that are to be consolidated.
[0076] As one example, if a user takes a multi-city trip to Europe,
content items associated with the different cities and/or content
items associated with different time periods spent in the same city
may originally be assigned to different events. At step 1003, the
eventing module may determine that these various events should be
consolidated. Thus, a single event ID may be associated with all
content items to be consolidated, a single event name may be
generated to reflect the consolidated event (e.g., "Europe Trip"
instead of "Milan"), and the timestamp and geolocation fields may
be updated to reflect that the event took place over a longer time
period and over a larger geographical area than the
originally-defined unconsolidated events. It should be recognized
that single events might also be split into different events.
[0077] In some embodiments, the originally defined event data may
be retained as sub events. Thus, in the example discussed above,
all content items associated with the Europe Trip event may also be
associated with a sub-event that more particularly defines the
event. Such sub-events may be defined with any suitable level of
granularity (e.g., using the "default" time period, using a special
"trip sub-event time period," and/or by simply retaining originally
defined eventing data).
[0078] In some embodiments, the eventing module may search, using
the search terms generated in step 1001, for similar events defined
for content items/ephemeral items stored primarily with respect to
another user account registered with the content management system.
Accordingly, the eventing module may search outside of the user's
own content items/ephemeral items to find similar events defined on
the content management system. Finding similar events defined on
the content management system may include comparing the search
terms generated in step 1001 with event data defined with another
user's content items/ephemeral items.
[0079] Whether or not the eventing module finds a similar event on
the content management system, the eventing module may determine
whether a similar event is found on a third-party server at step
1005. Any third-party server accessible to the content management
system may be searched to find one or more similar events. The
third-party server may be the server of a social networking site, a
file sharing site, or any other site that may arrange content items
into logical groups, such as events or albums, for example. In some
embodiments, the user may provide the content management system
with credentials to access one or more third-party servers to
facilitate sharing of information and robust eventing within the
content management system.
[0080] The eventing module may then determine whether a similar
event has been discussed in a news service at step 1007. Matching
the event to a news item discussed in the news service may involve
matching the search terms to text strings found in the news item.
As used herein, a news service may refer to any online source of
information that chronicles current events (e.g., a newspaper's
online outlet, a town website, a local community website, an
artist's website, a forum, etc.). Therefore, if an event, such as a
music show, for example, is discussed in an online article of a
local newspaper, the eventing module may access the article and
retrieve details about the event for incorporation into the event's
event attributes.
[0081] The eventing module may then determine whether the similar
event matches a calendar entry at step 1009. The matching of the
event and a similar calendar entry may involve comparing the search
terms with information contained in the calendar entry (e.g., time,
place, occasion, description, etc.). The calendar searched by the
eventing module may be a calendar of the user that is stored on the
content management system, a calendar of the user that is stored on
the user device and accessible to the content management system,
and/or any other calendar accessible to the content management
system (e.g., another user's client-based or content-management
calendar). Accordingly, if the search terms match such a calendar
entry, any other information stored in the calendar entry may be
retrieved for incorporation into the event's event attributes.
[0082] The eventing module may then determine whether a shared
content item matches the event at step 1011. A shared content item
may be shared with the user's account in any suitable manner,
including via the content management system, via e-mail, or via a
social networking site, for example. If the shared content item
matches the event, event attributes defined for the shared content
item may be used to edit and/or update the event's attributes.
Thus, if a friend shares a photo from "Even and Paula's Wedding"
with the user, the eventing module may parse through the photo's
metadata to find any additional information to be incorporated into
the event's attributes.
[0083] Further, the eventing module may determine whether any
features extracted from content items associated with the event
match similar features extracted from other content items stored on
the content management system at step 1013. The extracted features
may be faces, landmarks, and/or other objects recognized by the
content management system. The eventing module may employ any
suitable facial/object recognition software to recognize and
organize the extracted features within the content management
system.
[0084] If the search terms match one or more attributes of another
similar event in steps 1003-1013, process 1000 may proceed to step
1015 in which the eventing module may verify that the similar event
is indeed the same event. Verifying that the events are the same
event may involve matching the search terms generated in step 1001
with event attributes of the similar event to determine a
confidence score regarding the match. In general, the more closely
the search terms match the similar event's attributes, the higher
the confidence score that may be assigned to the match. If the
confidence score reaches a defined confidence threshold, the
eventing module may determine that the two events are the same
event, and process 1000 may proceed to step 1017. If the confidence
score does not reach the defined confidence threshold, process 1000
may end at step 1019.
[0085] In some embodiments, the eventing module may use additional
data to increase or decrease the confidence score. The additional
data may include, for example, a measure of how closely related the
user and the other user are and/or whether features (e.g., faces,
objects, landmarks, etc.) extracted from content items associated
with the user's event match features extracted from the content
items associated with the similar event. The eventing module may
determine how closely the two users are related by analyzing the
users' sharing history--with each other, with other users of the
content management system, and/or as determined by analyzing
available data from social networking sites.
[0086] At step 1017, the eventing module may cross-update event
data between the event and the similar event. Cross-updating the
event data may involve cross-referencing the event data defined for
all content items and ephemeral items associated with the event in
the content item database and updating the event data as needed.
For example, if any unpopulated or out-of date event attribute
fields can be updated in the content item database based on
information found stored with respect to the similar event, the
eventing module can update those fields in the analyzing step (and
vice versa). Steps 1001-1017 may be continuously or periodically
looped (unless the event is locked) such that newly available
information can be incorporated into the eventing data to keep the
events as well-refined as possible.
[0087] In one particular example, a user may tag one content item
on the user device with an event name, by editing the content
item's event name metadata field, for example. The eventing module
can receive the event name and either populate or edit an event
name event field for all content items associated with that event
with the event name tag provided by the user. In another example,
event attributes for an event associated with another user's
content items/ephemeral items may be more completely populated than
the event attributes for the same event associated with the user's
content items/ephemeral items. In still yet another example,
information derived from an outside source (e.g., a news article
posted on the Internet) may be used to fill in or update an event's
event attributes.
[0088] At step 1019, the eventing module may determine whether to
add one or more content items to a super event. A super event may
represent a single event that is defined in more than one user
account. As one example, if a user's event matches a similar event
on the content management system at step 1003, the two events may
be made part of a single super event. Super events may help various
users find other content items associated with the same event even
if those content items were never shared directly with the user.
For example, if several users have photos of a super event for
"Even and Paula's Wedding," all of those photos may be made
available to all users with access to the super event.
[0089] If the user (or the content management system) decides to
add one or more content items associated with an event to a super
event, process 1000 may proceed to step 1021, at which the content
items may be added to a virtual collection associated with the
super event. Content items added to the virtual collection
associated with a super event may be made accessible to any
suitable user, such as a user with content items stored on the
content management system that are associated with one of the
events in the super event, a user who was given access to the super
event by another user with sufficient access, and/or a user or
non-user of the content management system who has received a share
of a content item that is part of the super event. On the other
hand, if the user decides not to add one or more content items to a
super event, the content items may be kept private and not made a
part of the virtual collection of the super event at step 1023.
[0090] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an illustrative process 1100
for using extracted features of content items for ephemeral
eventing, in accordance with some embodiments. Process 1100 may
begin at step 1101 in which a content item may be analyzed to
extract potentially recognizable features at a user device (e.g.,
user device 102a of FIG. 1). For example, the content item may be a
photo or video, and the potentially recognizable features may be
faces, landmarks, or other objects visible in the photo or video.
The extracted features may be only "potentially" recognizable
because it may not be possible to know in advance whether or not
the content management system will be able to match the extracted
feature(s) with previously recognized features.
[0091] The features may be extracted using any suitable method,
including pattern recognition, color matching, edge finding, etc.
In some embodiments, the features may be extracted as small, still
images from a larger image or video file. In other embodiments, the
features may represent a clip of an audio file, which may help to
identify a song, a speaker, or a particular soundscape associated
with a particular geographical location. Because the extracted
features may be much smaller than the entire content portion of the
content item, uploading the extracted features to the eventing
module may take place very quickly (e.g., such that receiving
eventing data based on the extracted features may be received in a
time period that appears seamless to the user).
[0092] At step 1103, the potentially recognizable features may be
sent to the content management system. In some embodiments, the
potentially recognizable features may be sent to the content
management system along with other metadata used for ephemeral
eventing, as disclosed above. In other embodiments, the potentially
recognizable features may be sent separately, especially if the
features are expected to take a relatively long time to upload to
the content management system. In any case, the extracted features
may be sent to the content management system prior to the full
content portion of the content item such that ephemeral eventing
may be undertaken using the extracted features.
[0093] At step 1105, the user device may receive eventing data that
assigns the content item to an event. Besides event data,
additional data gleaned by the content management system in
connection with the extracted features may be included in the
eventing data received by the user device. For example, if the
extracted features include faces, the eventing data may include
names associated with the faces. In another example, if the
extracted features include objects (e.g., the Eiffel Tower), the
eventing data may include information (or suitable links to
information) about the objects. Because the eventing data may be
received very quickly, the content management system may seamlessly
enhance the user's experience by providing both eventing and
contextual data for their content items.
[0094] FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of an illustrative process 1200
for using extracted features of content items for ephemeral
eventing, in accordance with some embodiments. Process 1200 may
begin at step 1201 in which a metadata portion of a content item
may be received at an eventing module of a content management
system (e.g., eventing module 432 of FIG. 4). The metadata portion
may include extracted features that represent portions of a content
portion of the content item. The extracted features may have been
designated as potentially recognizable features by the user device,
for example.
[0095] At step 1203, the eventing module of the content management
system may match the potentially recognizable features with
previously recognized features. A database of previously recognized
features may be stored in a memory (e.g., datastore 118) of the
content management system. The content management system may employ
any suitable facial/object recognition software to perform the
matching. The content management system may also perform a search
of third-party servers to attempt to match potentially recognizable
features with previously recognized features.
[0096] At step 1205, the eventing module may update event ID
attributes with attributes of the matched previously recognized
features. For example, if the eventing module recognizes the Eiffel
Tower in a photo, the event data may be updated with various event
attributes associated with other content items that include
depictions of the Eiffel Tower or other useful data.
[0097] In some embodiments, once the content portion of the content
item is uploaded to the content management system, the eventing
module may identify additional features of the content item. Given
that the content management system may have more robust computing
resources at its disposal than the typical user device, the
eventing module may be capable of performing a more thorough
analysis of the content item to recognize features, catalog the
features, and/or reference the features against previously
recognized features. In circumstances where the eventing module
updates eventing data for a content item based on such an analysis,
the content management system can subsequently send the updated
eventing data to one or more user devices.
[0098] FIG. 13 shows an exemplary system in accordance with various
embodiments. In some embodiments, system 1300 of FIG. 13 may be
substantially similar to system 100 of FIG. 1, with the exception
that the former may present elements of system 100 at a more
granular level (e.g., modules, applications, etc.).
[0099] In some embodiments, user devices 102 may be used to create,
access, modify, and manage content items, such as content items
110a and 110b (collectively 110), stored locally within content
item system 108a and 108b (collectively systems 108) on user device
102 and/or stored remotely on content management system 104 (e.g.,
within data store 118). For example, user device 102a may access
content items 110b stored remotely with data store 118 of content
management system 104 and may, or may not, store content item 110b
locally within content item system 108a on user device 102a.
Continuing with the example, user device 102a may temporarily store
content item 110b within a cache locally on user device 102a, make
revisions to content item 110b, and the revisions to content item
110b may be communicated and stored in data store 118 of content
management system 104. Optionally, a local copy of content item
110a may be stored on user device 102a. In some embodiments, data
store 118 may include one or more collections 132 of content items.
For example, collections 132 may include one or more content items
having similar properties (e.g., metadata) and/or including similar
content.
[0100] In some embodiments, user devices 102 may include camera 138
(e.g., 138a and 138b) to capture and record digital images and/or
videos. User devices 102 may capture, record, and/or store content
items, such as images, using camera 138. For example, camera 138
may capture and record images and store metadata with the images.
Metadata may include, but is not limited to, the following:
creation time timestamp, geolocation, orientation, rotation, title,
and/or any other attributes or data relevant to the captured image.
Metadata values may be stored as attribute 112 name-value pairs,
tag-value pairs, and/or any other method, or any combination
thereof, to associate the metadata with the content item and easily
identify the type of metadata. In some embodiments, attributes 112
may be tag-value pairs defined by a particular standard, including,
but not limited to, Exchangeable Image File Format ("Exif"), JPEG
File Interchange Format (Jfif), and/or any other standard.
[0101] In some embodiments, user devices 102 may include time
normalization module 146, and content management system 104 may
include time normalization module 148. Time normalization module
146 (e.g., 146a and 146b) may be used to normalize dates and times
stored with a content item. Time normalization module 146,
counterpart time normalization module 148, and/or any combination
thereof, may be used to normalize dates and times stored for
content items. The normalized times and dates may be used to sort,
group, perform comparisons, perform basic math, and/or cluster
content items.
[0102] In some embodiments, user devices 102 may include
organization module 136, and content management system 104 may
include organization module 140. Organization module 136 (e.g.,
136a and 136b) may be used to organize content items into clusters
or collections of content items, organize content items to provide
samplings of content items for display within user interfaces,
and/or retrieve organized content items for presentation.
Organization module 136 may utilize any clustering algorithm.
Organization module 136 may be used to identify similar content
items for clusters in order to organize content items for
presentation within user interfaces on user devices 102 and content
management system 104. Similarity rules may be defined to create
one or more numeric representations embodying information on
similarities between each of the content items in accordance with
various similarity rules. Organization module 136 may use numeric
representations as a reference for similarity between content items
in order to cluster the content items.
[0103] In some embodiments, content items may be organized into
clusters to aid with retrieval of similar content items in response
to search requests. For example, organization module 136a may
identify that two images are similar and may group the images
together in a cluster. Organization module 136a may process content
items to determine clusters independently and/or in conjunction
with counterpart organization module (e.g., 140 and/or 136b). In
other embodiments, organization module 136a may only provide
clusters identified with counterpart organization modules (e.g.,
140 and/or 136b) for presentation. Continuing with this example,
processing of content items to determine clusters may be an
iterative process that may be executed upon receipt of new content
items and/or new similarity rules.
[0104] In some embodiments, user device 102a may include
classification module 150a, while user device 102b may include
classification module 150b (collectively 150), which may be used
independently, in combination with classification module 152
include on content management system 104, and/or any combination
thereof to classify content items, rectify content items, and/or
classify images. For example, the classification modules 150 and/or
152 may be used to determine if an image includes a document, and
if there so, determine a type of document stored therein. Content
item rectification may be performed to correct, perform further
transformations, and/or crop content items to improve the display
of the content items (e.g., correct the display of a document
within an image).
[0105] In some embodiments, user device 102a may include search
module 142a, while user device 102b may include search module 142b,
which collectively may be referred to as search modules 142.
Content management system 104 may also be provided with counterpart
search module 144. Each of search modules 142 and 144 may be
capable of supporting searches for content items located on both
user devices 102 and/or content management system 104. A search
request may be received by search module 142 and/or 144 that
requests one or more content items. In some embodiments, the search
may be handled by searching metadata and/or attributes assigned to
content items during the provision of management services. For
example, cluster markers stored with content items may be used to
find content items by date. In this particular scenario, cluster
markers may indicate an approximate time, or average time, for the
content items stored with the cluster marker, and the marker may be
used to speed the search and/or return the search results with the
contents of the cluster with particular cluster markers.
[0106] Content items 110 managed by content management system 104
may be stored locally within content item system 108 of respective
user devices 102 and/or stored remotely within data store 118 of
content management system 104 (e.g., content items 134 in data
store 118). Content management system 104 may provide
synchronization of content items managed thereon. Attributes 112a
and 112b (collectively 112) or other metadata may also be stored
with content items 110. For example, a particular attribute may be
stored with a content item to track content items locally stored on
user devices 102 that are managed and/or synchronized by content
management system 104. In some embodiments, attributes 112 may be
implemented using extended attributes, resource forks, or any other
implementation that allows for storing metadata with a content item
that is not interpreted by a content item system, such as content
item system 108. In particular, attributes 112a and 112b may be
content identifiers for content items. For example, the content
identifier may be a unique or nearly unique identifier (e.g.,
number or string) that identifies the content item. By storing a
content identifier with the content item, the content item may be
tracked. For example, if a user moves the content item to another
location within content item system 108 hierarchy and/or modifies
the content item, then the content item may still be identified
within content item system 108 of user device 102. Any changes or
modifications to the content item identified with the content
identifier may be uploaded or provided for synchronization and/or
version control services provided by content management system
104.
[0107] A stand-alone content management application 114a and 114b
(collectively 114), client application, and/or third-party
application may be implemented on user devices 102a and 102b,
respectively, to provide a user interface to a user for interacting
with content management system 104. Content management application
114 may expose the functionality provided with content management
interface module 154 and accessible modules for user device 102.
Web browser 116a and 116b (collectively 116) may be used to display
a web page front end for a client application that may provide
content management 104 functionality exposed/provided with content
management interface module 154.
[0108] Content management system 104 may allow a user with an
authenticated account to store content, as well as perform
management tasks, such as retrieve, modify, browse, synchronize,
and/or share content with other accounts. Various embodiments of
content management system 104 may have elements including, but not
limited to, content management interface module 154, account
management module 120, synchronization module 122, collections
module 124, sharing module 126, file system abstraction 128, data
store 118, and organization module 140. Content management
interface module 154 may expose the server-side or back end
functionality/capabilities of content management system 104. For
example, a counter-part user interface (e.g., stand-alone
application, client application, etc.) on user devices 102 may be
implemented using content management interface module 154 to allow
a user to perform functions offered by modules of content
management system 104.
[0109] The user interface displayed on user device 102 may be used
to create an account for a user and/or authenticate the user to use
the account using account management module 120. Account management
module 120 may provide the functionality for authenticating use of
an account by a user and/or user device 102 with username/password,
device identifiers, and/or any other authentication method. Account
information 130 may be maintained in data store 118 for accounts.
Account information may include, but is not limited to, personal
information (e.g., an email address or username), account
management information (e.g., account type, such as "free" or
"paid"), usage information, (e.g., content item edit history),
maximum storage space authorized, storage space used, content
storage locations, security settings, personal configuration
settings, content sharing data, etc. An amount of storage space on
content management system 104 may be reserved, allotted, allocated,
stored, and/or may be accessed with an authenticated account. The
account may be used to access content items 134 and/or content
items 110 within data store 118 for the account, and/or content
items 134 and/or content items 110 made accessible to the account
that are shared from another account. In some embodiments, account
management module 120 may interact with any number of other modules
of content management system 104.
[0110] An account on content management system 104 may, in some
embodiments, be used to store content such as documents, text
items, audio items, video items, etc., from one or more user
devices 102 authorized by the account. The content may also include
collections of various types of content with different behaviors,
or other mechanisms of grouping content items together. For
example, an account may include a public collection that may be
accessible to any user. In some embodiments, the public collection
may be assigned a web-accessible address. A link to the
web-accessible address may be used to access the contents of the
public folder. In another example, an account may include a photos
collection that may store photos and/or videos, and may provide
specific attributes and actions tailored for photos and/or videos.
The account may also include an audio collection that provides the
ability to play back audio items and perform other audio related
actions. The account may still further include a special purpose
collection. An account may also include shared collections or group
collections that may be linked with and available to multiple user
accounts. In some embodiments, access to a shared collection may
differ for different users that may be capable of accessing the
shared collection.
[0111] Content items 110 and/or content items 134 may be stored in
data store 118. Data store 118 may, in some embodiments, be a
storage device, multiple storage devices, or a server.
Alternatively, data store 118 may be cloud storage provider or
network storage accessible via one or more communications networks.
Content management system 104 may hide the complexity and details
from user devices 102 by using content item system abstraction 128
(e.g., a content item system database abstraction layer) so that
user devices 102 do not need to know exactly where the content
items are being stored by content management system 104.
Embodiments may store the content items in the same collections
hierarchy as they appear on user device 102. Alternatively, content
management system 104 may store the content items in various
orders, arrangements, and/or hierarchies. Content management system
140 may store the content items in a network accessible storage
(SAN) device, in a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID),
etc. Content management system 104 may store content items using
one or more partition types, such as FAT, FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3,
EXT4, ReiserFS, BTRFS, and so forth.
[0112] Data store 118 may also store metadata describing content
items, content item types, and the relationship of content items to
various accounts, folders, collections, or groups. The metadata for
a content item may be stored as part of the content item and/or may
be stored separately. Metadata may be store in an object-oriented
database, a relational database, a content item system, or any
other collection of data. In some embodiments, each content item
stored in data store 118 may be assigned a system-wide unique
identifier.
[0113] Data store 118 may, in some embodiments, decrease the amount
of storage space required by identifying duplicate content items or
duplicate chunks of content items. Instead of storing multiple
copies, data store 118 may store a single copy of content item 134
and then use a pointer or other mechanism to link the duplicates to
the single copy. Similarly, data store 118 may store content items
134 more efficiently, as well as provide the ability to undo
operations, by using a content item version control that tracks
changes to content items, different versions of content items
(including diverging version trees), and a change history. The
change history may include a set of changes that, when applied to
the original content item version, produce the changed content item
version.
[0114] Content management system 104 may be configured to support
automatic synchronization of content from one or more user devices
102. The synchronization may be platform independent. That is, the
content may be synchronized across multiple user devices 102 of
varying type, capabilities, operating systems, etc. For example,
user device 102a may include client software, which synchronizes,
via synchronization module 122 at content management system 104,
content in content item system 108 of user devices 102 with the
content in an associated user account. In some cases, the client
software may synchronize any changes to content in a designated
collection and its sub-collection, such as new, deleted, modified,
copied, or moved content items or folders. In one example of client
software that integrates with an existing content management
application, a user may manipulate content directly in a local
folder, while a background process monitors the local content item
for changes and synchronizes those changes to content management
system 104. In some embodiments, a background process may identify
content that has been updated at content management system 104 and
synchronize those changes to the local collection. The client
software may provide notifications of synchronization operations,
and may provide indications of content statuses directly within the
content management application. In some embodiments, user device
102 may not have a network connection available. In this scenario,
the client software may monitor the linked collection for content
item changes and queue those changes for later synchronization to
content management system 104 when a network connection is
available. Similarly, a user may manually stop or pause
synchronization with content management system 104.
[0115] A user may also view or manipulate content via a web
interface generated and served by content management interface
module 154. For example, the user may navigate in a web browser to
a web address provided by content management system 104. Changes or
updates to content in data store 118 made through the web
interface, such as uploading a new version of a content item, may
be propagated back to other user devices 102 associated with the
user's account. For example, multiple user devices 102, each with
their own client software, may be associated with a single account,
and content items in the account may be synchronized between each
of user devices 102.
[0116] Content management system 104 may include sharing module 126
for managing sharing content and/or collections of content publicly
or privately. Sharing module 126 may manage sharing independently
or in conjunction with counterpart sharing module 152a, located on
user device 102a, and sharing module 152b located on user device
102b (collectively sharing modules 152). Sharing content publicly
may include making the content item and/or the collection
accessible from any device in network communication with content
management system 104. Sharing content privately may include
linking a content item and/or a collection in data store 118 with
two or more user accounts so that each user account has access to
the content item. The sharing may be performed in a platform
independent manner. That is, the content may be shared across
multiple user devices 102 of varying type, capabilities, operating
systems, etc. For example, one or more share links may be provided
to a user, or a contact of a user, to access a shared content item.
The content may also be shared across varying types of user
accounts. In particular, the sharing module 126 may be used with
collections module 124 to allow sharing of a virtual collection
with another user or user account. A virtual collection may be a
collection of content identifiers that may be stored in various
locations within content item systems 108 of user device 102 and/or
stored remotely at content management system 104.
[0117] In some embodiments, the virtual collection for an account
with a content management system may correspond to a collection of
one or more identifiers for content items (e.g., identifying
content items in storage). The virtual collection is created with
collections module 124 by selecting from existing content items
stored and/or managed by content management system and associating
the existing content items within data storage (e.g., associating
storage locations, content identifiers, or addresses of stored
content items) with the virtual collection. By associating existing
content items with the virtual collection, a content item may be
designated as part of the virtual collection without having to
store (e.g., copy and paste the content item to a directory) the
content item in another location within data storage in order to
place the content item in the collection.
[0118] In some embodiments, content management system 104 may be
configured to maintain a content directory or a database
table/entity for content items where each entry or row identifies
the location of each content item in data store 118. In some
embodiments, a unique or a nearly unique content identifier may be
stored for each content item stored in data store 118.
[0119] In some embodiments, metadata may be stored for each content
item. For example, metadata may include a content path that may be
used to identify the content item. The content path may include the
name of the content item and a content item hierarchy associated
with the content item (e.g., the path for storage locally within a
user device 102). Content management system 104 may use the content
path to present the content items in the appropriate content item
hierarchy in a user interface with a traditional hierarchy view. A
content pointer that identifies the location of the content item in
data store 118 may also be stored with the content identifier. For
example, the content pointer may include the exact storage address
of the content item in memory. In some embodiments, the content
pointer may point to multiple locations, each of which contains a
portion of the content item.
[0120] In addition to a content path and content pointer, a content
item entry/database table row in a content item database entity may
also include a user account identifier that identifies the user
account that has access to the content item. In some embodiments,
multiple user account identifiers may be associated with a single
content entry indicating that the content item has shared access by
the multiple user accounts.
[0121] To share a content item privately, sharing module 126 may be
configured to add a user account identifier to the content entry or
database table row associated with the content item, thus granting
the added user account access to the content item. Sharing module
126 may also be configured to remove user account identifiers from
a content entry or database table rows to restrict a user account's
access to the content item. The sharing module 126 may also be used
to add and remove user account identifiers to a database table for
virtual collections.
[0122] To share content publicly, sharing module 126 may be
configured to generate a custom network address, such as a uniform
resource locator ("URL"), which allows any web browser to access
the content in content management system 104 without any
authentication. To accomplish this, sharing module 126 may be
configured to include content identification data in the generated
URL, which may later be used to properly identify and return the
requested content item. For example, sharing module 126 may be
configured to include the user account identifier and the content
path in the generated URL. Upon selection of the URL, the content
identification data included in the URL may be sent to content
management system 104 which may use the received content
identification data to identify the appropriate content entry and
return the content item associated with the content entry.
[0123] To share a virtual collection publicly, sharing module 126
may be configured to generate a custom network address, such as a
uniform resource locator (URL), which allows any web browser to
access the content in content management system 100 without any
authentication. To accomplish this, sharing module 126 may be
configured to include collection identification data in the
generated URL, which may later be used to properly identify and
return the requested content item. For example, sharing module 126
may be configured to include the user account identifier and the
collection identifier in the generated URL. Upon selection of the
URL, the content identification data included in the URL may be
sent to content management system 104 which may use the received
content identification data to identify the appropriate content
entry or database row and return the content item associated with
the content entry or database row.
[0124] In addition to generating the URL, sharing module 126 may
also be configured to record that a URL to the content item has
been created. In some embodiments, the content entry associated
with a content item may include a URL flag indicating whether a URL
to the content item has been created. For example, the URL flag may
be a Boolean value initially set to 0 or "false" to indicate that a
URL to the content item has not been created. Sharing module 126
may be configured to change the value of the flag to 1 or "true"
after generating a URL to the content item.
[0125] In some embodiments, sharing module 126 may also be
configured to deactivate a generated URL. For example, each content
entry may also include a URL active flag indicating whether the
content should be returned in response to a request from the
generated URL. For example, sharing module 126 may be configured to
only return a content item requested by a generated link if the URL
active flag is set to 1 or true. Changing the value of the URL
active flag or Boolean value may easily restrict access to a
content item or a collection for which a URL has been generated.
This may allow a user to restrict access to the shared content item
without having to move the content item or delete the generated
URL. Likewise, sharing module 126 may reactivate the URL by again
changing the value of the URL active flag to 1 or true. A user may
thus easily restore access to the content item without the need to
generate a new URL.
Exemplary Implementations
[0126] Any suitable programming language can be used to implement
the routines of particular embodiments including, but not limited
to, the following: C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby,
CoffeeScript, assembly language, etc. Different programming
techniques can be employed, such as procedural or object oriented.
The routines can execute on a single processing device or multiple
processors. Although the steps, operations, or computations may be
presented in a specific order, this order may be changed in
different particular embodiments. In some particular embodiments,
multiple steps shown as sequential in this specification can be
performed at the same time.
[0127] Particular embodiments may be implemented in a
computer-readable storage device or non-transitory computer
readable medium for use by or in connection with the instruction
execution system, apparatus, system, or device. Particular
embodiments can be implemented in the form of control logic in
software or hardware or a combination of both. The control logic,
when executed by one or more processors, may be operable to perform
that which is described in particular embodiments.
[0128] Particular embodiments may be implemented by using a
programmed general purpose digital computer, by using application
specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, field
programmable gate arrays, optical, chemical, biological, quantum or
nanoengineered systems, components and mechanisms may be used. In
general, the functions of particular embodiments can be achieved by
any means as is known in the art. Distributed, networked systems,
components, and/or circuits can be used. Communication, or
transfer, of data may be wired, wireless, or by any other
means.
[0129] It will also be appreciated that one or more of the elements
depicted in the drawings/figures can also be implemented in a more
separated or integrated manner, or even removed or rendered as
inoperable in certain cases, as is useful in accordance with a
particular application. It is also within the spirit and scope to
implement a program or code that can be stored in a
machine-readable medium, such as a storage device, to permit a
computer to perform any of the methods described above.
[0130] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims
that follow, "a", "an", and "the" includes plural references unless
the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the
description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the
meaning of "in" includes "in" and "on" unless the context clearly
dictates otherwise.
[0131] While there have been described methods for ephemeral
eventing, it is to be understood that many changes may be made
therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention. Insubstantial changes from the claimed subject matter as
viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, no known or
later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalently
within the scope of the claims. Therefore, obvious substitutions
now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are
defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. The
described embodiments of the invention are presented for the
purpose of illustration and not of limitation.
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