IP Library › Granted Patent US 12664126
Granted Patent B2
US 12664126 · App. 19/067,540 · Granted Jun 23, 2026

Suggesting content items to be accessed by a user

Inventors: Sean Lynch (San Francisco, CA); Ilya Fushman (Palo Alto, CA)
Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
G06F16/168G06F16/41
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12664126
App. No.
19/067,540
Granted
Jun 23, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A client application sends an application programming interface call to an interface of a content management system. The call specifies one or more content item search criteria. Sending the call causes the content management system to perform a lookup in a content item index to identify at least one content item that satisfies the one or more content item search criteria. Based on sending the call, the client application receives from the content management system a suggestion to attach the at least one content item to a text being displayed by at the computing system.

Claims (54)

1 . A computing system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:

receive, at a content management system and from an application on a client device, an application programming interface (API) call generated while accessing a content item within the application, the API call specifying metadata for the content item;

based on receiving the API call, execute a function to add the content item to a user-specific content item index associated with a user account within the content management system by adding the metadata for the content item to the user-specific content item index;

identify the content item within the user-specific content item index based on receiving a request from the client device, the request having one or more parameters corresponding to the content item; and

based on identifying the content item, provide the content item to the client device by retrieving the content item using the metadata for the content item within the user-specific content item index.

2 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the metadata for the content item comprises a pointer to an internal storage location of the content item within the content management system.

3 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the metadata for the content item comprises a pointer to an external storage location of the content item outside of the content management system.

4 . The computing system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:

receive, from the application on the client device, a second API call comprising updated metadata for the content item based on a modification made to the content item on the application; and

modify the user-specific content item index by modifying the metadata for the content item within the user-specific content item index based on the updated metadata for the content item.

5 . The computing system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:

receive, from the application on the client device, a second API call comprising an instruction to delete the content item from the user-specific content item index; and

remove the metadata for the content item from the user-specific content item index based on receiving the instruction to delete the content item via the second API call.

6 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the API call generated while accessing the content item within the application is automatically generated in response to determining the content item is a new content item accessed within the application.

7 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein:

user-specific index comprises a shared index portion comprising shared content items across a team of collaborating user accounts; and

executing the function to add the content item to the user-specific index comprises adding the content item to the shared index portion based on the metadata comprising a list of user accounts associated with the content item.

8 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

receive, at a content management system and from a client device, an application programming interface (API) call generated while accessing a content item within an application on the client device, the API call comprising a user account identifier and metadata for the content item;

based on receiving the API call, execute a function to add the content item to a user-specific content item index associated with a user account within the content management system corresponding to the user account identifier by adding the metadata for the content item to the user-specific content item index;

identify the content item within the user-specific content item index based on receiving a request from the client device; and

based on identifying the content item, provide the content item to the client device by retrieving the content item using the metadata for the content item within the user-specific content item index.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein:

the metadata for the content item comprises a pointer to an internal storage location of the content item within the content management system; or

the metadata for the content item comprises a pointer to an external storage location of the content item outside of the content management system.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving, from the application on the client device, a second API call comprising updated metadata for the content item based on a modification made to the content item on the application; and

modifying the user-specific content item index by modifying the metadata for the content item within the user-specific content item index based on the updated metadata for the content item.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising authenticating the application with the content management system prior to receiving the API call.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving, from the application on the client device, a second API call comprising an instruction to delete the content item from the user-specific content item index; and

removing the metadata for the content item from the user-specific content item index based on receiving the instruction to delete the content item via the second API call.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the API call generated while accessing the content item within the application is automatically generated in response to determining the content item is a new content item accessed within the application.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein:

user-specific index comprises a shared index portion comprising shared content items across a team of collaborating user accounts; and

executing the function to add the content item to the user-specific index comprises adding the content item to the shared index portion based on the metadata comprising a list of user accounts associated with the content item.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computing system to:

receive, at a content management system and from an application on a client device, an application programming interface (API) call generated while accessing a content item within the application, the API call specifying metadata for the content item;

based on receiving the API call, execute a function to add the content item to a user-specific content item index associated with a user account within the content management system by adding the metadata for the content item to the user-specific content item index;

identify the content item within the user-specific content item index based on receiving a request from the client device, the request having one or more parameters corresponding to the content item; and

based on identifying the content item, provide the content item to the client device by retrieving the content item using the metadata for the content item within the user-specific content item index.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to authenticate the application with the content management system prior to receiving the API call.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the user-specific content item index references both internal content items stored within the content management system and external content items stored outside the content management system.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the metadata for the content item comprises a pointer to an external storage location of the content item outside of the content management system; and

metadata for the content item comprises a pointer to an internal storage location of the content item within the content management system.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:

receive, from the application on the client device, a second API call comprising updated metadata for the content item based on a modification made to the content item on the application; and

modify the user-specific content item index by modifying the metadata for the content item within the user-specific content item index based on the updated metadata for the content item.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:

receive, from the application on the client device, a second API call comprising an instruction to delete the content item from the user-specific content item index; and

remove the metadata for the content item from the user-specific content item index based on receiving the instruction to delete the content item via the second API call.