IP Library Granted Patent US 9,246,875
Granted Patent B2
US 9,246,875 · App. 14/145,040 · Granted Jan 26, 2016

Identifying and blocking prohibited content items in a content management system

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,246,875
App. No.
14/145,040
Granted
Jan 26, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

To identify whether a content item is prohibited, a content management system can generate a content item fingerprint for the content item and then compare the generated content item fingerprint to a blacklist of content item fingerprints for prohibited content items. If the generated content item fingerprint matches any of the content item fingerprints included in the blacklist, the content management system can determine that the content item is prohibited. The content management system can deny requests to share prohibited content items and/or requests to assign prohibited content items to a user account on the content management system. The content management system can generate the content item fingerprint using the content item as input in a fingerprinting algorithm that was used to generate the content item fingerprints on the blacklist.

Claims (54)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing, by a computing device, an assignment blacklist and a sharing blacklist, the assignment blacklist including fingerprints identifying content items that are prohibited from being assigned to a user account, the sharing blacklist identifying content items that are prohibited from being shared from a user account;

receiving a content item request associated with a first content item;

determining a request type corresponding to the first content item request, where the request type is an assignment request or a share request, wherein the assignment request is a request to assign the first content item to a particular user account, wherein the share request is a request to share the first content item from the particular user account;

generating, by the computing device, a first content item fingerprint from the first content item, the first content item fingerprint identifying the first content item;

selecting the assignment blacklist when the request type is an assignment request;

selecting the sharing blacklist when the request type is a share request;

determining that the first content item fingerprint is included in the selected blacklist; and

denying the content item request when the first content item fingerprint is included in the selected blacklist.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first content item fingerprint is generated using the first content item as a hash key in a hashing algorithm.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining that the first content item fingerprint is included in the selected blacklist comprises:

comparing the first content item fingerprint to a second content item fingerprint included on the selected blacklist, the second content item fingerprint generated using the second content item as a hash key in the hashing algorithm; and

determining that the first content item fingerprint matches the second content item fingerprint.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining that the first content item fingerprint matches the second content item fingerprint comprises determining that the first content item fingerprint exceeds a predetermined similarity threshold with the second content item fingerprint.

5. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

store an assignment blacklist and a sharing blacklist, the assignment blacklist including fingerprints identifying content items that are prohibited from being assigned to a user account, the sharing blacklist identifying content items that are prohibited from being shared from a user account;

receive a content item request associated with a first content item;

determine a request type associated with the first content item request, where the request type is an assignment request or a share request, wherein the assignment request is a request to assign the first content item to a particular user account, wherein the share request is a request to share the first content item from the particular user account;

generate a first content item fingerprint from the first content item, the first content item fingerprint generated using a first portion of the first content item as input in a fingerprinting algorithm;

select the assignment blacklist when the request type is an assignment request;

select the sharing blacklist when the request type is a sharing request;

determine that the first content item fingerprint matches a second content item fingerprint on the selected blacklist, the second content item fingerprint generated using a first portion of a second content item as input in the fingerprinting algorithm; and

deny the content item request.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein determining that the first content item fingerprint matches the second content item fingerprint comprises:

comparing the first content item fingerprint to the second content item fingerprint; and

determining that the first content item fingerprint and the second content item fingerprint exceed a predetermined similarity threshold, wherein the first content item fingerprint and the second content item fingerprint are different.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the first content item is a modified version of the second content item.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

determine that a content item type of the first content item matches a predetermined content item type;

receive a second content item request associated with a third content item;

determine that a content item type of the third content item does not match the predetermined content item type; and

process the second content item request, wherein a content item fingerprint is not

generated for the third content item.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first content item fingerprint is not equal to the second content item fingerprint.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the fingerprinting algorithm is an approximate hashing algorithm that generates equal output when provided with hash keys that are slight modifications of each other.

11. The system of claim 5 , wherein the content item request is one of a request to assign the first content item to a user account or a request to share the first content item.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to:

store, by a computing device, an assignment blacklist and a sharing blacklist, the assignment blacklist including fingerprints identifying content items that are prohibited from being assigned to a user account, the sharing blacklist identifying content items that are prohibited from being shared from a user account;

receive a content item request associated with a first content item;

determining a request type corresponding to the first content item request, where the request type of the content item request is an assignment request or a share request, where the assignment request is a request to assign the first content item to a user account, where the share request is a request to share the first content item from a user account;

generate a first content item fingerprint from the first content item, the first content item fingerprint generated using the first content item as input in a fingerprinting algorithm;

select the assignment blacklist when the request type is an assignment request;

select the sharing blacklist when the request type is a share request;

determine that the first content item is included in the selected blacklist; and

deny the content item request when the first content item fingerprint is in the selected blacklist.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the content item request is a request to assign the first content item to a user account on the content management system, the instructions further causing the computing device to:

assign the first content item to the user account when the first content item is not on the selected blacklist.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the content item request is a request to share the first content item, the instructions further causing the processor to:

generate a share link to the first content item when the first content item is not on the selected blacklist.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the content item request is a request to share the first content item, the instructions further causing the processor to:

send, from the content management system to a client device, a share link to the first content item when the first content item is not on the selected blacklist.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the selected blacklist includes content item fingerprints generated using the fingerprinting algorithm.

Assignments (8)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 13, 2024
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DROPBOX, INC.
Reel/Frame 069635/0332 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 12, 2024
From: DROPBOX, INC.
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 069604/0611 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 12, 2024
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DROPBOX, INC.
Reel/Frame 069613/0744 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 11, 2024
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DROPBOX, INC.
Reel/Frame 069600/0149 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Mar 10, 2021
From: DROPBOX, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 055670/0219 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 14, 2017
From: DROPBOX, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 042254/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 24, 2014
From: DROPBOX, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 032510/0890 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 27, 2014
From: MITYAGIN, ANTON
To: DROPBOX, INC.
Reel/Frame 032309/0914 →