IP Library Granted Patent US 12,253,975
Granted Patent B2
US 12,253,975 · App. 18/411,836 · Granted Mar 18, 2025

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 12,253,975
App. No.
18/411,836
Granted
Mar 18, 2025
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 (37)

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, from a first application associated with a first system that is separate from the computing system, an application programming interface (API) call generated during user activity within the first application, the user activity comprising a user input for the first system, and the API call specifying parameters based in part on the user input for the first system;

identify, at the content management system and based on the parameters specified in the API call, user-specific content items referenced in a user-specific content item index associated with a user account to identify a content suggestion to retrieve one or more content items of the user-specific content items; and

provide, by the content management system via an API response, the content suggestion to the first application associated with the first system.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first application is a client application installed on a client device.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first application comprises at least one of a web browser, an email application, an electronic messaging application, a text application, or a document editing application.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein:

the user activity within the first application comprises text composition; and

the user input for the first application comprises text input.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the content management system stores the user-specific content items in association with the user account.

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

identify a plurality of user-specific content items that satisfy the parameters specified in the API call; and

wherein providing the content suggestion to the first application comprises providing a list of the plurality of user-specific content items.

7. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the user-specific content items referenced in the user-specific content item index comprises identifying a subset of user-specific content items based on a time period within which each of the subset of user-specific content items were last used.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a content management system, from a first application associated with a first system that is separate from the content management system, an application programming interface (API) call generated during user activity within the first application, the user activity comprising a user input for the first system, and the API call specifying parameters based in part on the user input for the first system;

identifying, at the content management system and based on the parameters specified in the API call, user-specific content items referenced in a user-specific content item index associated with a user account to identify a content suggestion to retrieve one or more content items of the user-specific content items; and

providing, by the content management system via an API response, the content suggestion to the first application associated with the first system.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the first application comprises at least one of a web browser, an email application, an electronic messaging application, a text application, or a document editing application.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the content management system stores the user-specific content items in association with the user account.

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

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the user-specific content item index comprises one or more shared content folders that are shared among a group of collaborating user accounts.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the parameters in the API call comprise at least one of: a user identifier, a ranking function to identify a particular set content items from the user-specific content items.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein providing the content suggestion to the first application comprises providing a list of user-specific content items that satisfy the parameters specified in the API call.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein identifying the user-specific content items referenced in the user-specific content item index comprises identifying a subset of user-specific content items based on a ranking function.

16. 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, from a first application associated with a first system that is separate from the computing system, an application programming interface (API) call generated during user activity within the first application, the user activity comprising a user input for the first system, and the API call specifying parameters based in part on the user input for the first system;

identify, at the content management system and based on the parameters specified in the API call, user-specific content items referenced in a user-specific content item index associated with a user account to identify a content suggestion to retrieve one or more content items of the user-specific content items; and

provide, by the content management system via an API response, the content suggestion to the first application associated with the first system.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the first application comprises at least one of a web browser, an email application, an electronic messaging application, a text application, or a document editing application.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the user input for the first application comprises text input.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the content management system stores the user-specific content items in association with the user account.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:

identify a plurality of user-specific content items that satisfy the parameters specified in the API call; and

wherein providing the content suggestion to the first application comprises providing a list of the plurality of user-specific content items.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 12, 2024
From: DROPBOX, INC.
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 069604/0611 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 17, 2024
From: LYNCH, SEAN; FUSHMAN, ILYA
To: DROPBOX, INC.
Reel/Frame 066339/0103 →
Continuity (5)
Continuation 17657569 · Mar 31, 2022
Continuation 16569833 · Sep 13, 2019
Continuation 15639901 · Jun 30, 2017
Continuation 13777205 · Feb 26, 2013
Related Publication 20240143551A1 · May 2, 2024
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