Granted Patent B1

US 12,536,238 · App. 19/003,694 · Granted Jan 27, 2026

Inventors: Andrew Warr (San Francisco, CA); Jacob Solomon (Austin, TX); Noorain Noorani (New York, NY); Sabarish Mahadevan (Arrington, TN); Tony Xu (Redmond, WA)

Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.

G06F16/9535G06F16/9538

Abstract

Claims (80)

1 . A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

receive, for a user account on a content management system and via a software extension on a browser application, browsing data corresponding to browsing activity associated with a user associated with the user account;

receive, for the user account on the content management system and via a local content management system application, local browsing data corresponding to local user activity associated with the user associated with the user account;

identify one or more existing digital connections communicatively linking one or more third-party applications to the user account on the content management system and, from the browsing data and the local browsing data, a third-party application that is external to the content management system;

provide, based on the one or more existing digital connections, for display on a graphical user interface of a client device, a selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application; and

based on receiving an indication of a selection of the selectable connector suggestion, generate a digital connection that communicatively links the third-party application to the user account on the content management system.

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

generate based on the browsing data and the local browsing data, a third-party relevance prediction for the third-party application; and

based on the third-party relevance prediction, provide for display on the graphical user interface of the client device, the selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application.

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

detect a launch of an additional third-party application external to the content management system from the local content management system application; and

provide for display on the graphical user interface of the client device, an additional selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the additional third-party application.

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

receive, from the client device, temporary access to a subset of content items within the third-party application for a limited period of time; and

based on the temporary access, generate a temporary digital connection that communicatively links the subset of content items within the third-party application to the user account on the content management system for the limited period of time.

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

identify one or more existing digital connections communicatively linking one or more third-party applications to the user account on the content management system;

based on the one or more existing digital connections, provide for display on a graphical user interface of a client device, an additional selectable connector suggestion corresponding to an additional third-party application; and

based on receiving an additional indication of a selection of the selectable connector suggestion, generate a digital connection that communicatively links the additional third-party application to the user account on the content management system.

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

identify collective browsing data corresponding to collective browsing activity associated with a set of users associated with a set of user accounts within an entity;

identify, from the collective browsing data, a third-party application that is external to the content management system;

provide for display on a graphical user interface of an administrator client device associated with an administrative user account, a selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application; and

based on receiving an indication of a selection of the selectable connector suggestion from the administrator client device associated with the administrative user account, generate a shared digital connection that communicatively links the third-party application to the set of user accounts on the content management system.

7 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, for a user account on a content management system and via a software extension on a browser application, browsing data corresponding to browsing activity associated with a user associated with the user account;

identifying one or more existing digital connections communicatively linking one or more third-party applications to the user account on the content management system and, from the browsing data, a third-party application that is external to the content management system;

providing, based on the one or more existing digital connections, for display on a graphical user interface of a client device, a selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application; and

based on receiving an indication of a selection of the selectable connector suggestion, generating a digital connection that communicatively links the third-party application to the user account on the content management system.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

generating, based on the browsing data, a third-party relevance prediction for the third-party application; and

based on the third-party relevance prediction, providing the selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

detecting within a content item stored on the content management system, an embedding associated with an additional third-party application external to the content management system; and

providing for display on the graphical user interface of the client device, an additional selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the additional third-party application.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

detecting a search query associated with an additional third-party application based on the browsing data; and

based on the search query associated with the additional third-party application, generating an additional selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the additional third-party application.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving, from the client device, temporary access to a subset of content items within the third-party application; and

based on the temporary access, generating a temporary digital connection that communicatively links the subset of content items within the third-party application to the user account on the content management system.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

identifying a software suite corresponding to a set of third-party applications;

providing for display on the graphical user interface of the client device, a selectable suite connector suggestion corresponding to the set of third-party applications; and

based on receiving an additional indication of an additional selection of the selectable suite connector suggestion, generating a set of digital connections that communicatively link the set of third-party applications to the user account on the content management system.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

identifying collective browsing data corresponding to collective browsing activity associated with a set of users associated with a set of user accounts within an entity;

identifying, from the collective browsing data, one or more additional third-party applications that are external to the content management system;

providing for display on a graphical user interface of a client device associated with an administrative user account, one or more additional selectable connector suggestions corresponding to the one or more additional third-party applications; and

based on receiving an additional indication of an additional selection of the one or more additional selectable connector suggestions from the client device associated with the administrative user account, generating one or more digital connections that communicatively links the one or more additional third-party applications to the set of user accounts on the content management system.

14 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

receive, for a user account on a content management system, browsing data corresponding to browsing activity associated with a user associated with the user account;

identify one or more existing digital connections communicatively linking one or more third-party applications to the user account on the content management system and, from the browsing data, a third-party application that is external to the content management system;

provide, based on the one or more existing digital connections, for display on a graphical user interface of a client device, a selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application;

based on receiving an indication of a selection of the selectable connector suggestion, request authentication credentials for the third-party application; and

based on receiving the authentication credentials, generate a digital connection that communicatively links the third-party application to the user account on the content management system.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

generate, utilizing a suggestion model, a third-party relevance prediction for the third-party application based on the browsing data; and

based on the third-party relevance prediction, provide for display on the graphical user interface of the client device, the selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the third-party application.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

determine a digital connection threshold corresponding to a number of digital connections for the user account on the content management system; and

provide for display on the graphical user interface of the client device, one or more additional selectable connector suggestions corresponding to one or more third-party applications to exceed the digital connection threshold.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

generate sample data comprising one or more content items stored on one or more third-party applications communicatively linked the content management system;

receive from the client device associated with the user account a search query of the sample data; and

in response to receiving the search query, provide for display on the client device a search result comprising one or more source content items from the one or more third-party applications.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

receive, from the client device associated with the user account one or more additional authentication credentials for one or more third-party applications external to the content management system; and

based on receiving the one or more additional authentication credentials, generate a temporary digital connection that communicatively links source content items within the one or more third-party applications to the user account on the content management system for a limited period of time.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

identify collective browsing data corresponding to collective browsing activity associated with a set of users associated with a set of user accounts within an entity;

identify, from the collective browsing data, an additional third-party application that is external to the content management system;

provide for display on a graphical user interface of a client device associated with an administrative user account, an additional selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the additional third-party application; and

based on receiving an additional indication of an additional selection of the additional selectable connector suggestion, generate one or more digital connections that communicatively links the additional third-party application to the set of user accounts on the content management system.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

detect from the browsing data a search query associated with an additional third-party application external to the content management system;

based on the search query associated with the additional third-party application, generate an additional selectable connector suggestion corresponding to the additional third-party application; and

based on receiving an additional indication of an additional selection of the additional selectable connector suggestion, generate an additional digital connection that communicatively links the third-party application to the user account on the content management system.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (19)