Granted Patent B2

US 12,645,643 · App. 19/067,515 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventors: Sean Lynch (San Francisco, CA); Ilya Fushman (Palo Alto, CA)

Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.

G06F16/168G06F16/41

Abstract

Claims (49)

1 . A 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 system to:

send, by a first application to a content management system, an application programming interface (API) call generated based on user input within the first application, the API call comprising:

a user account identifier for a user account associated with a user-specific content item index corresponding to user-specific content items managed by the content management system; and

one or more parameters based in part on the user input within the first application; and

receive, by the first application via an API response from the content management system, a content suggestion indicating one or more suggested content items from the user-specific content items identified based on the one or more parameters.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first application is installed on a client device associated with the user account.

3 . The 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 system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more suggested content items comprise:

internal content items stored in association with the user account within the content management system; and

external content items stored outside of the content management system.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user-specific content item index references external content items stored outside of the content management system.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the content suggestion via the API response causes the first application to display a list comprising the one or more suggested content items from the user-specific content items on a client device running the first application.

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

send, by the first application, a request to retrieve a suggested content item from the one or more suggested content items based on a user interaction with the content suggestion; and

receive the suggested content item for use within the first application.

8 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending, by a first application on a first client device to a content management system, an application programming interface (API) call generated based on user input within the first application, the API call comprising:

a user account identifier for a user account associated with a user-specific content item index corresponding to user-specific content items managed by the content management system; and

one or more parameters based in part on the user input;

receiving, by the first application on the first client device via an API response from the content management system, a content suggestion indicating one or more suggested content items of the user-specific content items identified based on the one or more parameters; and

providing, for display on the first client device, an indication of the one or more suggested content items from the user-specific content items.

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 user-specific content item index comprises references to:

internal content items stored in association with the user account within the content management system; and

external content items stored outside of the content management system.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising authenticating the first application with the content management system by providing credentials for the user account, wherein the credentials comprise at least one of a username and password, a digital certificate, or a live session token.

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

the user-specific content item index references at least one shared content folder that is shared among a group of collaborating user accounts; and

the one or more suggested content items comprises at least one shared content item stored within the at least one shared content folder.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more parameters in the API call comprise a ranking function to rank a set content items from the user-specific content items to identify the one or more suggested content items.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein providing, for display on the first client device, the indication of the one or more suggested content items from the user-specific content items comprises providing a list of filenames corresponding to the one or more suggested content items.

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

sending, by the first application on the first client device, a request to retrieve a suggested content item from the one or more suggested content items based on a user interaction; and

receiving, by the first application on the first client device, the suggested content item for use within the first application.

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

send, by a first application to a content management system, an application programming interface (API) call generated based on user input within the first application, the API call comprising:

a user account identifier for a user account associated with a user-specific content item index corresponding to user-specific content items managed by the content management system; and

one or more parameters based in part on the user input within the first application; and

receive, by the first application via an API response from the content management system, a content suggestion indicating one or more suggested content items from the user-specific content items identified based on the one or more parameters.

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 one or more suggested content items comprise:

internal content items stored in association with the user account within the content management system; and

external content items stored outside of the content management system.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising authenticating the first application with the content management system by providing credentials for the user account, wherein the credentials comprise at least one of a username and password, a digital certificate, or a live session token.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein:

the user-specific content item index references at least one shared content folder that is shared among a group of collaborating user accounts within the content management system; and

the one or more suggested content items comprises at least one shared content item stored within the at least one shared content folder.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (6)

References Cited (25)