Mobile Offline Content Access via Selective Sync
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices lack the storage capacity to locally store a large quantity of content items from a content management system, necessitating online access, which limits offline access to these items.
Innovation Solution
A content management system that allows users to mark specific content items for offline access, enabling their download and local storage on mobile devices, facilitating access even when not connected to the network through content item synchronization services and mobile applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If content items are stored locally on mobile device, then offline access is improved, but device storage capacity is exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments content items into two categories: frequently accessed items stored locally on the mobile device, and less frequently accessed items stored remotely in the cloud. This segmentation allows offline access to critical content while managing limited device storage capacity effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts specific content items from the remote cloud storage and places them in a local cache on the mobile device. This extraction enables offline access to selected content items without requiring the device to store all content, thus resolving the storage capacity constraint.
2Reliability
If all content items are downloaded to mobile device, then offline access is improved, but synchronization complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of downloading all content items to the mobile device, the system performs partial action by downloading only selected items that are frequently accessed or marked for offline availability. This reduces the burden on the synchronization mechanism while still providing adequate offline access.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by making specific content items available offline on the mobile device based on user preferences, access patterns, or device specifications, rather than uniformly caching all content. This selective approach simplifies synchronization by focusing only on relevant items.
3Quantity of substance
If content items are kept in cloud only, then storage efficiency is improved, but offline access capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-downloading selected content items to the mobile device before the user needs offline access. This preliminary caching ensures that frequently accessed content is already available locally, eliminating the need for cloud connectivity while maintaining storage efficiency for less accessed items.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are systems and methods of accessing content items stored at a content management system by a mobile device, when the mobile device is not communicatively coupled to the content management system. The content management system can receive an indication to mark a content item (e.g., folder and the content items associated with the folder) as available to a mobile device when the mobile device is offline. The content management system can mark the content item, and any content items associated with the content item, for offline access by the mobile device and determine a synchronization schedule for the content item(s). The content management system can then initially send to the mobile device, the marked content item(s) in accordance with the synchronization schedule. While offline, the mobile device can make changes to the marked content items. The changes can be synchronized between the mobile device and content management system when the mobile device is online.