Shadow Item Storage for Content Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Content management systems face challenges in efficiently managing storage allocation for synchronized content items, leading to reduced space for other items and applications on client devices due to the large storage requirements of shared content.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of shadow items, which store metadata instead of actual content, allows for selective storage and retrieval of content items, enabling client devices to maintain access to all shared content while optimizing storage space by replacing locally stored items with shadow items when storage limits are approached.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If content management systems synchronize all content items to all client devices, then all users have access to shared content, but storage space on client devices is substantially reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments content items into two types: shadow items (stored only on content management system) and resident items (stored on client devices). This segmentation allows the system to maintain access to all shared content while reducing storage requirements on client devices by storing only essential resident items locally.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates shadow items as copies that contain only metadata and references to actual content stored on the content management system. These shadow items allow client devices to access shared content without storing the full content data locally, thereby resolving the storage space contradiction.
2Speed
If client devices store all shared content items locally, then access speed is improved, but storage allocation for other items and applications is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by storing only essential resident items locally on client devices rather than all shared content items. This selective storage approach maintains sufficient access speed for frequently used content while preserving storage allocation for other items and applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces shadow items as intermediaries between client devices and the content management system. Shadow items provide local access metadata and enable fast access to content while the actual content resides on the content management system, resolving the contradiction between access speed and storage allocation.
3Quantity of substance
If the system replaces locally stored content items with shadow items, then storage capacity is increased, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of content item storage by transitioning from storing full content items to storing shadow items with metadata. This parameter change increases storage capacity while the complexity management is handled through automated synchronization protocols between client devices and the content management system.
Data Source
AI summary
A content management system synchronizes content items across client computing systems connected by a network. Each client device has a storage allocation for synchronized shared content items. If the storage allocation for shared content items on a client device is exceeded by the request to add or edit a content item such that it is enlarged, or open a large content item remote to the client device, a client application or the host of content management system selects content items to remove from residence on the client device but keep remotely on content management system. Upon removal of the selected content items, the client application creates shadow items, representing the content item but only containing the metadata of the content item. This creates sufficient space for the initial request to be completed while maintaining user access to all synchronized shared content items. Remote content items may also be downloaded to client devices in advance of a user access by predicting user accesses using retention scoring.