Extension configuration and interaction

• US 10,185,819 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2017
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Surti, Tanvi Saumil, Tong, Chee Chen, Lyndersay, Sean Obafemi, Hilerio, Israel, Hazen, John Anderson
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Application Number:
  US15/810,620
• Publication Number:
  US 20180068109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• Field of Search: 709217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/445 by mutual authentication, e.g. between devices or programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications

Abstract

Techniques for extension interaction with applications are described. Generally, an extension represents functionality for extending, modifying, customizing, and/or supplementing native functionality of an application. Techniques discussed herein provide a common extension platform that enables an extension to interact with multiple different applications utilizing components of the platform. The common extension platform, for instance, exposes a set of common extension application programming interfaces (APIs) that provide a common interaction surface between extensions and applications.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one computer-readable storage media storing instructions that are executable by the at least one processor to perform operations including;

receiving an indication to present an extension manager graphical user interface (GUI); and

presenting the extension manager GUI configured to;

display state information for one or more extensions, the one or more extensions representing separate functionality from one or more applications and the one or more extensions configured to perform one or more of extending, modifying, customizing, or supplementing functionality of the one or more applications; and

receive user input to perform one or more of configuring an extension of the one or more extensions, or obtaining an extension.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the extension manager GUI is configured to receive the user input to enable the extension to be obtained from a remote resource.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the extension manager GUI is configured to receive the user input to enable presentation of an extension store that includes functionality for one or more of searching for or obtaining an extension not presently installed on the system.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the extension manager GUI is further configured to display one or more recommended extensions based on one or more of popularity, a user preference, a user behavior, or extension rating on an extension store.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said configuring the extension includes enabling or disabling the extension.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein responsive to receiving the user input to obtain the extension, the operations further include:

presenting an extension store GUI configured to;

display available extensions not presently installed on the system; and

receive a selection of one of the available extensions for download.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said receiving the indication to present the extension manager GUI includes receiving a selection of an extension manager icon.

8. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein extension information is extracted from the one or more applications, and the state information is populated based on the extracted extension information.

9. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more extensions perform said one or more of extending, modifying, customizing, or supplementing functionality of an application which is currently in focus on the system.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication to present an extension manager graphical user interface (GUI) on a computing device; and

presenting the extension manager GUI configured to;

display state information for one or more extensions, the one or more extensions representing separate functionality from one or more applications and the one or more extensions configured to perform one or more of extending, modifying, customizing, or supplementing functionality of the one or more applications; and

receive user input to perform one or more of configuring an extension of the one or more extensions, or obtaining an extension.

11. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 10, wherein the extension manager GUI is configured to receive the user input to enable presentation of an extension store that includes functionality for one or more of searching for or obtaining an extension not presently installed on the computing device.

12. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 10, wherein the extension manager GUI is further configured to display one or more recommended extensions based on one or more of popularity, a user preference, a user behavior, or a rating on an extension store.

13. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 10, wherein responsive to receiving the user input to obtain the extension, method further includes:

presenting an extension store GUI configured to;

display available extensions not presently installed on the computing device; and

receive a selection of one of the available extensions for download.

14. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 10, wherein the one or more extensions perform said one or more of extending, modifying, customizing, or supplementing functionality of an application which is currently in focus on the computing device.

15. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 10, wherein said receiving the indication to present the extension manager GUI includes receiving a selection of an extension manager icon.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

extracting extension information from one or more applications;

responsive to receiving an indication to present an extension manager graphical user interface (GUI), presenting the extension manager GUI including;

a configure extensions region displaying state information for one or more extensions based on the extracted extension information, the one or more extensions representing functionality separate from the one or more applications for performing one or more of extending, modifying, customizing, or supplementing functionality of the one or more applications; and

a get extensions region displaying one or more recommended extensions, the one or more recommended extensions representing extensions available from an extension store that are not presently available to the one or more applications; and

receiving user input to perform one or more of configuring an extension of the one or more extensions, or obtaining an extension of the one or more recommended extensions.

17. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 16, wherein the one or more recommended extensions are displayed based on one or more of popularity on the extension store, a user preference, a user behavior, or a rating on the extension store.

18. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 16, wherein said configuring the extension includes enabling or disabling the extension.

19. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 16, wherein the get extensions region further includes a store control selectable to navigate to the extension store.

20. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 16, wherein the one or more extensions perform said one or more of extending, modifying, customizing, or supplementing functionality of the application which is currently in focus.