Extending functionality of applications

• US 10,244,058 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2016
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ivanov, Maxim, Pai, Samarth
• Primary Examiner(s): Strange, Aaron N
• Application Number:
  US15/298,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20170085655A1
• Time in Patent Office: 888 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0273 using web services for network management, e.g. simple object access protocol [SOAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5012 determining service availability, e.g. which services are available at a certain point in time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

A centralized location for discovery and data exchange for web applications. Embodiments of the invention are directed to providing a centralized interface location to send data to and receive data from one or more web applications hosted on application servers different from a server hosting the centralized interface. An application developer for a subscriber having an account with the web application may therefore easily extend the functionality of one or more web applications by communicating with a single interface provided, rather than with separate interfaces for each application. The centralized interface may provide information such as a list of all web applications or functionality to which a particular subscriber has access, and may support any desired extension (e.g., addition of users).

Claims

1. A computer system associated with an application manager that provides to individual subscribers of a plurality of subscribers a subscriber account, wherein an individual subscriber account includes at least one application from a plurality of applications made available for inclusion in the plurality of subscriber accounts, the computer system comprising:

at least one processor programmed by executable instructions to carry out at least one act, the at least one act comprising;

receiving an interface call for an interface that provides a centralized discovery capability to enable a source of the interface call to discover, via an interaction with the interface, which of the plurality of applications is included in a subscriber account, wherein the source of the interface call is a first entity and the subscriber associated with the subscriber account is a second entity, the first entity and the second entity being different entities, and wherein the first entity is another application hosted by a server, and the other application discovers which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account via the centralized discovery capability provided by the interface; and

responding to the interface call with a listing of which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account and, for at least one application of the applications included in the subscriber account, a descriptor that describes a functionality of the at least one application of the applications included in the subscriber account.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first entity is a computer program adapted to execute on a client computer, and the computer program discovers which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account via the centralized discovery capability provided by the interface.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the interface is a first interface, and wherein the at least one act further comprises an act of:

receiving a second interface call for a second interface that enables communication with at least two servers hosting at least two applications accessible by a user of the subscriber account via a third server that provides a centralized interface to the at least two servers; and

transmitting at least some information included in the second interface call to at least one of the at least two servers.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the first interface and the second interface comprise a single interface.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the at least two applications are applications capable of being discovered as included in the subscriber account via the first interface.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the centralized discovery capability further enables the source of the interface call to discover, via a single interaction with the interface, of a version for each application of the plurality of applications.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the centralized discovery capability further enables the source of the interface call to discover, via a single interaction with the interface, of whether a computer program is compatible with an application of the plurality of applications.

8. A method for use in a computer system comprising an application manager that provides to individual subscribers of a plurality of subscribers a subscriber account, wherein an individual subscriber account includes at least one application from a plurality of applications available for inclusion in the plurality of subscriber accounts, the method comprising:

operating at least one processor programmed by executable instructions to carry out at least one act, the at least one act comprising;

receiving, at a third server that provides a centralized interface to at least two servers, an interface call for an interface that enables communication with the at least two servers, the at least two servers hosting at least one of the applications available for inclusion in the subscriber account, the third server being a destination of a message comprising the interface call and being transmitted by a source of the interface call;

transmitting at least some information included in the interface call from the third server to a server of the at least two servers, the at least some information comprising data transmitted by the source of the interface call and a request that the data be stored by at least one of the plurality of applications, wherein the source of the interface call is another application hosted by at least one server, and the other application communicates messages to at least one of the at least two servers through the centralized interface provided by the third server; and

receiving the data stored by the application and transmitting the data stored by the application to the source of the interface call.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the interface enables communication with the at least two servers by providing to at least one interface function call that enables retrieval of information from the third server, the information comprising addresses for the at least two servers to allow the source of the at least one interface function call to communicate with the at least two servers without knowing in advance the location of the at least two servers.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the interface is the centralized interface, and the interface enables communication with the at least two servers through the third server by receiving and processing messages from the source of the interface call including content to be transmitted to the at least two servers and transmitting the content to the at least two servers.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the source of the interface call is a computer program adapted to execute on a client computer, and the computer program communicates messages to at least one of the at least two servers through the centralized interface provided by the third server.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the source may communicate, using the interface, messages to any application included in the subscriber'"'"'s account hosted by any application server through the centralized interface provided by the third server.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the centralized interface enables discovery, via a single interaction with the interface, of whether a computer program is compatible with the at least two servers.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of application servers, individual application servers of the plurality of application servers hosting at least one application;

a central server that provides a centralized interface to the plurality of application servers;

a client computer comprising at least one computer-readable medium having encoded thereon an interface that enables the client computer to transmit calls to the central server requesting that the central server aid in transmitting data to be stored by at least one of the plurality of servers; and

a server hosting another application, the server comprising at least one computer-readable medium having encoded thereon a second interface that enables the other application to communicate with a plurality of applications hosted by the plurality of application servers accessible by a user of the subscriber account via the centralized interface to the plurality of application servers;

wherein the other application requests that the server transmit the interface calls to the central server requesting that the central server aid in communicating the messages to, and the other application communicates messages to at least one application through the centralized interface provided by the central server.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the interface requests that the central server aid in communicating messages to the plurality of servers by requesting that the central server provide to the client computer information comprising addresses for at least one of the plurality of servers such that the client computer does not have to know in advance the location of the at least one of the plurality of servers.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the interface requests that the central server aid in communicating messages to the plurality of servers by requesting that the central server transmit at least some of the information contained in an interface call to the plurality of servers.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein a computer program adapted to execute on the client computer requests that the client computer transmit the interface calls, and the computer program communicates with at least one application hosted by the plurality of application servers via the centralized interface.

18. A computer system associated with a source, comprising:

at least one processor programmed by executable instructions to carry out at least one act, the at least one act comprising;

sending an interface call to an interface of an application manager that provides to individual subscribers of a plurality of subscribers a subscriber account, wherein an individual subscriber account includes at least one application from a plurality of applications made available for inclusion in the plurality of subscriber accounts, wherein the application manager provides a centralized discovery capability to enable a discovery, via an interaction with the interface, which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account, wherein the source is associated with the interface call and a first entity, wherein the subscriber account is associated with a second entity, the first entity and the second entity being different entities, and wherein the first entity is another application hosted by a server, and the other application discovers which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account via the centralized discovery capability provided by the interface; and

receiving from the interface a listing of which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account and, for at least one application of the applications included in the subscriber account, a descriptor that describes a functionality of the at least one application of the applications included in the subscriber account.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the first entity is a computer program adapted to execute on the computer system, and the computer program discovers which of the plurality of applications is included in the subscriber account via the centralized discovery capability provided by the interface.

20. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the interface is a first interface, and wherein the at least one act further comprises an act of:

sending a second interface call for a second interface that enables communication with at least two servers hosting at least two applications accessible by a user of the subscriber account via a third server that provides a centralized interface to the at least two servers, and

wherein the second interface call causes a communication of at least some information included in the second interface call to at least one of the at least two servers.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the first interface and the second interface comprise a single interface.

22. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the at least two applications are applications capable of being discovered as included in the subscriber account via the first interface.