System and method for updating downloaded applications using managed container

• US 10,284,600 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2017
• Issued: 05/07/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Open Text Sa Ulc (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Beckman, Gregory, Laird, Robert, Gagne, Alain
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Luu T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malinowski, Walter J
• Application Number:
  US15/595,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20170249448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• Field of Search: 726 12, 726 1, 726 3, 709203, 709217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5683 Storage of data provided by user terminals, i.e. reverse caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A managed container may be configured to manage enterprise applications, manage enterprise information stored on a device, manage a protected storage area used by the managed container to store and reference the enterprise applications during execution, and manage a database storing enterprise rules related to management of the enterprise applications and the enterprise information. The managed container may communicate with an application gateway server to control download and update of the enterprise applications, the enterprise information, and the enterprise rules. The application gateway server may be coupled to a backend enterprise application. At least one of the enterprise applications may be configured to execute in conjunction with the backend enterprise application according to at least one of the enterprise rules, and is configured to, according to another one of the enterprise rules, manage the enterprise information associated with the backend enterprise application.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

downloading, by a client device from a network source, a managed container;

receiving, by the managed container on the client device over a network, a communication from a server computer operating in an enterprise computing environment, the communication from the server computer including a reference of an application or a list of applications managed by the server computer;

examining, by the managed container on the client device, the communication from the server computer, the managed container having a user interface, a managed cache, and an application framework, the application framework of the managed container including an execution engine that provides a runtime environment for applications associated with backend systems running in the enterprise computing environment, wherein the runtime environment provided by the managed container on the client device is not accessible by applications that reside on the client device and that are not managed by the server computer, the examining including comparing the reference or the list in the communication from the server computer with any application already downloaded and stored in the managed cache of the managed container;

determining, by the managed container on the client device based at least in part on the communication received from the server computer, whether to download any application referenced in the communication from the server computer;

downloading, by the managed container on the client device, an application package associated with a first application from the server computer into the managed cache of the managed container on the client device, the downloading responsive to the managed container determining to download the first application referenced in the communication from the server computer, the application package associated with the first application containing an icon for the first application;

extracting, by the managed container on the client device and within the runtime environment provided by the managed container on the client device, the application package associated with the first application, wherein the extracting further comprises extracting the application package into a local file system of the managed cache of the managed container on the client device;

displaying, by the managed container on the client device, the icon for the first application on the user interface of the managed container on the client device, and

providing, by the managed container, a secure runtime shell within which the first application is run when invoked via the icon for the first application displayed on the user interface of the managed container.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

tracking applications that are managed by the server computer and that are downloaded and stored in the managed cache of the managed container, the tracking performed by the managed container using a database stored in the managed cache of the managed container.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

updating the database stored in the managed cache of the managed container to include the first application downloaded by the managed container on the client device into the managed cache of the managed container on the client device.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending a request for application from the managed container to the server computer, wherein the receiving the communication from the server computer occurs subsequent to the sending the request from the managed container operating on the client device to the server computer.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the application package comprises a minimal number of application components of the first application, the minimal number of application components including the icon for the first application, a metadata file, and a code file.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the runtime environment provided by the managed container on the client device is not accessible by an operating system on the client device.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first application downloaded from the server computer by the managed container on the client device is a client application of a backend system running in the enterprise computing environment.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

stored instructions translatable by the processor to perform;

downloading a managed container from a network source and into the non-transitory computer readable medium, the managed container having a user interface, a managed cache, and an application framework, the application framework of the managed container including an execution engine that provides a runtime environment for applications associated with backend systems running in an enterprise computing environment, wherein the managed container is operable by the processor for performing;

receiving a communication from a server computer operating in the enterprise computing environment, the communication from the server computer including a reference of an application or a list of applications managed by the server computer, wherein the runtime environment provided by the managed container on the client device is not accessible by applications that reside on the client device and that are not managed by the server computer;

examining the communication from the server computer, the examining including comparing the reference or the list in the communication from the server computer with any application already downloaded and stored in the managed cache of the managed container;

determining, based at least in part on the communication received from the server computer, whether to download any application referenced in the communication from the server computer;

downloading an application package associated with a first application from the server computer into the managed cache of the managed container on the client device, the downloading responsive to the managed container determining to download the first application referenced in the communication from the server computer, the application package associated with the first application containing an icon for the first application;

extracting, within the runtime environment provided by the managed container, the application package associated with the first application, wherein the extracting further comprises extracting the application package into a local file system of the managed cache of the managed container on the client device;

displaying the icon for the first application on the user interface of the managed container; and

providing a secure runtime shell within which the first application is run when invoked via the icon for the first application displayed on the user interface of the managed container.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the managed container is further operable for performing:

tracking applications that are managed by the server computer and that are downloaded and stored in the managed cache of the managed container, the tracking performed using a database stored in the managed cache of the managed container.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the managed container is further operable for performing:

updating the database stored in the managed cache of the managed container to include the first application downloaded by the managed container into the managed cache of the managed container.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the runtime environment provided by the managed container on the client device is not accessible by an operating system on the client device.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first application downloaded from the server computer by the managed container on the client device is a client application of a backend system running in the enterprise computing environment.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the managed container is further operable for performing:

sending a request for application from the managed container to the server computer, wherein the receiving the communication from the server computer occurs subsequent to the sending the request from the managed container to the server computer.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the application package comprises a minimal number of application components of the first application, the minimal number of application components including the icon for the first application, a metadata file, and a code file.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions of a managed container, the managed container having a user interface, a managed cache, and an application framework, the application framework of the managed container including an execution engine that provides a runtime environment for applications associated with backend systems running in an enterprise computing environment, the instructions of the managed container translatable by a processor of a client device of a server computer operating in the enterprise computing environment, the instructions of the managed container when translated by the processor of the client device perform:

receiving a communication from the server computer operating in the enterprise computing environment, the communication from the server computer including a reference of an application or a list of applications managed by the server computer;

examining the communication from the server computer, the examining including comparing the reference or the list in the communication from the server computer with any application already downloaded and stored in the managed cache of the managed container, wherein the runtime environment provided by the managed container on the client device is not accessible by applications that reside on the client device and that are not managed by the server computer;

determining, based at least in part on the communication received from the server computer, whether to download any application referenced in the communication from the server computer;

downloading an application package associated with a first application from the server computer into the managed cache of the managed container on the client device, the downloading responsive to the managed container determining to download the first application referenced in the communication from the server computer, the application package associated with the first application containing an icon for the first application;

extracting, within the runtime environment provided by the managed container, the application package associated with the first application, wherein the extracting further comprises extracting the application package into a local file system of the managed cache of the managed container;

displaying the icon for the first application on the user interface of the managed container; and

providing a secure runtime shell within which the first application is run when invoked via the icon for the first application displayed on the user interface of the managed container.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for performing:

tracking applications that are managed by the server computer and that are downloaded and stored in the managed cache of the managed container, the tracking performed using a database stored in the managed cache of the managed container.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for performing:

updating the database stored in the managed cache of the managed container to include the first application downloaded by the managed container into the managed cache of the managed container.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for performing:

sending a request for application from the managed container to the server computer, wherein the receiving the communication from the server computer occurs subsequent to the sending the request from the managed container to the server computer.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the application package comprises a minimal number of application components of the first application, the minimal number of application components including the icon for the first application, a metadata file, and a code file.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the first application downloaded from the server computer by the managed container on the client device is a client application of a backend system running in the enterprise computing environment.