Location and contextual-based mobile application promotion and delivery

• US 10,440,538 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2018
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lau, James Kai Yu, Bruno, Jr., John P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Aftab N.
• Application Number:
  US15/924,860
• Publication Number:
  US 20180213377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for selecting one or more mobile device applications using context data describing the current environment of a mobile device and application metadata describing environment conditions where applications are more likely to be relevant, in order to improve the experience of discovering, downloading, and installing mobile device applications. According to one embodiment, a method comprises associating metadata with mobile device applications automatically receiving context data representing a current geographical location from a mobile phone, searching the metadata to determine which applications are likely of interest based on the current geographical location, and transmitting notification data to the mobile phone indicating the determined applications.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device comprising:

a controller or processor;

one or more input sources coupled to the controller or processor for providing context data; and

memory or data storage coupled to the controller or processor storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the controller or processor, cause the mobile device to perform operations for receiving applications based at least in part on transmitted context data, the operations comprising;

sending context data of the mobile computing device to a server or computing cloud, wherein the context data is based on data received from the input sources,

receiving a list of one or more applications determined to be relevant based at least in part on the transmitted context data,

automatically making a first application from the list of one or more relevant applications available to a user of the mobile device, wherein automatically making the first application available comprises automatically installing the first application, and

notifying a user of the availability of the first application, and

automatically determining whether the first application should be retained, based at least in part on determining that the context data has changed, the change in context data comprising a change in location that exceeds a predetermined threshold, and;

when it is determined that the first application should be retained, retaining the first application on the mobile device; and

when it is determined that the first application should not be retained, deleting the first application from the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the context data comprises location data of the mobile device; and

the automatically determining is further based at least in part on determining that a user has not accessed the first application prior to the change in location exceeding the predetermined threshold.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the automatically determining is based at least in part on determining that a predetermined time has elapsed without a user accessing the first application.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more relevant applications is an executable program.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the automatically determining is based on whether a user has accessed the first application or otherwise indicated that the application should be retained.

6. A method of discovering applications for a mobile device, the method comprising:

transmitting context data of the mobile device;

receiving a list of one or more application determined to be relevant based on the transmitted context data;

automatically making the one or more relevant applications available to a user of the mobile device;

notifying a user of the availability of the one or more relevant applications; and

automatically determining for a first application of the one or more applications whether the first application should be retained, based at least in part on determining that the context data has changed, wherein the change in context data comprises a change in location that exceeds a predetermined threshold, and;

when it is determined that the first application should be retained, retaining the first application on the mobile device; and

when it is determined that the first application should not be retained, deleting the first application from the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the application metadata is selected based at least in part on one or more of the following:

user ratings for the application, number of users of the application, features of a nearby device in the current mobile device environment, marketing payments for the application, or popularity of the application.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising notifying the user of the availability of the one or more applications.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the notifying the user comprises, with the mobile device, providing sound playback, vibration, or other haptic feedback.

10. One or more computer-readable memory storage devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 6.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the context data comprises location data, device functionality data, or user data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the context data comprises location data.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the evaluating the context data comprises evaluating the context data and application metadata associated with one or more applications.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the application metadata comprises application metadata associated with one or more applications that are already stored on the mobile device.

15. A method of discovering applications for a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving context data of the mobile device;

evaluating the context data and application metadata for one or more applications, and based on said evaluation;

identifying one or more applications as relevant for the mobile device based at least in part on the context data;

transmitting a list of the one or more applications to the mobile device; and

automatically determining for a first application of the one or more applications whether the first application should be retained, based at least in part on determining that the context data has changed, wherein the change in context data comprises a change in location that exceeds a predetermined threshold, and;

when it is determined that the first application should be retained, retaining the first application on the mobile device; and

when it is determined that the first application should not be retained, deleting the first application from the mobile device.

16. One or more computer-readable memory storage devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 15.