System and method for progressively installing a software application

• US 20040237083A1
• Filed: 05/22/2003
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dunn, Michael, Tammana, Venkata Rama Prasad, Alcazar, Mark A., Canter, Adriaan W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,395,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading

Abstract

Described is a mechanism for enabling an application operating as a web application to transition to a client-side application without impacting a user'"'"'s interaction with the application. The progressive installation transitions through three states: a start-up state, a demand state, and an install state. During the start-up state, a subset of components associated with the application is downloaded and stored in a local data store. The subset is sufficient to allow execution of the application in a manner similar to a web application. During the demand state, additional resources associated with the application are downloaded. Transitioning from the demand state to the installed state occurs without impacting a user'"'"'s interaction with the application. The transition may occur autonomously based on the number of additional resources stored in the local data store or upon an external trigger.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions, comprising:

initiating retrieval of an application package that identifies an application and components of the application;

downloading a subset of the components associated with the application to a local data store, the subset being sufficient to allow execution of the application in a manner similar to a web application, and

transitioning the application to an installed application while interaction with the application is occurring.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein initiating retrieval of the application package comprises activating a hyperlink associated with the application.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein initiating retrieval of the application package further comprises retrieving a deployment manifest that identifies the application package.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the subset of components is identified by the application package.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the application package comprises an application manifest and code.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the application package is in an executable format.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising downloading an additional resource associated with the application upon activation of a hyperlink on a Web page associated with the application.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the additional resource comprises an on demand resource.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising storing the on demand resource to the local data store.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the additional resource comprises an online resource.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising storing the online resource in a transient cache.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein transitioning the application to the installed application comprises storing the online resource in the local data store.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein transitioning the application to the installed application comprises downloading a plurality of remaining resources to the local data store, the plurality of remaining resources being components that are not currently in the local data store.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein transitioning the application to the installed application comprises transferring a state associated with the application to the installed application in a manner such that when the installed application is launched offline, execution of the installed application resumes at the state associated with the application.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the state information is stored in an application object associated with the application.

16. A computer-executable method for transitioning a web application to a client-side application, comprising:

identifying an application package associated with an application, the application package including sufficient resources to execute the application in a manner similar to a web application;

downloading content of the application package to a local store;

upon receiving a request for one of a plurality of additional resources associated with the application, downloading the additional resource; and

upon receiving a request to transition the application to a client-side application, downloading remaining resources to the local store.

17. The computer-executable method of claim 16, wherein the request to transition the application to the client-side application is based on the number of additional resources currently stored in the local store.

18. The computer-executable method of claim 17, wherein the request to transition the application occurs autonomously.

19. The computer-executable method of claim 16, wherein the request to transition the application to the client-side application comprises selecting a hyperlink on a Web page associated with the application.

20. The computer-executable method of claim 16, wherein the application package includes an application manifest and code, the application manifest uniquely identifying a subset of resources associated with the application.

21. The computer-executable method of claim 20, wherein the application comprises the subset of resources and the plurality of additional resources.

22. The computer-executable method of claim 21, wherein downloading the additional resource further comprises storing the additional resource in the local store if the additional resource comprises an on demand resource, and storing the additional resource in a transient cache if the additional resource comprises an online resource.

23. The computer-executable method of claim 16, further comprising determining whether the additional resource is available locally, and if so, using the local additional resource rather than downloading the additional resource.

24. The computer-executable method of claim 16, wherein the remaining resources are an additional subset out of the plurality of additional resources that are not currently stored in the local store.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein transitioning the application to the client-side application comprises transferring a state associated with the application to the client-side application in a manner such that when the client-side application is launched offline, execution of the client-side application resumes at the state associated with the application when transitioned.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the state information is stored in an application object associated with the application.

27. A system that allows a web application to transition to an offline application, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory being allocated for a plurality of computer-executable instructions which are loaded into the memory for execution by the processor, the computer-executable instructions performing a method comprising;

performing a start-up state, the start-up state comprising downloading a subset of components associated with an application to a local data store, the subset being sufficient to allow execution of the application in a similar manner to a web application;

transitioning from the start-up state to a demand state, the demand state comprising downloading an additional resource associated with the application upon activation of a hyperlink on a Web page associated with the application; and

transitioning from the demand state to an installed state while interaction with the application is occurring, wherein the application executed in a manner similar to a client-side application in the installed state.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein transitioning from the demand state to the installed state comprises saving a state derived from interactions during the demand state to the application in a manner such that when the application is launched in the installed state, execution of the application resumes at the state associated with the demand state.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the state information is stored in an application object associated with the application.