Methods, systems, and computer program products for installing an application from one peer to another including application configuration settings and data

• US 20070143446A1
• Filed: 12/21/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Scenera Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Original Assignee: Scenera Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Inventors: Morris, Robert
• Application Number:
  US11/313,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20070143446A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for installing an application are disclosed. According to one method, an installation of an application on a source device is detected. Responsive to detecting the application installation, a descriptor is produced including source-device-specific installation information. The descriptor is published to a descriptor data store accessible by a peer destination device. The descriptor is configured for use by the peer destination device for installing at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device.

Claims

1. A method for providing for the installation of an application, the method comprising:

detecting an installation of an application on a source device;

responsive to detecting the application installation, producing a descriptor including source-device-specific installation information; and

publishing the descriptor to a descriptor data store accessible by a peer destination device, wherein the descriptor is configured for use by the peer destination device for installing at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device by executing instructions on the source device.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device by executing instructions on a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device by executing instructions on the peer destination device.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising installing source-device-specific installation information for the application on the peer destination device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptor comprises a copy descriptor.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the copy descriptor includes instructions for prompting the peer destination device for an installation destination.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the copy descriptor includes instructions for providing the copy descriptor to the peer destination device and wherein installing the at least a portion of the application is performed by executing instructions on the peer destination device.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptor comprises an executable descriptor.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the executable descriptor includes instructions for providing the executable descriptor to a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device and wherein installing the at least a portion of the application is performed by executing instructions on each of the source device, the server device.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptor comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) descriptor.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the URL descriptor includes instructions for providing the URL descriptor to a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device and wherein installing the at least a portion of the application is performed by executing instructions on the server device.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptor comprises a proprietary descriptor for identifying a class type designed to execute instructions for installing the at least a portion of the application when instantiated.

14. The method of claim 13 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application by instantiating the class type identified within the proprietary descriptor on the source device and executing instructions on the source device.

15. The method of claim 13 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application by instantiating the class type identified within the proprietary descriptor on the peer destination device and executing instructions on the peer destination device.

16. The method of claim 1 comprising acquiring a license for installing the at least a portion of the application installed on the peer destination device.

17. The method of claim 16 comprising installing the license on the peer destination device.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising producing another descriptor associated with an installation of the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device, the other descriptor including content enabling a subsequent installation of the at least a portion of the application on another peer destination device.

19. The method of claim 18 comprising publishing the other descriptor to a descriptor data store accessible by the other peer destination device.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein publishing the descriptor includes publishing the descriptor via a web browser interface.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein publishing the descriptor includes publishing the descriptor via a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) file share.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein publishing the descriptor includes publishing the descriptor via an application programming interface (API).

23. The method of claim 1 comprising locating the descriptor data store on a server device other than the source device.

24. A method for providing for the installation of an application, the method comprising:

receiving, from a source device and in connection with detection of an installation of an application at the source device, a descriptor including source-device-specific installation information;

receiving a selection of the descriptor from a destination device that is a peer of the source device; and

providing for an installation of at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device based on the descriptor.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein providing for the installation of the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device includes executing instructions on the source device.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein providing for the installation of the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device includes executing instructions on a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein providing for the installation of the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device includes executing instructions on the peer destination device.

28. The method of claim 24 comprising installing source-device-specific installation information for the application on the peer destination device.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein the descriptor comprises a copy descriptor.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the copy descriptor includes instructions for prompting the peer destination device for an installation destination.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the copy descriptor includes instructions for providing the copy descriptor to the peer destination device and wherein installing the at least a portion of the application is performed by executing instructions on the peer destination device.

32. The method of claim 24 wherein the descriptor comprises an executable descriptor.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the executable descriptor includes instructions for providing the executable descriptor to a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device and wherein installing the at least a portion of the application is performed by executing instructions on each of the source device and the server device.

34. The method of claim 24 wherein the descriptor comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) descriptor.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the URL descriptor includes instructions for providing the URL descriptor to a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device and wherein installing the at least a portion of the application is performed by executing instructions on the server device.

36. The method of claim 24 wherein the descriptor comprises a proprietary descriptor for identifying a class type designed to execute instructions for installing the at least a portion of the application when instantiated.

37. The method of claim 36 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application by instantiating the class type identified within the proprietary descriptor on the source device and executing instructions on the source device.

38. The method of claim 36 comprising installing the at least a portion of the application by instantiating the class type identified within the proprietary descriptor on the peer destination device and executing instructions on the peer destination device.

39. A system for providing for the installation of an application, the system comprising:

a distributor agent adapted to detect an installation of a application on a source device and to produce a descriptor including source-device-specific installation information; and

a descriptor data store accessible by a peer destination device adapted to publish the descriptor, wherein the descriptor is configured for use by the peer destination device for installing at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device by executing instructions on the source device.

41. The system of claim 39 comprising a server device, wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device by executing instructions on the server device.

42. The system of claim 39 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device by executing instructions on the peer destination device.

43. The system of claim 39 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the source-device-specific installation information for the application on the peer destination device.

44. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor comprises a copy descriptor including instructions for prompting the peer destination device for an installation destination.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to parse the copy descriptor and to prompt the peer destination device for an installation destination based upon the instructions for prompting the peer destination device for the installation destination.

46. The system of claim 44 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to provide the copy descriptor to the peer destination device and to install the at least a portion of the application by executing instructions on the peer destination device.

47. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor comprises an executable descriptor.

48. The system of claim 47 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to parse the executable descriptor and to a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device and to install the at least a portion of the application by executing instructions on each of the source device and the server device.

49. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) descriptor.

50. The system of claim 49 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to parse the URL descriptor and to provide the URL descriptor descriptor to a server device other than the source device and the peer destination device and to install the at least a portion of the application by executing instructions on the server device.

51. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor comprises a proprietary descriptor for identifying a class type designed to execute instructions for installing the at least a portion of the application when instantiated.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the at least a portion of the application by instantiating the class type identified within the proprietary descriptor on the source device and to execute instructions on the source device.

53. The system of claim 51 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the at least a portion of the application by instantiating the class type identified within the proprietary descriptor on the peer destination device and to execute instructions on the peer destination device.

54. The system of claim 39 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to acquire a license for installing the at least a portion of the application installed on the peer destination device.

55. The system of claim 54 wherein the distributor agent is adapted to install the license on the peer destination device.

56. The system of claim 39 wherein the peer destination device is adapted to install the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device and to create another distributor agent adapted to detect the installation of the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device and to produce another descriptor associated with the installation of the at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device including peer-destination-device-specific installation information, the other descriptor including content enabling a subsequent installation of the at least a portion of the application on another peer destination device.

57. The system of claim 56 comprising another descriptor data store adapted to publish the other descriptor, wherein the other descriptor is configured for use by the other peer destination device for installing the at least a portion of the application on the other peer destination device.

58. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor data store includes a web browser interface to allow a search of the descriptor data store on the source device to make the descriptor data store accessible by the peer destination device.

59. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor data store includes a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) file share to allow a search of the descriptor data store on the source device to make the descriptor data store accessible by the peer destination device.

60. The system of claim 39 wherein the descriptor data store includes an application programming interface (API) to allow a search of the descriptor data store on the source device to make the descriptor data store accessible by the peer destination device.

61. The system of claim 39 comprising a server device for locating and accessing the descriptor data store.

62. A system for providing for the installation of an application, the system comprising:

means for detecting an installation of an application on a source device;

means for, responsive to detecting the application installation, producing a descriptor including source-device-specific installation information; and

means for publishing the descriptor to a descriptor data store accessible by a peer destination device, wherein the descriptor is configured for use by the peer destination device for installing at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device.

63. A system for providing for the installation of an application, the system comprising:

means for receiving, from a source device, a descriptor associated with an installation of an application at the source device and including source-device-specific installation information;

means for receiving a selection of the descriptor from a destination device that is a peer of the source device; and

means for providing for an installation of at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device based on the descriptor.

64. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium for performing steps comprising:

detecting an installation of an application on a source device;

responsive to detecting the application installation, producing a descriptor including source-device-specific installation information; and

publishing the descriptor to a descriptor data store accessible by a peer destination device, wherein the descriptor is configured for use by the peer destination device for installing at least a portion of the application on the peer destination device.