TECHNIQUES FOR SUPPORTING MULTIPLE DEVICES IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS

• US 20080215733A1
• Filed: 05/12/2008
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Chakraborty, Anit, Dirisala, Siva, Paul, Jyotirmoy, Barton, Jeff
• Granted Patent: US 7,873,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Techniques for interacting with a client process on a mobile device connected to a network over a wireless link includes managing information at a mobile applications server executing on a platform connected to the network. The information includes device profile information about the mobile device. First data is received from an application. The first data describes graphical elements for display on the mobile device. It is determined whether the first data exceeds a capacity of the mobile device based on the device profile information. If it is determined that the first data exceeds the capacity, then a subset of the first data is formed that does not exceed the capacity of the mobile device. The subset of the first data is sent to the client process. If it is determined that an external converter does not convert using a particular format, then a first description of graphical elements is converted internally into a second description using the particular format. Second data including the second description is sent to the client process. These techniques allow network-based services to be made readily available to a wide range of mobile devices without having to explicitly program each application for providing one or more network-based services to support all forms of mobile devices.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method for communicating with a device, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a server, first registration data from a first application of a plurality of applications, wherein the first registration data specifies rules about how devices are allowed to interact with the first application;

receiving, at the server, second registration data from a second application of the plurality of applications, wherein the second registration data specifies rules about how devices are allowed to interact with the second application;

wherein said first application is distinct from said second application;

wherein the plurality of applications each do not execute on any of said devices;

the server operating as an intermediary for interactions between devices and each of the plurality of applications; and

while operating as an intermediary, the server enforcing the rules about how devices are allowed to interact with each of the plurality of applications.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing, at the server, device data that describes the characteristics of the device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

transforming, based on the device data, response data received from the first application to create transformed response data, wherein the transformed response data is in a format readable by the device; and

transmitting the transformed response data to the device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of transforming the response data to create transformed response data comprises the steps of:

determining a portion of the response data that is capable of being simultaneously displayed on the device based, at least in part, on the device data;

transforming the portion into a transformed portion, wherein the transformed portion is in a format readable by the device; and

transmitting the transformed portion to the device without transmitting any remaining portion of the response data.

5. A machine-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for communicating with a device, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at a server, first registration data from a first application of a plurality of applications, wherein the first registration data specifies rules about how devices are allowed to interact with the first application;

receiving, at the server, second registration data from a second application of the plurality of applications, wherein the second registration data specifies rules about how devices are allowed to interact with the second application;

wherein said first application is distinct from said second application;

wherein the plurality of applications each do not execute on any of said devices;

the server operating as an intermediary for interactions between devices and each of the plurality of applications; and

while operating as an intermediary, the server enforcing the rules about how devices are allowed to interact with each of the plurality of applications, wherein each of the plurality of applications is relieved of the responsibility of enforcing the rules about how devices are allowed to interact with each of the plurality of applications.

6. The machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

storing, at the server, device data that describes the characteristics of the device.

7. The machine-readable medium of claim 6, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

transforming, based on the device data, response data received from the first application to create transformed response data, wherein the transformed response data is in a format readable by the device; and

transmitting the transformed response data to the device.

8. The machine-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the step of transforming the response data to create transformed response data comprises the steps of:

determining a portion of the response data that is capable of being simultaneously displayed on the device based, at least in part, on the device data;

transforming the portion into a transformed portion, wherein the transformed portion is in a format readable by the device; and

transmitting the transformed portion to the device without transmitting any remaining portion of the response data.