APPLICATION LOADING

• US 20090300597A1
• Filed: 06/02/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Taylor, Thomas D., George, Sam J., Kaza, Akhilesh, Harsh, Michael R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,862 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons

Abstract

Extensions or additional software programs that are requested by a computer application running on an application platform are handled in an efficient manner by, among other things, regulating and tracking extensions that are downloaded. This allows the size of the application platform upon which the application is running to remain relatively small so as to mitigate strain on resources when the platform is initially deployed over a network (e.g., the Internet), thus making it easier and more likely for a user to install the application platform (and/or updates thereto). Requested extensions are subsequently added to and/or removed from the (already deployed) application platform based on, among other things, download metrics.

Claims

1. A method for loading into an application platform an application associated with at least one referenced extension, comprising:

for respective referenced extensions;

determining whether the referenced extension is allowed in an allowed extensions logic;

upon determining that the referenced extension is allowed, determining whether the referenced extension is registered;

upon determining that the referenced extension is allowed and is not registered;

downloading the referenced extension, and

registering the referenced extension; and

upon determining that the referenced extensions are registered;

loading the referenced extensions, and

loading the application into the application platform.

2. The method of claim 1, the allowed extensions logic comprising at least one of:

a whitelist of allowed application extensions;

a whitelist of allowed sources of allowed application extensions;

a blacklist of disallowed application extensions;

a blacklist of disallowed sources of disallowed application extensions; and

a certificate authenticating component configured to authenticate certificate associated with referenced extensions.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

upon determining a referenced extension is not allowed, providing notification that the application failed to load.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

upon determining that a referenced extension failed to download, providing notification that the application failed to load.

5. The method of claim 1:

the application associated with at least one referenced optional extension;

the method comprising;

for respective referenced optional extensions;

determining whether the referenced optional extension is allowed in the allowed extensions logic;

upon determining that the referenced optional extension is allowed, determining whether the referenced optional extension is registered;

upon determining that the referenced optional extension is allowed and is not registered;

downloading the referenced optional extension, and

registering the referenced optional extension; and

the loading comprising;

loading the referenced optional extensions.

6. The method of claim 1, the application comprising a manifest specifying the referenced extensions.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

notifying a tracking server of a reference extension in an application loaded into the application platform.

8. A method of controlling loading of referenced extensions in an application platform, the method comprising:

generating a core application extensions set comprising core application extensions;

generating an allowed application extensions logic specifying allowed application extensions; and

sending the core application extensions set and the allowed application extensions logic to the application platform.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

detecting at least one download metric relating to referenced extensions referenced in applications loaded by the application platform.

10. The method of claim 9, the detecting comprising:

receiving from an application platform a notification of a referenced extension upon loading an application.

11. The method of claim 9, a download metric comprising at least one of:

a frequency of downloads for the referenced extension;

a percentage of applications that reference the referenced extension among applications loaded in the application platform; and

a percentage change of applications that reference the referenced extension among applications loaded in the application platform at a first time as compared with a second time.

12. The method of claim 9, the generating of the core application extensions set comprising:

adding referenced extensions having a download metric above a predetermined threshold to the core application extensions set.

13. The method of claim 9, the generating of the core application extensions set comprising:

removing referenced extensions having a download metric below a predetermined threshold from the core application extensions set.

14. The method of claim 9, the generating of the allowed application extensions logic comprising:

allowing an application extension having a download metric above a predetermined threshold according to the allowed application extensions logic.

15. The method of claim 9, the generating of the allowed application extensions logic comprising:

disallowing an application extension having a download metric below a predetermined threshold according to the allowed application extensions logic.

16. A system configured for loading into an application platform an application associated with at least one referenced extension, comprising:

an allowed extensions logic specifying allowed extensions within the application platform;

a registered extensions set specifying available extensions to the application platform; and

a loader configured to;

determine whether the referenced extension is allowed within the allowed extensions logic;

upon determining that the referenced extension is allowed, determine whether the referenced extension is specified within the registered extensions set;

upon determining that the referenced extension is allowed and is not specified within the registered extensions set;

download the referenced extension, and

register the referenced extension; and

upon determining the referenced extensions are registered;

load the referenced extensions, and

load the application into the application platform.

17. The system of claim 16, the application comprising:

a manifest configured to specify referenced extensions.

18. The system of claim 16, the application platform comprising:

a core application extensions set comprising core application extensions.

19. The system of claim 18, the loader configured to download referenced extensions from a predetermined location.

20. The system of claim 18, the predetermined location comprising:

a server configured to provide downloads of referenced extensions.