METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING APPLICATIONS TO VARIOUS DEVICES

• US 20110083069A1
• Filed: 06/14/2010
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infosys Limited
• Original Assignee: Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys Limited)
• Inventors: Jain, Manish, Paul, Sanjoy
• Granted Patent: US 9,286,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/64 Retargetable
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2355 involving reformatting operations of additional data, e.g. HTML pages optimising the visualization of content for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/9577; tracking of instant messages H04L51/234; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25858 involving client software characteristics, e.g. OS identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 : Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 : End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 : using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

A method for providing applications to one or more requesting devices is provided. The method comprises a step of first receiving an application request from the one or more requesting devices. The method includes extracting details of the request. Further markup language structure for corresponding page of the application is generated. The markup language structure is generated based by invoking page handlers which includes contacting business logic layer to get information required to be embedded in the corresponding page. The output page is then provided to the requesting device.

Claims

1. A system for providing an application to one or more requesting devices, the system comprising:

a development framework configured to facilitate generation of software code for rendering the application on the one or more requesting devices;

an execution framework configured to transform navigational and user interface related aspects of the requested application and further configured to provides one or more output pages corresponding to the application to the one or more requesting devices;

an application adaptor configured to generate a Markup Language structure for a page corresponding to the application;

and

a media transformation engine configured to provide media content requested by the application to the one or more requesting devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is deployed on a server as part of the requested application.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is deployed on a server and located external to the requested application.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the markup language is at least one of Hypertext Markup Language, Standard Generalized Markup Language, Extensible Markup Language, Extensible Binary Meta Language and any other appropriate markup language.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the development framework is configured to facilitate generation of markup language code for rendering the application on various kinds of televisions, wherein the markup language code comprises user interface layout data for television.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the development framework is configured to facilitate generation of markup language code for rendering the application on various kinds of mobile devices, wherein the markup language code comprises user interface layout data for various kinds of mobile devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the development framework is configured to facilitate generation of markup language code for rendering the application on various kinds of personal computers, wherein the markup language code comprises user interface layout data for various kinds of personal computers.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the development framework comprises an Application Programming Interface (API) for a developer to generate the software code for rendering the application on the various requesting devices.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is at least one of a web-based application, a television based application, a mobile application and a gaming application.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the requesting device requests the application through a data network.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the data network is at least one of the Internet, an Intranet and a network of two or more electronic devices.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the execution framework comprises:

a controller configured to extract details of the application request;

a request handler configured to identify the applications Adapter Class to be invoked and further configured to instantiate the Class;

a device capabilities module configured to get information about capabilities of the requesting device;

a device adapter configured to adapt the application to the requesting device;

a data transformer configured to generate output page corresponding to the application in at least one of an HTML and an XHTML format, wherein the output page is generated based on the XML page generated by the application adaptor; and

a response handler configured to provide the output page to the device requesting the application through the controller.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the capabilities comprises at least one of screen size of the requesting device, type of audio and video formats used, multimedia container formats and screen display resolution.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the response handler is further configured to receive XML string along with information required to transform user interface from the controller and further configured to pass the received information to the data transformer.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the media content requested by the application comprises at least one of images, video and audio.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the media transformation engine comprises:

a media controller configured to deliver request for media content to a media handler;

a media handler configured to check whether a transformed version of requested content is available in a media cache; and

a media transcoder configured to transform content from a shared storage in order to conform the content in accordance with requirements of the requesting device.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the media transformation engine further comprises:

a customer profile module configured to track access information and receive user preferences and usage information based on one or more requests received;

a real time analysis module configured to receive the user preferences and usage information from the user profile module and further configured to construct content data most likely to be requested based on usage information; and

a content provider configured to store content data in accordance with one or more device-specific formats.

18. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a media cache configured to store frequently requested content transformed in accordance with requirements of standard devices; and

a shared storage configured to store standard untransformed content, wherein the media transcoder utilizes data from shared storage in order to conform the content in accordance with requirements of the requesting device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the requesting device is at least one of a mobile device, a set top box, a personal digital assistant, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP)-based cable television, Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF)-based cable television, Digital Television (DTV) and any computing device.

20. A system for providing an application to one or more requesting devices, the system comprising:

a software platform configured to provide an application specific to the device requesting the application;

an applications module configured to store one or more software applications; and

an adaptive application and feature configuration system configured to provide features contextually relevant to the requesting device and user profile of subscriber requesting the application.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the one or more software applications comprises at least one of a banking application, a gaming application and an e-commerce application, an entertainment application, a dating application, and any other appropriate application.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the software platform comprises:

a controller configured to read configuration files for configuring the requested application in accordance with requirements of requesting device and further configured to transfer data between one or more modules of the system;

a device capabilities module configured to obtain device capabilities information and render XSL plug-ins and CSS sheets for the requesting device;

a device request handler configured to identify the requested Applications'"'"' Adapter class to be invoked from a configuration file and further configured to instantiate the Adapter class;

a device response handler configured to receive XML structure of the output page in string format;

a data transformer configured to receive XML strings and information required to transform user interface from the controller and further configured to generate output page corresponding to the application in at least one of an HTML and an XHTML format; and

one or more page handlers configured to generate XML structure for corresponding pages of the requested application.

23. The system of claim 22 further comprises a web container configured to receive request for a web application and further configured to provide a runtime environment for running the web application.

24. The system of claim 22 further comprising an application programming interface configured to define a set of configuration files, wherein the set of configuration files comprises one or more configuration files for storing Adapter classes of one or more software applications, storing response entries for pagination details and invoking page handlers for generating XML structure of corresponding page of the requested application.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the one or more configuration files comprises at least one of application properties file, context information file, request configuration file and response configuration file.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the application properties file is configured to store the requested applications'"'"' Adapter class.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the context information file is configured to store application-specific data source information.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the request configuration file is configured to define each page entry corresponding to a requested application along with parameters to be passed along with page request to the applications'"'"' Adapter class.

29. The system of claim 24, wherein the response configuration file is configured to store response entries for pagination details corresponding to the requested application.

30. The system of claim 20, wherein the software platform further comprises a media transformation engine configured to provide media content requested by the application.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the media transformation engine comprises:

a media request servlet configured to receive media request and process media request parameters;

a media handler configured to receive details of media request from the media request servlet and checks the request for any missing parameters;

a device capability handler configured to receive media request from the media handler, to retrieve data of media supported by the requesting device from a device capability database and further configured to update missing parameters of the request object with the data;

a device capability database configured to store one or more device types and data of media supported by the one or more device types;

a media database handler configured to receive updated request object from media handler and further configured to retrieve media from media cache;

a media cache configured to store frequently requested media;

a transcoder media handler configured to receive media URL from media cache, to extract required parameters from the request object; and

a transcoder configured to transcode media into required format.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of features compatible with type of requesting device and information regarding what features should be shown on what device and what screen.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the configuration information is information sent by an application in the applications module in an XML file format to an administrator.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the configuration information is information recorded and sent by an application owner to an administrator, wherein the administrator manually enters information pertaining to each feature of the application using the user interface.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the user interface is used to manage configuration information, further wherein managing configuration information comprises importing and exporting information, adding information, viewing, deleting and modifying configuration information and trigger fetching subscriber usage information.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein the static information comprises at least one of request URL'"'"'s from at least one of a browser, a personal computer, a mobile device and a television, TV/channel viewing history and one or more Short Message Service messages.

37. The system of claim 30, wherein the dynamic information comprises information relevant to a request sent by a subscriber that is used for determining the features for rendering the application on a particular device and screen.

38. The system of claim 30, wherein the ranking engine determines personalization level of subscribers by fetching one or more requests received into one or more interest areas and assigning interest level of subscribers to each interest area.

39. An application development framework for generating software code for rendering a requested application on various requesting devices, the system comprising:

a rules engine configured to facilitate the creation of markup language templates for the one or more requesting devices, wherein the rules engine defines one or more rules to convert elements of the requested application according to specifications of a requesting device; and

a user interface transformer configured to store markup language templates defining user interface layout data for rendering data on to the one or more requesting devices, wherein the user interface transformer is further configured to achieve mapping of user interface elements based on requirements of a requested application and specifications of a requesting device.

40. The application development framework of claim 39 wherein the markup language templates are created by a developer using an application programming interface.

41. The application development framework of claim 39, wherein the markup language is at least one of a Hypertext Markup Language, Standard Generalized Markup Language, Extensible Markup Language, Extensible Binary Meta Language and any other appropriate markup language.

42. A method for providing an application to one or more requesting devices, the method comprising:

receiving an application request from the one or more requesting devices;

extracting details of the requesting devices from the request;

generating Extensible Markup Language structure for corresponding page of the application;

generating an output page corresponding to the application, wherein the output page is in at least one of an Hypertext Markup Language format and an Extensible Hypertext Markup Language format; and

providing the output page to the requesting devices.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein generating Extensible Markup Language structure for corresponding page comprises:

obtaining information about capabilities of the requesting device from a database, wherein the capabilities comprise screen size of the requesting device;

identifying the applications'"'"' Adaptor Class to be invoked and instantiating the Class; and

invoking page handlers to generate Extensible Markup Language structure for the corresponding page.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein invoking page handlers comprises contacting business logic layer to get information required to be embedded in the corresponding page.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein generating an output page corresponding to the application comprises using raw XML string along with details required to transform user interface to generate the page in at least one of an HTML and XHTML format, wherein the details include style sheets and transformation logic.

46. The method of claim 45 further comprising:

sending a request for media content to a media controller;

obtaining information about capabilities of the requesting device;

checking whether media content in desired format is available in media cache based on capabilities of the requesting device;

extracting Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) corresponding to the media content, if the media content is available in the media cache; and

providing the URI to the requesting device.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising:

fetching media content from shared storage database, if it is determined that media content in desired format is not available in the media cache;

transcoding media content in a format supported by the requesting device and storing the media content in the media cache; and

providing URI corresponding to the transcoded media content to the requesting device.

48. A method for automatically generating software code for rendering an application on an electronic device requesting the application, wherein the electronic device is at least one of a mobile device, a television and a computing device, the method comprising:

configuring one or more adaptor classes in a first configuration file, wherein the one or more adaptor classes are configured to interact with a software platform to invoke one or more page handlers;

configuring one or more page handlers for generating output page to be rendered on screen of a requesting device;

configuring in a second configuration file page entry details and parameters to be passed along with page requests to the one or more adaptor classes; and

configuring one or more response pages corresponding to a requested application for which pagination is required.