APPLICATION STORE

• US 20110252415A1
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Ricci, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,578,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a software distribution architecture in which a software vendor provides a software store that is coordinated with the unique requirements of a software purchasing enterprise. Examples of the requirements include the enterprise infrastructure, information technology requirements and/or approval, account billing, and other attributes.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving, by a software vendor and from a requestor, a request for content, the requestor being associated with an enterprise other than the software vendor;

(b) determining, by the software vendor, an identity of the enterprise;

(c) selecting, by a processor executable presentation module and based on the identified enterprise, first content to be forwarded to the requestor, the first content including a plurality of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options for selection by the requestor, wherein a plurality of different enterprises have a plurality of different sets of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options and wherein at least one of the following is true;

(C1) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content have been previously approved by the enterprise for use by enterprise members;

(C2) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on a knowledge of software used by at least one of the requestor and another enterprise member;

(C3) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on a knowledge of hardware used by at least one of the requestor and another enterprise member;

(C4) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on rules, policies, and/or guidelines of the enterprise;

(C5) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on financial arrangements between the vendor and enterprise;

(C6) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on an agreement between the vendor and enterprise; and

(C7) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on a context of the requestor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein (C1) is true and wherein the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options are selected by reviewing previously approved and/or disapproved software.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (C2) is true.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein (C3) is true.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of (C2) and (C3) is true and wherein the software and/or hardware is determined, at least part, based on at least one of presence information and information received from the enterprise.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein (C4) is true, wherein the rules, policies, and/or guidelines are unrelated to malware, spyware, or viral threat prevention or rejection and wherein the rules, policies, and/or guidelines relate to at least one of connectivity, communications, and infrastructure considerations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein (C5) is true and wherein the financial arrangements relate to an account maintained by the vendor on behalf of the enterprise.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein (C6) is true.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein (C7) is true and wherein the requestor context is one or more of an enterprise satellite office associated with the requestor, a job title of the requestor, a job description of the requestor, a degree of importance of the requestor to the enterprise, a work unit of the requestor, a person with whom the requestor has frequent contact, and a current computational device in use by the requestor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the enterprise is identified by a cookie stored on a computational device of the requestor and wherein the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options comprise a software application.

11. A tangible computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions that, when executed, perform the steps of claim 1.

12. A vendor system, comprising:

a processor executable vendor coordination module, of a software vendor, operable to receive, from a customer, a request for content, the customer being associated with an enterprise other than the software vendor;

a processor executable vendor login and authentication module operable to determine an identity of the enterprise;

a processor executable presentation module operable to select, based on the identified enterprise, first content to be forwarded to the customer, the first content including a plurality of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options for selection by the customer, wherein a plurality of different enterprises have a plurality of different sets of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options and wherein at least one of the following is true;

(a) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content have been previously approved by the enterprise for use by enterprise members;

(b) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on a knowledge of software used by at least one of the customer and another enterprise member;

(c) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on a knowledge of hardware used by at least one of the customer and another enterprise member;

(d) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on rules, policies, and/or guidelines of the enterprise;

(e) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on financial arrangements between the vendor and enterprise;

(f) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on an agreement between the vendor and enterprise; and

(g) the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options in the first content are based on a context of the customer.

13. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (a) is true and wherein the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options are selected by reviewing previously approved and/or disapproved software.

14. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (b) is true.

15. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (c) is true.

16. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein at least one of (b) and (c) is true and wherein the software and/or hardware is determined, at least in part, based on at least one of presence information and information received from the enterprise.

17. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (d) is true, wherein the rules, policies, and/or guidelines are unrelated to malware, spyware, or viral threat prevention or rejection, and wherein the rules, policies, and/or guidelines relate to at least one of connectivity, communications, and infrastructure considerations.

18. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (e) is true and wherein the financial arrangements relate to an account maintained by the vendor on behalf of the enterprise.

19. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (f) is true and wherein the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options comprise a software application.

20. The vendor system of claim 12, wherein (g) is true and wherein the customer context is one or more of an enterprise satellite office associated with the requestor, a job title of the customer, a job description of the customer, a degree of importance of the customer to the enterprise, a work unit of the customer, a person with whom the customer has frequent contact, and a current computational device in use by the customer.

21. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving, by a software vendor and from a requestor, a request for content, the requestor being associated with an enterprise other than the software vendor;

(b) determining, by the software vendor, an identity of the enterprise;

(c) selecting, by a processor executable presentation module and based on the identified enterprise, first content to be forwarded to the requestor, the first content including a plurality of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options for selection by the requestor;

(d) receiving, by the software vendor and from the requestor, a first selection of one of the plurality of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options for selection by the requestor;

(e) determining, by the software vendor, that the software vendor has not received previous approval of the first selection from the enterprise; and

(f) in response to step (e), forwarding, by the software vendor to the enterprise, a request for approval of the first selection.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a plurality of different enterprises have a plurality of different sets of possible software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting options.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

(g) downloading, by the software vendor, the software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting option corresponding to the first selection to a computational component associated with the requestor;

(h) preventing, by the software vendor, successful installation of the downloaded software, software upgrade, software feature, and/or software setting option until approval is received from the enterprise.

24. A tangible computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions that, when executed, perform the steps of claim 21.