Filtering and Promoting Application Store Applications

• US 20120246291A1
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wong, Karen K., Patel, Ankur, Pang, Swee Chee, Wang, Jonathan J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy

Abstract

Techniques for filtering and promoting application store applications are described that can be employed to provide filtered application information and/or application promotions to client devices. The filtering and promoting can be based at least in part upon system information that describes configurations and capabilities of the client devices. In one or more embodiments, various system information for a client device is detected. The detected system information for the client device is used to filter application data in an application catalog. Page information to be provided to the client device for interaction with the application catalog is then ascertained using the filtered application data. The page information is sufficient to enable the client device to render targeted application store pages having filtered application information and/or promotions that are selected based on the detected system information.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions, that when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to implement a resource manager module configured to perform acts comprising:

detecting system information for a client device;

filtering application data in an application catalog based on detected system information for the client device;

ascertaining page information for interaction with the application catalog using filtered application data; and

communicating ascertained page information to the client device sufficient to enable the client device to render pages for interaction with the application catalog.

2. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the system information comprises information regarding a hardware configuration of the client device.

6. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein detecting system information for the client device comprises collecting system information provided by the client device over a network to a service provider in conjunction with a request, from the client device, to access resources from the service provider.

7. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein detecting system information for the client device comprises referencing a client account associated with the client device to obtain the system information.

8. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein filtering application data in the application catalog based on detected system information for the client device comprises filtering the application data to identify applications targeted to a device configuration of the client device described by the detected system information.

9. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein filtering application data in the application catalog based on the detected system information for the client device comprises:

determining configuration and capabilities of the client device using the detected system information; and

selecting applications described by the application data that match the determined configuration and capabilities of the client device.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the page information comprises filtered application data that enables the client device to selectively generate one or more filtered views of the application catalog.

3. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 3, wherein the system information comprises information regarding a device class assigned to the client device.

4. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 3, wherein the device class assigned to the client device is configured to indicate a type of device for the client device.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 3, wherein the device class assigned to the client device is configured to indicate one or more hardware components of the client device.

11. A computer implemented method comprising:

obtaining system information for a client device that accesses an application catalog;

ascertaining a device class assigned to the client device based on the system information, the device class based at least in part upon one or more hardware components of the client device;

filtering the application catalog to identify applications targeted to the client device based on the device class; and

returning filtered application catalog information to the client device.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein ascertaining the device class comprises:

determining the device class directly from the system information when the device class is included with the system information;

or

analyzing the system information to derive the device class when the device class is not included with the system information.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the filtered application catalog information enables the client device to selectively generate one or more filtered views of the application catalog.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the device class assigned to the client device is configured to classify the client device according to a device type.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein filtering the application catalog includes:

identifying applications matching the device class of the client device;

determining applications that are designated as general applications for use with each of a plurality of device classes;

ascertaining applications that are installed on the client device; and

finding applications that are incompatible with the client device.

16. A method implemented by a client device adapted to interact with an application catalog comprising:

collecting system information regarding configuration and capabilities of the client device;

communicating the collected system information to a service provider to facilitate targeted access to the application catalog;

obtaining page information returned by the service provider that reflects filtering of the application catalog based on the communicated system information; and

outputting one or more pages to enable interaction with the application catalog using the page information that is returned.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the system information includes at least information regarding a hardware configuration of the client device.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the system information comprise a device class assigned to the client device based upon at least one hardware component associated with the client device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more pages are configured to include a portion to present a filtered view of the application catalog that identifies applications targeted to match the configuration and capabilities of the client device.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more pages are configured to include a portion to promote one or more applications that match the configuration and capabilities of the client device.