METHODS FOR HANDLING URLS TO TRIGGER FUNCTIONALITIES

• US 20140019836A1
• Filed: 07/12/2012
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Sampathkumaran, Sriram, Asam, Aravind, Saha, Dipendu
• Application Number:
  US13/547,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20140019836A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]

Abstract

A method of handling Internet links includes providing a link associated with a uniform resource locator (“URL”) including a scheme name that references an application, and a handler-directive that references a functionality to be performed by the application. The link can be provided in an internet browser on a display screen of an electronic device. The method further includes launching the application referenced by the URL in response to a user selecting the URL. The launched application includes a URL handler, which receives the URL and breaks up the URL to separate the handler-directive. The method further includes determining whether the handler-directive is supported in the URL handler. The functionality referenced by the handler-directive is then performed by the application.

Claims

1. A method of handling Internet links, the method comprising:

providing a link associated with a uniform resource locator (“

URL”

) in an Internet browser on a display of an electronic device, the link including a scheme name that references an application, and a handler-directive that references a functionality to be performed by the application;

launching the application referenced by the URL in response to a user selecting the URL, the application including a URL handler;

receiving the URL in the URL handler of the application, the URL handler breaking up the URL to separate at least the handler-directive; and

determining whether the handler-directive is supported in the URL handler;

performing, via the application, the functionality referenced by the handler-directive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing a URL comprises providing a URL including a scheme name comprising a name of the application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising returning an error message to the user in response to a determination that the handler-directive is not supported in the URL handler.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the handler-directive is supported in the URL handler further comprises specifying a plurality of handler-directives supported in the URL handler.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising matching the handler-directive separated from the URL to one of the plurality of handler-directives supported in the URL handler.

6. A method of handling Internet links, the method comprising:

providing at least one link in an Internet browser on a display of an electronic device, the at least one link being associated with a uniform resource locator (“

URL”

) that includes a scheme name that references an application, and a handler-directive that references a functionality to be performed by the application;

permitting a user to select the at least one link;

launching the application referenced by the URL in response to the user selecting the at least one link;

sending the URL associated with the at least one link to a URL handler of the launched application, the URL including a handler-directive referencing a functionality associated with the launched application;

breaking up the URL in the URL handler to separate the handler-directive; and

determining whether the separated handler-directive is supported in the URL Handler.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising launching the functionality referenced in the handler-directive via the launched application in response to a determination that the separated handler-directive is supported in the URL handler.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising returning an error message to the user in response to a determination that the separated handler-directive is not supported in the URL handler.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the sending the URL includes sending the URL including a scheme name comprising a name of the application.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the breaking up the URL includes breaking up the URL to separate at least the scheme name and the handler-directive.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining whether the separated handler-directive is supported in the URL handler further comprises storing associating with the URL handler a plurality of handler-directives supportable in the URL handler.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprises determining that the separated handler-directive matches one of the handler-directives supportable in the URL handler.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the providing at least one link in an Internet browser on a display of an electronic device includes providing an electronic device selected from a group consisting of televisions, personal computers, tablet computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, DVD players and video game consoles.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein the permitting the user to select the at least one link includes providing a user with at least one of a keyboard, a mouse, a roller wheel, or a remote control.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the launching the application referenced by the URL includes launching the application within an Android operating system.