BROWSER-BASED APPLICATION MANAGEMENT

• US 20140229898A1
• Filed: 02/07/2014
• Published: 08/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cloudria Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cloudria Incorporated
• Inventors: Terwedo, Ryan D.
• Granted Patent: US 11,907,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/835
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for managing multiple software applications. A browser-based application interface portal provides users a single, unified portal for accessing software applications running on different operating systems, hosted servers, and third party servers, as well as web applications. The executed applications may then be integrated into the portal. The data retrieved from external web applications may be filtered, reformatted, and restyled to provide only the information of interest to the user and to provide a more consistent interface for the information.

Claims

1. A method of managing applications using a browser application, comprising:

transmitting to a browser application on a client computing device a browser-based application interface portal, said application interface portal comprising a plurality of application icons;

in response to receiving a user selection of a first application icon, causing a first software application to be launched in a first operating system, and causing said application interface portal to display a first window containing a first user interface portal for the first software application;

in response to receiving a user selection of a second application icon, causing a second software application to be launched in a second operating system different from the first operating system, and causing said application interface portal to display a second window containing a second user interface portal for the second software application; and

in response to receiving a user selection of a third application icon, retrieving data from a first web application, and causing said application interface portal to display the data retrieved from the first web application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing said application interface portal to display the data retrieved from the first web application comprises causing said application interface portal to display the data retrieved from the first web application in a format different than a format delivered by the first web application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing said application interface portal to display the data retrieved from the first web application comprises causing said browser application to display menu options corresponding to at least one menu option of the first web applications in a menu format different than a menu format delivered by the web application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing said application interface portal to display the data retrieved from the first web application comprises causing said browser application to display less than all data generated by the first web application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving data from a second web application and causing said application interface portal to display data retrieved from the second web application at the same time that said application interface portal displays the data generated by the first web application.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating a server running the first operating system and the first software application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing the second software application to be launched in the second operating system comprises:

transmitting login information to a remote server running the second software application and the second operating system; and

transmitting commands to the remote server to launch the second software application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of application icons are color coded to indicate an application type.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to receiving a user input indicating creation of a new workflow and initiating creation of a workflow icon associated with a workflow process.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said workflow process comprises launch of a fourth application associated with a fourth icon and a fifth application associated with a fifth icon.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to receiving a user input indicating that the user has dragged the fourth icon to the fifth icon, causing the browser application to prompt the user to select creation of a folder or creation of a workflow;

wherein said user input indicating creation of the new workflow comprises a user input selecting creation of the workflow in response to said prompt.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting to the browser application a workflow editor interface, said workflow editor interface configured to receive user inputs regarding the workflow process.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said workflow editor interface is configured to receive user inputs corresponding to identification of a plurality of software applications and selection of a sequence of launching said software applications.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said workflow editor interface is configured to receive user inputs corresponding to identification of said plurality of software applications and web content and selection of a sequence of launching said software applications and retrieving said web content.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said workflow editor interface is configured to receive user inputs corresponding to dragging of application icons into a desired sequence of launching said plurality of software applications.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising in response to receiving a user selection of the workflow icon, initiating said workflow process.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said initiating said workflow process comprises causing said plurality of software applications to be launched in the selected sequence.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising causing said browser application to provide instructions to the user as said workflow process is in progress.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said instructions to the user comprises text-based instructions regarding actions to be taken by the user.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said instructions to the user comprises video instructions regarding actions to be taken by the user.

21. The method of claim 8, wherein said plurality of application icons in the application interface portal includes the first application icon, the second application icon, the third application icon, and the workflow icon.

22. The method of claim 8, further comprising selecting a color of the workflow icon based on a status of the workflow.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said selecting the color for the workflow icon based on the status of the workflow comprises selecting a first color for the workflow icon if the workflow is due and selecting a second color for the workflow icon if the workflow is not due.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting to the browser application on the client computing device the browser-based application interface portal comprises transmitting to a plurality of browser applications on a plurality of client computing devices the browser-based application interface portal.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to receiving a user selection corresponding to a selection of an application icon for a predetermined period of time, causing said application interface portal to enter into an editing mode.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein said editing mode permits the user to drag and drop said plurality of application icons within the application interface portal.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing authentication information for a plurality of applications associated with said user.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the first web application comprises a plurality of modules, wherein the data from the first web application represents a module of the plurality of modules.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein said causing said application interface portal to display the data retrieved from the first web application comprises executing a script, the script causing data to be transmitted to the first web application.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing said application interface portal to display the first window further comprises authentication of the user to the first software application.