Application Search Using Device Capabilities

• US 20150186533A1
• Filed: 06/27/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Quixey, Inc.
• Inventors: Patil, Sameer, Glover, Eric, Santi, James Delli, Savliwala, Taher
• Granted Patent: US 10,324,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

An application search system stores information describing device capabilities used by one or more applications. The device capabilities describe interfaces with hardware on the user device. The application search system identifies the application capabilities related to applications in any search results. One method that the application search system identifies application capabilities includes identifying function calls to device interfaces used by an application. The application search system may receive user-selected identification of a desired application capability from a search, from a user-selected entry or from a search term, among others. The application capability in a search may be used to score relevance of applications and increase relevance of applications matching the desired application capability. The application capability may also be used after a search is executed to display application capabilities to a user and permit a user to select desired application capabilities related to the search results.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying, a set of device capabilities used by one or more applications, the device capabilities identifying components used by an application when executed by a user device;

receiving, an application search query from a user device;

identifying, based on the application search query, one or more candidate applications of the one or more applications; and

providing the candidate applications to the user device for presentation on the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one device capability associated with the search query, and wherein at least one of the identified candidate applications uses device capability of the search query.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the candidate applications are ranked and a factor in the ranking is a match between the device capability of the search query and a ranked application.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the device capability associated with the search query is determined based on a device type.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining at least one device capability associated with the application search query further comprises:

identifying, based on functions enabling the interaction of an operating system with sensors available on the user device, one or more sensors on the user device; and

associating, the one or more sensors on the user device with the application search query.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, based on the set of capabilities associated with the one or more candidate applications, a set of user selectable filters for capabilities.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a selection of a user selectable filter;

filtering the candidate applications based on the selected filter; and

sending the filtered candidate applications to the user device.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising ranking the user selectable filters in the set of user selectable filters.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the ranking comprises:

ranking the user selectable filters based on one or more capabilities associated with the application search query or a sponsor associated with one or more user selectable filters in the set of user selectable filters.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein ranking the user selectable filters is based on a capability use frequency of device capabilities associated with the user device requesting the search.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a set of capabilities used by the one or more applications further comprises:

identifying, based on data associated with one or more applications received from one or more data sources, a set of device capabilities used by the one or more applications.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a set of device capabilities used by one or more application further comprises:

identifying, based on capability permissions requested by one or more applications, a set of device capabilities used by the one or more applications.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a set of sensors used by one or more application further comprises:

identifying, based on executable code or libraries associated with one or more applications, a set of sensors used by the one or more applications.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

ranking the candidate applications prior to providing the candidate applications to the user device for presentation on the user device.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the ranking comprises:

ranking the candidate applications based on the number of capabilities used by the one or more candidate applications, or specialized capabilities used by the one or more candidate applications.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions executable to perform steps comprising:

identifying a set of sensors used by one or more applications;

receiving an application search query from a user device;

determining one or more sensors associated with the application search query;

identifying based on the application search query, one or more candidate applications of the one or more applications, the candidate applications using at least one sensor associated with the search query;

generating based on the set of sensors used by one or more candidate applications, a set of user selectable filters; and

providing the candidate applications and the set of user selectable sensors to the user device for presentation on the user device.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein identifying a set of sensors used by the one or more applications further comprises:

identifying, based on data associated with one or more applications received from one or more data sources, a set of sensors used by the one or more applications.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein identifying a set of sensors used by one or more application further comprises:

identifying, based on sensor permissions requested by one or more applications, a set of sensors used by the one or more applications.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein identifying a set of sensors used by one or more application further comprises:

identifying, based on binary libraries associated with one or more applications, a set of sensors used by the one or more applications.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the application search query includes a query string, one or more search specifications, or information identifying one or more sensors on the user device.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising determining, one or more sensors associated with the application search query.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein determining one or more sensors associated with the application search query further comprises:

identifying, based on functions enabling the interaction of an operating system with sensors available on the user device, one or more sensors on the user device; and

associating, the one or more sensors on the user device with the application search query.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, generating, based on the set of sensors used by one or more candidate applications, a set of user selectable filters further comprises:

filtering, the candidate applications based on the user selectable filters.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 further comprising:

organizing, on the user device, one or more applications based on the sensors available on the user device.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 further comprising:

ranking the candidate applications prior to providing the candidate applications and the set of user selectable sensors to the user device for presentation on the user device.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 further comprising:

ranking the candidate applications based on the number of sensors used by the one or more candidate applications, specialized sensors used by the one or more candidate applications, information describing the functionality of the one or more candidate applications or sponsorship associated with the one or more candidate applications.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 further comprising:

ranking user selectable filters in the set of user selectable filters.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27 further comprising:

ranking the user selectable filters based on one or more sensors associated with the application search query or sponsorship associated with one or more user selectable filters in the set of user selectable filters.