Method and system for advertising applications
First Claim
1. A method of providing an application to a computer system, comprising:
- receiving information at the computer system corresponding to an application from a first set of data external to the computer system;
processing the information to advertise the application as available for execution prior to installation of application code used to execute the application; and
in response to a request to execute the application installing the application, code at the computer system from a second set of data and executing the application code.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for advertising software applications by placing application shortcuts on a start menu or desktop and writing entries to the system registry enabling file extension-based activation and Class ID-based activation of those applications, thereby advertising the applications as available even if not installed. In network settings, advertised applications may be assigned to a user via a policy. To this end, an advertising script is stored with a policy associated with computer or user policy recipients, and the advertising script includes assigned application identifier information. One or more scripts are applied, such as to a user at logon or a machine at re-boot. The scripts are processed by an installer mechanism to advertise the application. Applications advertised as available to the user prior to any installation thereof are installed by an installer as needed upon user activation. Other applications may be published, whereby they do not appear to be available, but the installer mechanism looks for them in a centralized network store when indirectly activated such as via file extension-based activation and Class ID-based activation. If found, the installer mechanism installs the published application and essentially changes it to an assigned application.
-
Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A method of providing an application to a computer system, comprising:
-
receiving information at the computer system corresponding to an application from a first set of data external to the computer system;
processing the information to advertise the application as available for execution prior to installation of application code used to execute the application; and
in response to a request to execute the application installing the application, code at the computer system from a second set of data and executing the application code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 34)
receiving file extension information corresponding to a user activation request; and
in response to the user activation request, accessing the registry to locate an association between the file extension information corresponding to the user activation request and the application.
-
-
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
opening a file corresponding to the file extension information.
-
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the information corresponding to the application includes object identification information, wherein processing the information to advertise the application as available for execution includes writing the object identification information into a registry of the computer system in association with the application, and further comprising:
-
receiving object identification information corresponding to a Component Object Model (COM) activation request; and
in response to the activation request, accessing the registry to locate an association between the object identification information corresponding to the COM activation request and the application.
-
-
15. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer system is connected to a network, wherein the information corresponding to the application includes file extension information, wherein processing the information to advertise the application as available for execution includes writing the file extension information into a registry of the computer system in association with the application, and further comprising:
-
receiving file extension information corresponding to a user activation request;
in response to the user activation request, accessing the registry to attempt to locate an association between the file extension information corresponding to the user activation request and the application; and
if an association is not found, accessing a centralized store on the network to attempt to locate an association between the file extension information corresponding to the user activation request and the application.
-
-
16. The method of claim 15 wherein automatically installing the application includes installing the application from the network.
-
17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:
opening a file corresponding to the file extension information.
-
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of data and the second set of data are maintained at a common source.
-
34. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.
-
19. A system for providing an application to a computer system, comprising:
-
a mechanism configured to write information received from an external source and corresponding to the application into a storage accessible by the computer system;
an installer mechanism at the computer system configured to receive and process the information to advertise the application as available for execution on the computer system prior to installation thereof; and
the installer mechanism invoked upon a request to execute the application and in response, initially installing application code for execution thereof. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
35. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, comprising:
-
receiving information at the computer system corresponding to an application from a data source external to the computer system;
processing the information to advertise the application as available for execution prior to initial installation of application code used to execute the application;
detecting a request to execute the application; and
determining whether code needed to execute the application is installed in the computer system, and if so, executing the application, and if not, automatically installing the application code at the computer system and thereafter executing the application code.
-
Specification