User interface, operating system and architecture

• US 8,307,331 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2010
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sqgo Innovations, LLC
• Original Assignee: SQGO, LLC
• Inventors: Warila, Bruce W., Markey, Brian D., Gilbert, Jeremy A., Echmalian, James P., Silverstein, Todd M.
• Primary Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US12/691,721
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A method for enabling the creation and management of a platform-independent application whose appearance and functionality is consistently propagated across heterogeneous device types includes receiving, by a device, a platform-independent data superstructure defining application appearance and behavior, the platform-independent data superstructure storing an application state, program code and internal logic of the application. A superstructure-dedicated operating system instantiates the application in the device according to the platform-independent data superstructure. The platform-independent data superstructure receives, from a device-native operating system via communication with the superstructure-dedicated operating system, at least one application event generated by an execution of the instantiated application and representative of an update to the application state. The platform-independent data superstructure updates information in a first segment of the platform-independent data superstructure associated with the at least one application event and updates, in accordance with the superstructure segment update, the application state in the device.

Claims

1. A method for enabling creation and management of a platform-independent application whose appearance and functionality is consistently propagated across heterogeneous device types for cross-device interoperability, replicability, and compatibility of applications and data with a consistent user experience, the method comprising:

receiving, by a device comprising a processor and a memory element, a platform-independent data superstructure defining the appearance and behavior of an application, the platform-independent data superstructure storing an application state, program code and internal logic of the application;

instantiating, by a superstructure-dedicated operating system, the application in the device in accordance with the received platform-independent data superstructure;

storing, by the memory element, the instantiated application;

receiving, by the platform-independent data superstructure, from a device-native operating system via communication with the superstructure-dedicated operating system, at least one application event generated by an execution of the instantiated application and representative of an update to the application state of the application;

updating, by the platform-independent data superstructure, information in a first segment of the platform-independent data superstructure associated with the at least one application event, responsive to receiving the at least one application event and independent of an update to a second segment in the platform-independent data superstructure; and

updating, in accordance with the superstructure segment update, the application state in the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the platform-independent data superstructure is organized into objects and classes.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the device, a message containing a data object of a defined type operable to instantiate the application in a device; and

executing the instantiated application on the device in accordance with the data object in the received message.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

converting the platform-independent data superstructure into a temporary form that is transmitted, received, and decoded back into an original form on a second device; and

maintaining, by the second device, an application that receives the platform-independent data superstructure in its temporary form, decodes it, and causes the message-bearing platform-independent data superstructure to operate, thereby rendering the message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the platform-independent data superstructure further comprises receiving, by the device, a platform-independent data superstructure defining a plurality of rules of appearance and behavior of the application, which are substantially invariant across a plurality of heterogeneous devices, platforms and device-native operating system environments.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the platform-independent data superstructure further comprises receiving, by the device, substantially identical application source code in the platform-independent data superstructure as source code used across a plurality of heterogeneous devices, platforms and device-native operating system environments.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising instantiating, by the superstructure-dedicated operating system, an application including a user interface having a substantially identical appearance and behavior across a plurality of heterogeneous devices, platforms and device-native operating system environments.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

expressing, by an information processing language adapted to interface with the platform-independent data superstructure, a set of transformations within the platform-independent data superstructure, the information processing language being expressible entirely within the platform-independent data superstructure and capable of expressing a set of transformations within the platform-independent data superstructure; and

modifying, by the information processing language, data only within the platform-independent data superstructure, so that applications utilizing the information processing language cannot affect the state of other applications or operate outside a bounded application container to affect an underlying device platform.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting, to the superstructure-dedicated operating system, by a device-native operating system, at least one application event generated by an execution of the instantiated application and representative of an update to the application state of the application;

transmitting, by the superstructure-dedicated operating system, to a remote server, a segment of the platform-independent data superstructure associated with the at least one application event;

receiving, from the remote server, a modified version of the segment of the platform-independent data superstructure generated responsive to the received segment of the platform-independent data superstructure for replacement of the existing version of the segment of the platform-independent data superstructure, thus updating the segment of the platform-independent data superstructure; and

instructing, by the superstructure-dedicated operating system, the device-native operating system to update the application state of the executing application, in response to the updated segment of the platform-independent data superstructure.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising servicing a plurality of heterogeneous devices, communications channels and communications providers, wherein the platform-independent data superstructure defines a given application to have an appearance and behavior that can be propagated with consistency across heterogeneous devices, communications channels and communications providers.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

modifying the platform-independent data superstructure in a substantially device-independent manner; and

expressing a real-time image of an application executing in a first device across the network from the first device to a second device to yield a viable instantiation of the application in the second device, regardless of device environment.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

expressing, by the platform-independent data superstructure, a running application state and functionality of an application operating in a first device; and

instantiating the application on a second device, without loss of application state or functionality, by expressing the platform-independent data superstructure on the second device.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

expressing, by an information processing language adapted to interface with the platform-independent data superstructure, a set of transformations within the platform-independent data superstructure, the information processing language being expressible entirely within the platform-independent data superstructure and capable of expressing a set of transformations within the platform-independent data superstructure; and

modifying, by the information processing language, data only within the platform-independent data superstructure, so that applications utilizing the information processing language cannot affect the state of other applications or operate outside a bounded application container to affect an underlying device platform.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting an application defined by the platform-independent data superstructure via a peer-to-peer transaction from a first device in which the application is instantiated, to a second device for instantiation in the second device.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

converting at least a portion of the platform-independent data superstructure into a device-portable form, independent of the present state of the application; and

reconstructing the original superstructure portion, on the same or different device context, using the device portable form, without loss of state.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the platform-independent data superstructure is organized into objects and classes.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising distributing application logic across the network by obtaining a portion of the logic from a remote device and transmitting it in a hierarchical form to a server without the necessity of adapting code therefor.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing updates to an application state from a server to a remote device, by defining a minimal change set to the application state and transferring it across the network from the server to the remote device, without the necessity of adapting code therefor.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising configuring the user interface to enable a user to generate messages containing any of text, images, sound, or other media content.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the device, via a wireless communications channel accessible by a superstructure-based application environment, an application update, the application update including a data object operable to update a first segment of a platform-independent data superstructure in the superstructure-based application environment, independent of an update to a second segment in the platform-independent data superstructure; and

receiving, by the device, a command to update the state of the executing application in accordance with the application update.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising receiving, by a plurality of devices, a broadcasted application update and command to update a state of an executing application.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting, by the device, to a plurality of devices in a network, via a wireless communications channel, at least one update;

transmitting, by the device, to the plurality of devices in the network, a command to update, in the plurality of devices, a state of an executing application in accordance with received update.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein transmitting the at least one update further comprises transmitting, by the device to a plurality of devices in the network, via a wireless communications channel, at least one update to a state of an executing application.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprisings ensuring that each device of the plurality of devices is in a consistent, known state at the time of transmitting the at least one update and that the at least one update remains whole and complete.