System and method of creating and communicating with component based wireless applications

• US 8,402,432 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2008
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cloud Software Group Switzerland GmbH
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Shenfield, Michael, Bibr, Viera, Fritsch, Brindusa L., Goring, Bryan, Kline, Robert, Vitanov, Kamen
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAVIS, JOHN Q
• Application Number:
  US12/183,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20090031284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 717/114
• US Class Current: 717/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• 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: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method of creating and communicating with wireless component applications is provided. Mobile communication devices communicate with a web service via a wireless network, the Internet, and optionally a message-map service. Each wireless component application is executed by a component framework on one of the mobile communication devices, and comprises data components, presentation components, message components, and workflow components. The component framework executes the component application in an application container which provides access to framework services which include a communication service, a screen service, a persistence service, an access service, a provisioning service, and a utility service. Messages can be sent from the component application to the message-map service, which converts each of the messages to a format required by the web service using an application message-map, and then sends the message to the web service. The web service sends a response to the message-map service, which converts the response to the format required by the wireless component application, and sends the response to the wireless component application.

Claims

1. A method of provisioning an executable version of a component application program on a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of components over a network from a server, the plurality of components comprising the component application program, the components including metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language, at least one of the plurality of components including scripted instructions expressed in a scripting language for coordinating operation of the plurality of components;

loading the metadata descriptors in an application container of the mobile communication device, the application container hosting a client runtime environment for the program; and

generating the executable version of the component application program from the metadata descriptors and the scripted instructions for execution in the client runtime environment of the mobile communication device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the application container is provided by a component framework, the component framework providing an interface for the executable version to an infrastructure of the device including a processor and a memory.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the application container is a part of the operating system of the device infrastructure.

4. The method according to claim 2 further comprising the step of creating a second application container by the component framework for hosting a second component application program in a respective second client runtime environment.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the client runtime environment of the application container represents the executable version as a client of the server.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising the step of executing the executable version in native code by a template based execution model, the model employing a number of predefined templates configured for populating with the metadata descriptors of the components.

7. The method according to claim 6 further comprising the step of populating the predefined templates with metadata defined parameters associated with the metadata descriptors and using the populated templates for building the executable version in the native code.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the predefined templates are provided for the plurality of components selected from the group comprising;

data components, message components, and presentation components.

9. The method according to claim 5 further comprising the step of executing the executable version by a metadata based execution model, the model configured for keeping the metadata definitions in the structured definition language for parsing during execution.

10. The method according to claim 5 further comprising the step of executing the executable version by a metadata based execution model, the model configured for using a native representation of structured definition language nodes during execution.

11. A mobile communication device configured for provisioning an executable version of a component application program received from a server over a network, the component application program having a plurality of components including metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language, at least one of the plurality of components including scripted instructions expressed in a scripting language for coordinating operation of the plurality of components, the mobile device comprising:

a device infrastructure including a processor and an associated memory for executing the provisioned executable version, the device infrastructure further configured for communicating with the network;

a user interface coupled to the device infrastructure having an input device and an output device configured for communication with the provisioned executable version;

and

a component framework configured for interfacing the executable version to the device infrastructure and for providing a client runtime environment for the executable version, the executable version generated from the metadata descriptors and the scripted instructions.

12. The mobile communication device according to claim 11 further comprising an application container provided by the component framework, the application container for providing the client runtime environment for the executable version.

13. The mobile communication device according to claim 12, wherein the application container is a part of the operating system of the device infrastructure.

14. The mobile communication device according to claim 12, wherein the component framework is configured for a plurality of application containers for hosting respective ones of the component application programs in respective client runtinme environments.

15. The mobile communication device according to claim 12, wherein the client runtime environment of the application container represents the executable version as a client of the server.

16. The mobile communication device according to claim 15 further comprising the application container configured for executing the executable version in native code by a template based execution model, the model employing a number of predefined templates configured for populating with the metadata descriptors of the components.

17. The mobile communication device according to claim 16, wherein the predefined templates are configured for populating with metadata defined parameters associated with the metadata descriptors and the populated templates are configured for building the executable version in the native code.

18. The mobile communication device according to claim 16, wherein the predefined templates are provided for the plurality of components selected from the group comprising;

data components, message components, and presentation components.

19. The mobile communication device according to claim 12 further comprising the application container configured for executing the executable version by a metadata based execution model, the model keeping the metadata definitions in the structured definition language for parsing during execution.

20. The mobile communication device according to claim 12 further comprising the application container configured for executing the executable version by a metadata based execution model, the model using a native representation of structured definition language nodes during execution.