Installing applications based on a seed application from a separate device

• US 8,732,238 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2012
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Steakley, Edward D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US13/692,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 533 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/202, 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for synchronizing applications between devices. The method displays, on a sharing device, a list of one or more applications which are available to share with other devices, and receives a selection, at the sharing device, of an application to share with a receiving device from the list of applications. The method then determines by the sharing device, sharing preferences of the selected application, creates an application package at the sharing device, based on the sharing preferences, and establishes a network connection from the sharing device to the receiving device. The system transmits the application package from the sharing device to the receiving device via the network connection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for sharing an application between a sharing device and a receiving device, the method comprising:

displaying, on the sharing device, a list of one or more applications that are available to share with other devices;

receiving a selection, at the sharing device, of an application to share with the receiving device from the list of one or more applications;

creating an application package at sharing device based on sharing preferences associated with the selected application, wherein the application package comprises metadata associated with the selected application;

transmitting the application package from the sharing device to the receiving device;

providing a dataset to a first database in a remote server, the dataset comprising;

a sharer information, a receiver information, and an application information, the first database linking the sharing device with the receiving device;

inserting the dataset into a second database linking the sharing device with the shared application; and

displaying, at the sharing device, at least a portion of the first database or the second database, wherein at least one of the first database and the second database comprises an aggregated statistical transaction record including a tree of sharer-receiver pairs indicating descendant receiving devices originating at the sharing device and ancestor sharing devices originating at the receiving device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application package comprises metadata including at least one of a full copy of the selected application, a limited copy of the selected application, or an application seed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the application seed uniquely identifies the selected application on the remote server, and the receiving device can retrieve a copy of the application from the remote server based on the application package.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction record includes an application ID for the selected application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the transaction record includes at least one of a user account id for the sharing device and a user account id for the receiving device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction record includes information related to the total number of application packages transmitted from the sharing device.

7. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising receiving at the sharing device an acknowledgment from the receiving device that the application package transmitted successfully.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising transmitting the transaction record from the sharing device to the receiving device.

9. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising storing the transaction record in a storage area on the sharing device.

10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising receiving by the sharing device a device identifier for the receiving device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the application package comprises an application seed ID and a graphic image representing the selected application.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a sharing device, cause the sharing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

displaying, on a sharing device, a list of one or more applications that are available to share with other devices;

receiving a selection, at the sharing device, of an application to share with a receiving device from the list of one or more applications;

creating an application package at sharing device based on sharing preferences associated with the selected application, wherein the application package comprises metadata associated with the selected application;

transmitting the application package from the sharing device to the receiving device;

providing a dataset to a first database in a remote server, the dataset comprising;

a sharer information, a receiver information, and an application information, the first database linking the sharing device with the receiving device;

inserting the dataset into a second database linking the sharing device with the shared application; and

displaying, at the sharing device, at least a portion of the first database or the second database, wherein at least one of the first database and the second database comprises an aggregated statistical transaction record including a tree of sharer-receiver pairs indicating descendant receiving devices originating at the sharing device and ancestor sharing devices originating at the receiving device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the application package comprises metadata including at least one of a full copy of the selected application, a limited copy of the selected application, or an application seed.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application seed uniquely identifies the selected application on the remote server, and the receiving device can retrieve a copy of the application from the remote server based on the application package.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the transaction record includes an application identification for the selected application.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the transaction record includes at least one of a user account id for the sharing device and a user account id for the receiving device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the transaction record includes information related to the total number of application packages transmitted from the sharing device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises receiving at the sharing device an acknowledgment from the receiving device that the application package transmitted successfully.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the transaction record from the sharing device to the receiving device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises storing the transaction record in a storage area on the sharing device.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises receiving by the sharing device a device identifier for the receiving device.

22. A system for sharing an application, the system comprising:

a sharing device, configured to;

display a list of one or more applications that are available to share with other devices, receiving a selection of an application to share with another device from the list of applications, create an application package based on sharing preferences associated with the selected application comprising metadata associated with the selected application, transmit the application package to another device via a network connection,

provide a dataset to a first database in a remote server, the dataset comprising a sharer information, a receiver information, and an application information;

insert the dataset into a second database linking the sharing device with the shared application; and

display, at the sharing device, at least a portion of the first database or the second database, wherein at least one of the first database and the second database comprises an aggregated statistical transaction record including a tree of sharer-receiver pairs indicating descendant receiving devices originating at the sharing device and ancestor sharing devices originating at the receiving device; and

a receiving device, the receiving device configured to;

receive the application package via the network connection, and responsive to receiving the application package installing a full copy of the selected application or a limited copy of the selected application; and

a remote server, the remote server configured to;

receive the aggregated statistical transaction record from the sharing device.