Cloud-based web page applications for extending functionality

• US 8,775,554 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2010
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ozzie, Raymond E., Moromisato, George, Ozzie, Jack
• Primary Examiner(s): CHRISTENSEN, SCOTT B
• Application Number:
  US12/981,494
• Publication Number:
  US 20120173657A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Embodiments extend functionality of a web page using cloud-based page applications. A page application provider, executing as part of a web browser, receives notification of a web page being accessed by a user of a user computing device. One or more page applications associated with the web page are identified. The identified page applications provide functionality related to the web page and, in some embodiments, interact or share data with the web page. The page application provider presents the identified page applications to the user. Based on a selection of at least one of the presented page applications, the selected page application is provided for execution by the user computing device. In some embodiments, the correlations among the user, web pages, and page applications are available from a cloud-based page application service.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory area associated with a user computing device, said memory area storing a page application provider;

a processor programmed to execute the page application provider on the user computing device to;

detect a request from a user of the user computing device for access to a web page;

provide, based on the detected request, a page application service with a network address associated with the web page and a user identifier associated with the user, wherein the user identifier identifies the user without regard to the user computing device currently used by the user;

receive, from the page application service and based on the provided network address and the user identifier, one or more page application identifiers associated with the network address and the user identifier, each of the page application identifiers identifying at least one of a plurality of page applications, said page applications providing functionality related to the web page, wherein providing the page application service with the network address and receiving the one or more page application identifiers occurs separate from obtaining the web page;

present, to the user, the web page and the page applications associated with the page application identifiers;

receive, from the user, a selection of at least one of the presented page applications; and

execute the selected page application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the page application provider is associated with a web browser.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to present the web page and the page applications by displaying the page applications in a portion of the web page.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the web page interacts with the page application during execution.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for adding the functionality to the web page via the page application.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for associating the page applications with the web page via the page application service.

7. A method comprising:

receiving notification of a web page being accessed by a user of a user computing device, the notification including a network address associated with the web page and a user identifier associated with the user, the notification being received based on the user computing device detecting a request from the user to access the web page, the user identifier identifying the user without regard to the user computing device currently used by the user;

identifying, based on the received network address and the user identifier, one or more page applications associated with the web page, said identified page applications providing functionality related to the web page;

presenting page application identifiers associated with the identified page applications to the user;

receiving, from the user, a selection of at least one of the presented page application identifiers; and

providing one or more of the identified page applications corresponding to the received selection for execution by the user computing device, wherein identifying the one or more page applications occurs separate from obtaining the web page.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the notification, identifying the one or more page applications, presenting the page application identifiers, receiving the selection, and providing the page application are performed by one or more of the following:

an application executed by the user computing device, and a page application service accessible by the user computing device via a network.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the one or more page applications comprises communicating with a page application service to identify the one or more page applications.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the page application service maintains a set of one or more network addresses associated with each of the page applications.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

installing on the user computing device the selected page application; and

providing the page application service with the page application identifier associated with the selection, the user identifier, and thenetwork address associated with the web page.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the one or more page applications comprises identifying the one or more page applications based on the web page being accessed and the user identifier, said identified page applications having been installed previously by the user.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the one or more page applications comprises accessing a cache associated with the user computing device to identify the one or more page applications.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein presenting the identified page application identifiers to the user comprises presenting the identified page applications to the user with the web page.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein presenting the identified page application identifiers to the user comprises presenting the identified page applications as a portion of the web page.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the notification comprises receiving a network address associated with the web page.

17. One or more computer storage devices storing computer-executable components, said components comprising:

a monitor component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to detect a request from a user of a user computing device for access to a web page;

a communications interface component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor of the user computing device to;

provide, to a page application service and based on the detected request, a network address associated with the web page and a user identifier associated with the user, wherein the user identifier identifies the user without regard to the user computing device currently used by the user;

receive, from the page application service, based on the provided network address and the user identifier, one or more page application identifiers associated with the network address and the user identifier, each of the page application identifiers identifying at least one of a plurality of page applications, the page applications providing functionality related to the web page,

wherein providing the network address and the user identifier and receiving the one or more page application identifiers occurs separate from obtaining the web page;

a user interface component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to;

present the page applications to the user; and

receive, from the user, a selection of at least one of the presented page applications, wherein the user computing device executes the selected page application to provide the functionality; and

a registration component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to identify to the page application service the selected page application, the user, and the web page.

18. The computer storage devices of claim 17, wherein the registration component identifies to the page application service the selected page application, the user, and the web page by providing the page application identifier associated with the selected page application, the user identifier associated with the user, and the network address associated with the web page.

19. The computer storage devices of claim 17, wherein the registration component further executes to install the selected page application in response to the selection of at least one of the presented page applications received by the user interface component.

20. The computer storage devices of claim 17, wherein the user interface component presents the identified page applications to the user in a page curl associated with the web page.