Alternate service for applications

• US 8,972,968 B1
• Filed: 05/31/2012
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vichare, Vivek P.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAVIS, JOHN Q
• Application Number:
  US13/485,008
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• Field of Search: 717/170
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments to accommodate incompatibilities between differing versions of client and server applications. The client application establishes, via a network of a client computing device, data communication with a interface of a primary server application in a server computing device, the interface including a server version identifier. The client application obtains, via the interface, the server version identifier. Based upon the server version identifier, the client application establishes, via the network of the client computing device, data communication with an alternate server application.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, comprising:

code that maintains an interface for communication, via a network, with a client application in a client computing device, the interface comprising a server version identifier;

code that determines a measure of compatibility between the client application and the interface based at least upon the server version identifier and another server version identifier that is expected by the client application;

code that transmits a notice to the client application based at least upon the measure of compatibility, the notice comprising an alert for a mandatory update to the client application;

code that transmits the mandatory update to the client application, the mandatory update based at least upon the measure of compatibility meeting a predefined update threshold; and

code that transmits a redirection instruction to the client application, the redirection instruction comprising a directive for the client computing device to establish a communication session with a web server application, the web server application executable in an alternate computing device.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the redirection instruction further comprises authentication data from the interface for use in the communication session with the web server application.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the redirection instruction further comprises a network address of the web server application.

4. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

a primary server application executable in the at least one computing device, the primary server application comprising;

logic that maintains an interface for communication, via a network, with a client application in a client, the interface comprising a server version identifier;

logic that obtains another server version identifier that is expected by the client application; and

logic that generates, according to a measure of compatibility between the client application and the interface based at least in part on the server version identifier and the another server version identifier, a redirection instruction for the client application, the redirection instruction comprising a network address of an alternate server application.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the primary server application further comprises logic that transmits a notice to the client application, the notice based at least upon the other server version identifier expected by the client application meeting a predefined notice threshold.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the primary server application further comprises logic that transmits an update to the client application executable, the update based at least upon the other server version identifier expected by the client application meeting a predefined update threshold.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the alternate server application is executable in an alternate computing device.

8. The system of claim 4, further comprising the alternate server application executable in the at least one computing device, the alternate server application comprising logic that communicates, via the network, with the client.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the alternate server application comprises a network page server that communicates network page data to the client.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the primary server application further comprises logic that obtains a client version identifier of the client application, wherein the redirection instruction further comprises a directive to communicate with the network page server using a browser application, the directive based at least upon the client version identifier.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the client version identifier is obtained, via the network, from the client application.

12. A method, comprising:

establishing, via a network of a client computing device, data communication with an interface of a primary server application in at least one computing device, the interface comprising a server version identifier;

obtaining, in the client computing device, the server version identifier; and

establishing, via the network of the client computing device, data communication with an alternate server application based at least upon the server version identifier.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating, in the client computing device, a notice to a user, the notice based at least upon a value of the server version identifier.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein establishing data communication with an alternate server application further comprises using authentication data associated with the interface of the primary server application.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting, via the network of the client computing device, a redirection request to the primary server application, the redirection request comprising a client version identifier; and

obtaining, in the client computing device, a redirection response, the redirection response comprising a network address of the alternate server application.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the redirection response further comprises a uniform resource identifier (URI) corresponding to an update for a client application in the client computing device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the redirection response further comprises a directive to communicate with the alternate server application using a browser application on the client computing device.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein a network address of the alternate server application is predefined within the client computing device.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the alternate server application comprises a network page server that communicates network page data to the client computing device.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the alternate server application is executable in the at least one computing device.