Method and system for publishing virtual applications to a web server

• US 9,021,015 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2010
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Code Systems Incorporated (VOXX International Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Code Systems Incorporated (VOXX International Corporation)
• Inventors: Murphey, C. Michael, Obata, Kenji C., Zeller, Mark Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): KHAN, AFTAB N
• Application Number:
  US12/906,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,653 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/204, 717168-178, 717/106, 717/103, 717/124, 717/127, 717/140, 715/229
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A method and system for publishing virtual applications on the Internet. The method includes obtaining a list of applications associated with a publisher from a server computing device and displaying the list to a user via a user interface. Next, a selection by the user of one of the applications is received from the user interface. A new virtualized version of the selected application is built. The virtualized version includes at least one application file that at least partially implements the new virtualized version of the selected application. Then, the application file is uploaded to the server computing device. An application address is received from the server computing device and a link to the application address is displayed to the user via the user interface. The virtualized version of the application is available at the application address for download and execution over a network (e.g., the Internet).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for use with an upload server computing device, a website server computing device, and a network, the method comprising:

establishing, by an authoring tool executing on a client computing device, a connection with the upload server computing device over the network;

receiving, by the authoring tool, a first selection indicating whether a new account is to be created or an existing account is to be used;

when the first selection indicates a new account is to be created, sending, by the authoring tool, account information to the upload server computing device for use thereby to create the new account;

when the first selection indicates the existing account is to be used, sending, by the authoring tool, login information to the upload server computing device, which determines whether the login information is valid;

after the new account is created or the login information is determined to be valid, obtaining, by the authoring tool, a list of applications associated with a publisher from the upload server computing device;

displaying, by the authoring tool, the list of applications to a user;

receiving, by the authoring tool, a second selection of one of the applications displayed;

receiving, by the authoring tool, information from the user related to the selected application, the received information comprising an application identifier, a major version indicator, and a minor version indicator;

building, by the authoring tool, a new virtualized version of the selected application, the virtualized version comprising an application file, the received information being incorporated into the application file when the new virtualized version of the selected application is built;

uploading, by the authoring tool, the application file to the upload server computing device over the network;

instructing, by the authoring tool, the upload server computing device to copy the application file to the website server computing device, the website server computing device being connected to the upload server computing device over the network;

obtaining, by the authoring tool, from the upload server computing device, a ready indicator and a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

), the ready indicator indicating whether the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, wherein the virtualized version of the selected application is available at the URL for download when the ready indicator indicates that the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device; and

when the ready indicator indicates that the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, displaying, by the authoring tool, a link to the URL to the user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received information related to the selected application comprises an identifier associated with the publisher.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received information related to the selected application comprises a version identifier comprising the major version indicator, the minor version indicator, a build indicator, and a revision indicator.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein uploading the application file to the upload server computing device further comprises:

successively uploading portions of the application file separately.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding, by the authoring tool, the URL to a different user over the network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

before forwarding the URL to the different user, modifying, by the authoring tool, the URL to indicate that when the virtualized version of the selected application is executed, the execution of the virtualized version of the selected application is to be profiled.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received information related to the selected application comprises an identifier of a domain whereat the virtualized version of the selected application is to be published.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the URL is an address on the domain.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein uploading the application file to the upload server computing device further comprises:

uploading portions of the application file separately; and

before uploading each portion, validating that the user is authorized to upload the application file.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein validating that the user is authorized to upload the application file further comprises:

receiving a user name and a password from the user; and

determining whether the user has entered a valid user name and password.

11. A computer-implemented method for use with a client computing device and a website server computing device, the method comprising:

receiving, at an upload server computing device, a selection indicating whether a new account is to be created or an existing account is to be used;

when the selection indicates a new account is to be created, receiving, at the upload server computing device, account information and using the account information to create the new account;

when the selection indicates the existing account is to be used, receiving, at the upload server computing device, login information and determining whether the login information is valid;

receiving, at the upload server computing device, a request for a list of applications associated with a publisher from the client computing device;

in response to the request, and after the new account is created or the login information is determined to be valid, identifying, by the upload server computing device, a plurality of applications associated with the publisher, assembling the list of applications associated with the publisher based at least in part on the identified plurality of applications, and forwarding the list to the client computing device for display to a user, wherein after the user selects one of the applications in the list, the client computing device receives information from the user related to the selected application, builds a new virtualized version of the selected application comprising an application file, and incorporates the received information into the application file when the new virtualized version of the selected application is built, the received information comprising an application identifier, a major version indicator, and a minor version indicator;

receiving, by the upload server computing device, the application file uploaded by the client computing device;

parsing, by the upload server computing device, the application file for information comprising the application identifier, the major version indicator, and the minor version indicator;

storing, by the upload server computing device, the information parsed from the application file in an application library database;

receiving, by the upload server computing device, a first instruction from the client computing device to copy the application file to the website server computing device;

in response to receiving the first instruction, copying, by the upload server computing device, the application file to the website server computing device;

receiving, by the upload server computing device, a second instruction from the client computing device to determine whether the application file has been fully copied to the second server computing device;

responding, by the upload server computing device, to the second instruction from the client computing device, the response comprising a ready indicator and a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

), the ready indicator indicating whether the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device; and

when the ready indicator indicates that the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, the application file being available for download over the Internet at the URL.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the information parsed from the application file further comprises a build indicator and a revision indicator.

13. A system for use with a client computing device, the system comprising:

an application library;

a website server computing device; and

an upload server computing device connected to the application library, the website server computing device, and the client computing device, the upload server computing device being configured to;

(a) receive a selection indicating whether a new account is to be created or an existing account is to be used,

(b) when the selection indicates a new account is to be created, receive account information and use the received account information to create the new account,

(c) when the selection indicates the existing account is to be used, receive login information and determine whether the login information is valid,

(d) receive a request for a list of applications from the client computing device,

(e) in response to the request, and after the new account is created or the login information is determined to be valid, assemble the list of applications, and forward the list to the client computing device for display to a user, wherein after the user selects one of the applications in the list, the client computing device receives information from the user related to the selected application, builds a new virtualized version of the selected application comprising an application file, and incorporates the received information into the application file when the new virtualized version of the selected application is built, the received information comprising an application identifier, a major version indicator, and a minor version indicator,

(f) receive the application file uploaded by the client computing device,

(g) parse the uploaded application file to obtain information comprising the application identifier, the major version indicator, and the minor version indicator,

(h) store the parsed information in the application library,

(i) receive a first instruction from the client computing device to copy the application file to the website server computing device,

(j) copy the application file to the website server computing device at an application address in response to receiving the first instruction,

(k) receive a second instruction from the client computing device to determine whether the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, and

(l) respond to the second instruction from the client computing device, the response comprising a ready indicator and a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

), the ready indicator indicating whether the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, wherein when the ready indicator indicates that the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, the application file is available for download over the Internet at the URL.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the request for the list of applications identifies a publisher,

the upload server computing device queries the application library to identify applications associated with the publisher, and

the list of applications forwarded to the client computing device comprises the identified applications.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the application file is a first application file and the website server computing device is configured to:

generate a website with a link to the URL;

receive a request from a different client computing device to download the first application file;

download the first application file to the different client computing device; and

as the first application file is downloading, receive a new version of the application file as a second application file from the upload server computing device and store the second application file without interrupting the downloading of the first application file to the different client computing device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the application file is a binary file.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an account database storing account information, the upload server computing device being configured to query the account database to determine whether the user operating the client computing device is authorized to upload the application file.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the website server computing device is configured to generate a website with a link to the URL.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the website server computing device is further configured to query the application library and generate a web page displaying a result received in response to the query.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors and when so executed, causing the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving, from a client computing device, a selection indicating whether a new account is to be created or an existing account is to be used;

when the selection indicates a new account is to be created, receiving, from the client computing device, account information and using the account information to create the new account;

when the selection indicates the existing account is to be used, receiving, from the client computing device, login information and determining whether the login information is valid;

receiving, from the client computing device, a request for a list of applications associated with a publisher;

in response to the request, and after the new account is created or the login information is determined to be valid, identifying a plurality of applications associated with the publisher, assembling the list of applications associated with the publisher based at least in part on the identified plurality of applications, and forwarding the list to the client computing device for display to a user, wherein after the user selects one of the applications in the list, the client computing device receives information from the user related to the selected application, builds a new virtualized version of the selected application comprising an application file, and incorporates the received information into the application file when the new virtualized version of the selected application is built, the received information comprising an application identifier, a major version indicator, and a minor version indicator;

receiving the application file uploaded by the client computing device;

parsing the application file for information comprising the application identifier, the major version indicator, and the minor version indicator;

storing the information parsed from the application file in an application library database;

receiving a first instruction from the client computing device to copy the application file to a website server computing device;

in response to receiving the first instruction, copying the application file to the website server computing device;

receiving a second instruction from the client computing device to determine whether the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device;

responding to the second instruction from the client computing device, the response comprising a ready indicator and a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

), the ready indicator indicating whether the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device; and

when the ready indicator indicates that the application file has been fully copied to the website server computing device, the application file being available for download over the Internet at the URL.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the information parsed from the application file further comprises a build indicator and a revision indicator.