Systems and methods for synchronizing mobile computing platforms

• US 9,244,668 B1
• Filed: 02/11/2013
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gen Digital Inc.
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Opos, Joshua, Joginapally, Praveen
• Primary Examiner(s): Tecklu, Isaac T
• Application Number:
  US13/764,186
• Time in Patent Office: 1,079 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for synchronizing mobile computing platforms may include (1) identifying a set of applications installed on a mobile computing platform, (2) detecting a request from an additional mobile computing platform to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications, and then (3) synchronizing the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications by (a) querying an application-matching engine to determine an equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications on the additional mobile computing platform and then (b) directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for synchronizing mobile computing platforms, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

identifying a set of applications installed on a mobile computing platform by;

collecting application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

storing the application information in a cloud-based synchronization account capable of being accessed by an additional mobile computing platform;

detecting a request from the additional mobile computing platform to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications by;

providing the additional mobile computing platform with a synchronization application that, when downloaded and executed by the additional mobile computing platform, directs the additional mobile computing platform to issue the request to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications, wherein synchronizing the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications comprises downloading, to the additional mobile computing platform, an equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

obtaining the request from the additional mobile computing platform via the synchronization application;

in response to detecting the request from the additional mobile computing platform, synchronizing the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications by;

authenticating the additional mobile computing platform with the cloud-based synchronization account prior to satisfying the request;

querying an application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform, wherein querying the application-matching engine comprises entering, into the application-matching engine, a set of application identifiers that uniquely identify the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

upon querying the application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications on the additional mobile computing platform, directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform comprises directing, by way of the synchronization application, the mobile computing platform to:

locate the application information on the mobile computing platform;

upload the application information to the cloud-based synchronization account.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform comprises providing the mobile computing platform with a synchronization library that, when called by an application running on the mobile computing platform, directs the application to:

locate the application information on the mobile computing platform;

upload the application information to the cloud-based synchronization account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform comprises:

identifying a client device that interfaces with the mobile computing platform;

identifying a client-based application installed on the client device that facilitates access to the application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

directing, by way of the synchronization application, the client device to;

collect the application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform via the client-based application;

upload the application information to the cloud-based synchronization account.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the request to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications comprises:

obtaining the request to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform from the additional mobile computing platform;

locating a platform identifier that identifies the additional mobile computing platform in the request obtained from the additional mobile computing platform.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein querying the application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications comprises:

querying the application-matching engine based at least in part on the application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform and the platform identifier that identifies the additional mobile computing platform;

determining the equivalent set of applications based at least in part on querying the application-matching engine.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein querying the application-matching engine based at least in part on the application information and the platform identifier comprises:

entering the application information and the platform identifier into the application-matching engine;

in response to entering the application information and the platform identifier into the application-matching engine;

obtaining equivalent-application information that identifies the equivalent set of applications from the application-matching engine;

storing the equivalent-application information in the cloud-based synchronization account.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein authenticating the additional mobile computing platform with the cloud-based synchronization account comprises:

obtaining user credentials from the additional mobile computing platform via the synchronization application;

searching an authentication database associated with the cloud-based synchronization account for the user credentials obtained from the additional mobile computing platform;

identifying the user credentials obtained from the additional mobile computing platform while searching the authentication database associated with the cloud-based synchronization account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the request to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications comprises:

providing the mobile computing platform with a synchronization library that, when called by an application running on the additional mobile computing platform, directs the additional mobile computing platform to issue the request;

obtaining the request from the additional mobile computing platform via the application running on the additional mobile computing platform.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications comprises directing the additional mobile computing platform to install the equivalent set of applications.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications comprises:

identifying a virtual store that hosts downloadable applications corresponding to the additional mobile computing platform;

identifying the equivalent set of applications within the downloadable applications hosted by the virtual store;

upon identifying the equivalent set of applications within the downloadable applications hosted by the virtual store, directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications from the virtual store.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications from the virtual store comprises directing the additional mobile computing platform to:

automatically download the equivalent set of applications from the virtual store without requiring user input to initiate a download of each application in the equivalent set of applications;

automatically install the equivalent set of applications without requiring user input to initiate an install of each application in the equivalent set of applications.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the mobile computing platform comprises an operating system running on a mobile hardware architecture;

the additional mobile computing platform comprises a different operating system running on a different mobile hardware architecture.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the additional mobile computing platform with the synchronization application comprises enabling the additional mobile computing platform to download the synchronization application from a synchronization server that facilitates at least partially automated synchronization of mobile computing platforms.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications comprises determining the equivalent set of applications by matching the set of application identifiers that uniquely identify the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform to another set of application identifiers that uniquely identify the equivalent set of applications.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a name of at least one application in the set of applications differs from a name of a corresponding application in the equivalent set of applications.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically identifying, via a bot, a relationship between at least one application in the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform and at least one corresponding application in the equivalent set of applications;

populating, via the bot, a database accessible to the application-matching engine to account for the relationship between the application in the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform and the corresponding application in the equivalent set of applications.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications from the virtual store comprises directing the additional mobile computing platform to:

navigate to at least one application in the equivalent set of applications within the virtual store;

obtain user approval before downloading and installing the application to the additional mobile computing platform.

14. A system for synchronizing mobile computing platforms, the system comprising:

an identification module, stored in memory, that identifies a set of applications installed on a mobile computing platform by;

collecting application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

storing the application information in a cloud-based synchronization account capable of being accessed by an additional mobile computing platform;

a detection module, stored in memory, that detects a request from the additional mobile computing platform to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications by;

providing the additional mobile computing platform with a synchronization application that, when downloaded and executed by the additional mobile computing platform, directs the additional mobile computing platform to issue the request to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications, wherein synchronizing the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications comprises downloading, to the additional mobile computing platform, an equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

obtaining the request from the additional mobile computing platform via the synchronization application;

a synchronization module, stored in memory, that synchronizes the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications in response to the request by;

authenticating the additional mobile computing platform with the cloud-based synchronization account prior to satisfying the request;

querying an application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform, wherein querying the application-matching engine comprises entering, into the application-matching engine, a set of application identifiers that uniquely identify the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

upon querying the application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications on the additional mobile computing platform, directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications;

at least one physical processor configured to execute the identification module, the detection module, and the synchronization module.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable-storage medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

identify a set of applications installed on a mobile computing platform by;

collecting application information that identifies the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

storing the application information in a cloud-based synchronization account capable of being accessed by an additional mobile computing platform;

detect a request from the additional mobile computing platform to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications by;

providing the additional mobile computing platform with a synchronization application that, when downloaded and executed by the additional mobile computing platform, directs the additional mobile computing platform to issue the request to synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications, wherein synchronizing the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications comprises downloading, to the additional mobile computing platform, an equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

obtaining the request from the additional mobile computing platform via the synchronization application;

synchronize the additional mobile computing platform and the mobile computing platform with respect to the set of applications in response to the request by;

authenticating the additional mobile computing platform with the cloud-based synchronization account prior to satisfying the request;

querying an application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform, wherein querying the application-matching engine comprises entering, into the application-matching engine, a set of application identifiers that uniquely identify the set of applications installed on the mobile computing platform;

upon querying the application-matching engine to determine the equivalent set of applications that corresponds to the set of applications on the additional mobile computing platform, directing the additional mobile computing platform to download the equivalent set of applications.