Distribution of applications with a saved state

• US 9,274,780 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2011
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Velummylum, Piragash, Amacker, Matthew Warren
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Marina
• Application Number:
  US13/332,574
• Time in Patent Office: 1,532 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178, 717120-122
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for sharing applications initialized to a specified state. In one embodiment, a saved state service receives a plurality of state parameters that describe a state of the application, wherein the state parameters are reported by the application during execution of the application. The save state service then generates a unique data string that corresponds to the state parameters by serializing the state parameters using a data interchange standard. The saved state service may then generate a link to install the application, wherein the link includes the unique data string. In one embodiment, the saved state service serves up the link that, upon invocation on a client, installs the application and initializes the application in the specified state.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, the program, when executed, causing the computing device to at least:

insert an amount of state generate code into code of an application available in an application marketplace, the state generate code configured to generate a plurality of state parameters defining a state of the application during execution on a client;

receive a request from the client to share the application in the state;

receive the state parameters from the client in response to the request;

generate a unique data string that corresponds to the received state parameters by serializing the received state parameters using a data interchange standard;

generate a link to install the application, wherein the link includes the unique data string;

transmit the link to a receiving client, wherein invoking the link on the receiving client installs the application from the application marketplace and initializes the application in the state; and

communicate instructions to the client to reset the state parameters of the application to an initial state upon invocation of the link by the receiving client.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the received state parameters comprise a plurality of parameters indicating at least one of a milestone in the application, an amount of data generated during execution of the application, and a plurality of settings of the application.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, the program further causing the at least one computing device to configure the link to expire upon at least one of a predetermined number of invocations and a predetermined amount of time.

4. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one computing device configured to at least;

insert an amount of state generate code into code of an application available in an application marketplace, the state generate code configured to generate a plurality of parameters defining a state of the application during execution on a first client;

receive the plurality of parameters from the first client;

generate a saved state link for installing the application and initializing the application in the state, wherein the plurality of parameters defining the state are described by the saved state link;

transmit the saved state link to a requesting process of a second client; and

communicate instructions to the first client to reset the plurality of parameters to an initial state upon invocation of the link by the second client.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of parameters defining the state are embedded in the saved state link.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein invoking the saved state link installs an application available in the application marketplace.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the requesting process is a client side application implemented on the second client in data communication with the at least one computing device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein invoking the saved state link on the second client installs the application on the second client and initializes the application according to the state.

9. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of parameters indicate at least one of a milestone in the application, an amount of data generated during execution of the application, a plurality of settings of the application, or an identity of a user responsible for having generated the state of the application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the milestone in the application comprises a level achieved in an electronic game.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein the saved state link expires after a predetermined amount of time.

12. The system of claim 4, wherein the saved state link can be invoked a predetermined number of times.

13. The system of claim 4, wherein the saved state link can be invoked within a predetermined radius of a geographic location.

14. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to provide an electronic marketplace to at least one user, wherein the electronic marketplace allows the at least one user to view a list of available saved state links.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the electronic marketplace limits the list of available saved state links to those saved state links that are associated with an area located within a predefined radius of a current location of the user.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the electronic marketplace limits the list of available saved state links to those saved state links that are associated with an area located within a predefined radius of a location specified by the user.

17. The system of claim 4, wherein generating the saved state link further comprises generating a data string that corresponds to the parameters.

18. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to serialize the plurality of parameters into a unique string.

19. A method, comprising:

insert, in a computing device, an amount of state generate code into code of an application available in an application marketplace, the state generate code configured to generate a plurality of state parameters defining a specific state of the application during execution on a first client;

receiving, in the computing device, the plurality of state parameters that define the specific state of the application being executed on the first client;

serializing, in the computing device, the state parameters to generate a unique character string;

generating, in the computing device, a link that includes the unique character string;

transmitting, from the computing device, the link to a second client, wherein invoking the link on the second client installs the application on the second client and initializes the application in the specific state in the second client; and

communicating, from the computing device, to the first client, instructions to reset the state parameters of the application to an initial state upon invocation of the link by the second client.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the state parameters are reported to the computing device during execution of the application on the first client.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the application referenced by the link is available in the application marketplace.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the specific state of the application comprises a plurality of parameters indicating one of a milestone in the application, an amount of data generated using the application, and a plurality of settings of the application.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the milestone in the application comprises a level achieved in an electronic game.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising configuring the link to expire after at least one a predetermined amount of time and a predetermined number of invocations.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the state parameters of the application being executed on the first client are returned to the state defined by the state parameters upon expiration of a predefined time period after the invocation.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the link is one of a plurality of saved state links, and wherein transmitting the link further comprises communicating a list of the plurality of saved state links to the second client.