Browser-based discovery and application switching

• US 9,329,851 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lalmalani, Rahul Jaikrishin, Kim, Jane T., Trahan, Jennifer C., Lewis, Marcus A., Williams, Mary-Lynne, Barcheck, Lindsey R., Stevens, Warren G., Bowers, Sarah J., Mandic, Mirko
• Primary Examiner(s): Levy, Amy M
• Application Number:
  US13/229,386
• Publication Number:
  US 20130067358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 715/760
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

Various embodiments enable a web browser to promote the availability of an installable application that is associated with a website to which the web browser has been navigated. The web browser is configured to discover the availability of these applications and, responsively, provide a user experience through which the user can acquire and install such applications, as well as switch to applications that have previously been installed. Thus, through the various embodiments, a user is relieved of the burden of having to navigate to a particular application store and periodically search for applications associated with sites to which they browse.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the computer system to discover an installable application associated with a website, the computer-executable instructions including instructions that are executable to configure the computer system to perform at least the following;

navigate, via a web browser having a web browser user interface, to the website having content, the web browser being configured to display a user interface instrumentality associated with the website, the user interface instrumentality having a first viewable appearance configured to be presented when the website does not have an associated installable application and a second different viewable appearance in the location when the website has an associated installable application, the second viewable appearance being user-selectable;

ascertain whether the web browser has become knowledgeable of the availability of the installable application that is associated with the website that can be used to enable consumption of at least some of the content of the website within the installable application;

responsive to ascertaining whether the web browser has become knowledgeable of the availability of the installable application, ascertain, via the web browser, whether the associated installable application has been installed at the computer system;

when the installable application is not installed at the computer system, display, via the web browser, the second different viewable appearance of the user interface instrumentality configured to enable a user to navigate to an application store and have displayed visual information for enabling acquisition of the associated installable application;

when the installable application is installed at the computer system, display the second different viewable appearance of the user interface instrumentality as a switching user interface within the web browser, the switching user interface being configured to enable the user to opt to switch from the web browser to the installed application to display at least some of the website content within the installed application, the web browser being configured to provide to the installed application contextual information associated with a particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser, the contextual information being configured to preserve user context after switching from the web browser to the installed application, by displaying content associated with the particular webpage after switching to the installed application; and

responsive to receiving an option to switch from the web browser to the installed application, replace the web browser user interface with a user interface of the installed application through which the content associated with the particular webpage is presented.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein a unique identifier is used to make the web browser knowledgeable of the availability of the installable application associated with the website.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the unique identifier is provided in hypertext markup language (HTML) associated with the website.

4. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the unique identifier is included in a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) header.

5. The computer system of claim 1, the computer-executable instructions also including instructions that are executable to configure the computer system to, responsive to the installable application associated with the website being installed, ascertain whether an installed version of the associated application is acceptable and, if so, display the switching user interface.

6. The computer system of claim 1, the computer-executable instructions also including instructions that are executable to configure the computer system to, responsive to the installable application associated with the website being installed, ascertain whether an installed version of the associated application is acceptable and, if not, display an application store button.

7. The computer system of claim 1, the computer executable instructions also including instructions that are executable to configure the computer system to, responsive to the installable application associated with the website not being installed and after displaying an application store button, receive selection of the application store button and activate an application store page to expose the user to an acquisition experience in which they can acquire the associated installable application.

8. A method, implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, for discovering an installable application associated with a website, the method comprising:

ascertaining whether the website to which a web browser has been navigated has an associated installable application, the website having content that is presented in a user interface of the web browser, the web browser being configured to display a user interface instrumentality associated with the website, the user interface instrumentality being displayed in a location and having a first viewable appearance configured to be presented when the website does not have an associated installable application and a second different viewable appearance in the location when the website has an associated installable application, the second viewable appearance being user-selectable;

responsive to the website having an associated installable application which is not installed, displaying the second user selectable user interface instrumentality, and responsive to receiving a user input, navigating the web browser to an application store webpage that is configured to enable the user to acquire the installable application;

when the associated installable application is installed at the computer system, changing the user interface instrumentality from the first viewable appearance to the second viewable appearance to enable a user to opt to switch from the web browser to the associated installable application using a switching user interface displayed by the web browser, the web browser being configured to provide to the installable application contextual information associated with a particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser, the contextual information being configured to preserve user context after switching from the web browser to the installable application, by displaying content associated with the particular webpage after switching to the installable application, wherein switching from the web browser to the installable application comprises removing the web browser user interface responsive to receiving a switch selection indicating that a switch to the installable application is desired, and replacing the web browser user interface with a user interface of the installable application to enable the content associated with the particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser to be presented by the installable application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ascertaining is performed by identifying a unique identifier associated with the installable application.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the unique identifier is provided within hypertext markup language (HTML) associated with the website, the unique identifier being associated with the installable application.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the unique identifier is provided within an hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) header associated with the website, the unique identifier being associated with the installable application.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising enabling a user to acquire a newer version of the installable application associated with the website.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the web browser is further configured to provide to the installable application associated with the website a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser, the installable application being configured to use the URL to present contextual content to the user.

14. A computer-program product comprising one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a computer system to configure the computer system to discover an installable application associated with a website, the computer-executable instructions including instructions that configure the computer system to perform at least the following:

ascertain whether the website to which a web browser has been navigated has an associated installable application that can be used to consume content of the website, the web browser being configured to display a user interface instrumentality in the form of an icon associated with the website that is located adjacent to an address field within which a URL can be displayed, the icon being presented when the website does not have an associated installable application, the web browser further being configured to display a user-selectable button in the location adjacent to the address field when the website has an associated installable application;

when the website has an associated installable application that can be used to consume content of the website, perform at least the following;

responsive to the user-selectable button being selected, enable acquisition of the associated installable application by navigating to an application store webpage in which the installable application can be acquired; and

switch from the web browser to the associated installable application, the web browser being configured to provide to the installable application contextual information associated with a particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser, the contextual information being configured to preserve user context after switching from the web browser to the installable application, by displaying content associated with the particular webpage after switching to the installable application, wherein atoll switching from the web browser to the installable application comprises;

receiving a switch selection,

responsive to receiving the switch selection, placing the web browser in the background; and

presenting content associated with the particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser in a user interface of the installable application.

15. The computer-program product of claim 14, wherein the web browser is configured to ascertain whether the website has an associated installable application by identifying a unique identifier associated with the installable application and acquire the installable application by using the unique identifier.

16. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the web browser is further configured to both ascertain whether the website has an associated installable application by identifying a unique identifier within hypertext markup language (HTML) associated with the website, the unique identifier being associated with the installable application, and acquire the installable application by using the unique identifier.

17. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the web browser is further configured to both ascertain whether the website has an associated installable application by identifying a unique identifier within an hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) header associated with the website, the unique identifier being associated with the installable application, and acquire the installable application by using the unique identifier.

18. The computer-program product of claim 14, wherein the web browser is configured to enable acquisition of a newer version of the installable application associated with the website.

19. A computer system comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the computer system to discover an installable application associated with a website, the computer-executable instructions including instructions that are executable to configure the computer system to perform at least the following;

navigate to the website;

display a user interface that is configured to enable a user to acquire an installable application associated with the website that can be used to enable consumption of at least some of the content of the website within the associated installable application, the user interface being configured to display a user interface instrumentality associated with the website, the user interface instrumentality being user-selectable to navigate to an application store website;

render content of the application store configured to enable the user to acquire the associated installable application;

display a web browser user interface having navigation instrumentalities, the web browser user interface being configured to enable a user to switch to an acquired installable application; and

provide to the installable application contextual information associated with a articular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser, the contextual information being configured to preserve user context after switching from the web browser to the installable application, by displaying content associated with the particular webpage after switching to the installable application.

20. The computer system of claim 19, further comprising providing contextual information to the installable application associated with the website that tailors a user'"'"'s experience within the installable application to an experience associated with the particular webpage within the web site that is currently being viewed in the web browser.

21. The computer system method of claim 19, wherein the contextual information provided to the installable application associated with the website includes a uniform resource locator (URL), the URL being associated with the particular webpage within the website that is currently being viewed in the web browser.

22. The computer system method of claim 19,

wherein the user interface comprises:

a replaceable icon associated with the website; and

a user-selectable button configured to replace the replaceable icon, the user-selectable button being configured to initiate an acquisition process through which information associated with the installable application associated with the website can be displayed and the installable application can be acquired.

23. The computer system of claim 19, wherein switching to the installable application associated with the website comprises removing the web browser user interface having navigation instrumentalities and replacing the web browser user interface with an application user interface that is devoid of at least some of the navigation instrumentalities of the web browser user interface.