Virtual preloads

• US 9,513,888 B1
• Filed: 01/30/2014
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Schwermann, Nathan, Fultz, David K., Indurkar, Dhananjay, Stone, M. Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Bodden, Evral E
• Application Number:
  US14/168,007
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A method of installing an application on a mobile communication device which comprises receiving, on a mobile communication device, a selection of a virtually preloaded application, identifying the repository from a plurality of repositories, communicating with the repository to obtain the full application, identifying a first location of an icon associated with the virtually preloaded application on the mobile communication device, relocating the icon associated with the virtually preloaded application to a second location, and installing the full application on the mobile communication device. The virtually preloaded application corresponds to a full application available in a repository.

Claims

1. A method of installing a full application on a mobile communication device, comprising:

receiving, on a mobile communication device, a selection of a virtually preloaded application having functionality independent of the full application, the virtually preloaded application being one of a plurality of virtually preloaded applications on the mobile communication device, wherein the virtually preloaded application is loaded onto the mobile communication device and comprises an interactive thumbnail image associated with the full application, and wherein the full application is not yet installed on the mobile communication device but is available for installation from a repository;

in response to the selection of the virtually preloaded application via the interactive thumbnail image;

identifying, by the mobile communication device, the repository comprising the full application from a plurality of repositories;

obtaining, by the mobile communication device, the full application from the repository;

installing, by the mobile communication device, the full application in a non-transitory memory of the mobile communication device;

identifying a first location of the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtually preloaded application on the mobile communication device;

replacing, on the display at the first location, the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtually preloaded application with a full application icon corresponding to the full application; and

relocating the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtually preloaded application from the first location to a second location on the display of the mobile communication device, wherein the full application is displayed at the first location; and

after a predetermined amount of time without one of the plurality of virtually preloaded applications being selected, prompting, by the one of the plurality of virtually preloaded applications, a user of the mobile communication device to install a corresponding full application associated with the one of the plurality of virtually preloaded applications.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, by the mobile communication device, an installation permission corresponding to the full application; and

receiving the installation permission on the mobile communication device, wherein identifying the repository and installing the full application are based on receiving the installation permission.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein relocating the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtual preloaded application comprises relocating the interactive thumbnail image to an application tray.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an initial location of the full application icon associated with the full application; and

relocating the full application icon to the first location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a first virtually preloaded application location of the virtually preloaded application on the mobile communication device, wherein the first virtually preloaded application location comprises the location at which the virtually preloaded application is stored on the mobile communication device;

identifying an initial installation location of the full application; and

relocating the full application from the initial installation location to the first virtually preloaded application location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the virtually preloaded application from the mobile communication device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking interaction information for the virtually preloaded application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the interaction information comprises one or more of the selection frequency of the virtually preloaded application, movement of the virtually preloaded application by a user via a display of the mobile communication device, or the location of the virtually preloaded application at the time it was selected.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein installing the full application comprises presenting, via the display of the mobile communication device, instructions for performing the full install of the full application on the mobile communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtually preloaded application is configured to indicate that the virtually preloaded application has not been replaced by a fully installed application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtually preloaded application appears as less than full color before the full application is installed on the mobile device.

12. A method of virtually preloading an application on a mobile communication device, comprising:

receiving, by a server, a full application file;

identifying a unique application identifier, an application name, and an interactive thumbnail image associated with the full application file;

constructing, by the server for the mobile communication device, a virtual application corresponding to the full application file based on the unique application identifier, the application name, and the interactive thumbnail image, the virtual application being one of a plurality of virtual applications on the mobile communication device, wherein the virtual application is configured to be represented on a display of the mobile communication device by the interactive thumbnail image corresponding to the full application file, wherein the virtual application is stored under a name related to the application name, and wherein the virtual application identifies a repository comprising the full application file based on the unique application identifier;

prior to installation of the full application file on the mobile communication device, loading the virtual application onto the mobile communication device via the server such that the virtual application represents the full application file as being on the mobile communication device and the virtual application initiates installation of the full application file onto the mobile communication device from the repository in response to selection of the virtual application, wherein the virtual application has functionality independent of the full application that is available for installation on the mobile communication device;

in response to selection of the virtual application via the interactive thumbnail image, replacing, on the display of the mobile communication device, the interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtual application with a full application icon corresponding to the full application file; and

after a predetermined amount of time without one of the plurality of virtual applications being selected, prompting, by the one of the plurality of virtual applications, a user of the mobile communication device to install a corresponding full application associated with the one of the plurality of virtual applications.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein constructing the virtual application comprises suffixing the unique application identifier of the application file with a suffix configured to indicate a virtual application.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the virtual application is loaded as a part of an interface and applications pack downloaded to the mobile communication device.

15. A method of tracking an application installation on a mobile communication device via a virtually preloaded application, comprising:

receiving, on a mobile communication device, a selection of the virtually preloaded application that is loaded onto the mobile communication device, the virtually preloaded application being one of a plurality of virtually preloaded applications on the mobile communication device, wherein the virtually preloaded application corresponds to a full application that is not yet installed on the mobile communication device but is available for installation from a repository;

in response to the selection of the virtually preloaded application,

identifying, by the mobile communication device, the repository having the full application from a plurality of repositories based on the selection of the virtually preloaded application;

obtaining, by the mobile communication device, the full application by communicating with the repository;

installing, on the mobile communication device, the full application on the mobile communication device;

replacing, on the display of the mobile communication device, an interactive thumbnail image displayed by the virtual application with a full application icon corresponding to the full application;

tracking, by a tracking application on the mobile communication device, the selection of the virtually preloaded application and the installation of the full application on the mobile communication device; and

after a predetermined amount of time without one of the plurality of virtually preloaded applications being selected, prompting, by the one of the plurality of virtually preloaded applications, a user of the mobile communication device to install a corresponding full application associated with the one of the plurality of virtually preloaded applications.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a selection to activate the full application on the mobile communication device; and

tracking the selection to activate the full application.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a selection to delete at least one of the full application or the virtually preloaded application from the mobile communication device; and

tracking the selection to delete the at least one of the full application or the virtually preloaded application.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein tracking the at least one of the selection of the virtually preloaded application or the installation of the full application on the mobile communication device comprises:

recording the selection or installation; and

reporting the selection or installation to a mobile communication provider.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

activating the tracking application in response to receiving the selection of the virtually preloaded application.