Managing applications on an electronic device

• US 9,654,556 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Razer (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd. (Razer Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Razer (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd. (Razer Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chan, Michael A, Chu, Brian, Jain, Aanchal, Quan, Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): SCOTT, RANDY A
• Application Number:
  US14/840,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373107A1
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

An electronic device may offload an application to a network storage to free up storage on the electronic device. For instance, an application file and, in some cases, associated application data and/or saved application state information may be stored at the network storage and deleted from the electronic device. Subsequently, a data management module may receive an instruction to onload the application back onto the electronic device, such as in response to a user input that selects the offloaded application, a determination that an upcoming activity may include use of the offloaded application, or a determination that a user usage pattern indicates that the offloaded application is likely to be used. In response, the data management module may download the corresponding application file from the network storage. In some cases, the electronic device may also receive associated application data and/or saved application state information from the network storage.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to;

save at least one of application state information or application data obtained, at least in part, from execution of an application on the electronic device;

offload the application from the electronic device;

send an application file associated with the application from the electronic device to a computing device over a network;

send a request to the computing device for the application file;

receive the application file from the computing device;

onload the application on the electronic device; and

configure the application for execution on the electronic device with at least one of the application state information or the application data,

wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to onload the application by reinstalling the application onto the electronic device, wherein the reinstalling retains the at least one of the saved application state information or the saved application data saved on the electronic device.

2. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to send the request to the computing device for the application file in response to at least one of:

receipt of a user input that selects an application representation corresponding to the offloaded application;

a determination of an upcoming event that is likely to include use of the offloaded application;

a determination that a user usage pattern indicates that the offloaded application is likely to be used within a threshold time;

or

receipt of an application notification from execution of the application file on an emulator.

3. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to offload the application from the electronic device by:

sending an application file corresponding to the application from the electronic device to the computing device; and

deleting the application file from the electronic device.

4. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

prior to saving the at least one of the application state information or the application data, install the application on the electronic device using a first application file installable on the electronic device;

offload the application by uninstalling the application from the electronic device to obtain a second application file installable on the electronic device, wherein the second application file omits at least one element included in the first application file, wherein the at least one element is useable with a type of device different from the electronic device; and

send the second application file as the application file sent to the computing device.

5. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to maintain metadata for the uninstalled application on the electronic device, the metadata including at least an application representation icon corresponding to the application and an identifier of the application.

6. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to select the application for offloading to the computing device based at least in part on at least one of:

an amount of time since the application was last accessed on the electronic device;

a frequency with which the application was accessed over a period of time;

an amount of storage space consumed by the application;

or

an amount of available storage space remaining on the electronic device.

7. A method comprising:

presenting an application launcher user interface (UI) on a display associated with an electronic device, the application launcher UI including a first application representation corresponding to an application offloaded from the electronic device, and a second application representation corresponding to an other application onloaded to the electronic device;

receiving, by one or more processors of the electronic device, inputs from at least one of;

a calendar, a sensor on the electronic device, a user input, or information about prior user activities;

determining an upcoming event based at least in part on the plurality of inputs;

determining an offloaded application to onload onto the electronic device for the event;

sending a request to a computing device for an application file of the application to onload onto the electronic device;

receiving the application file from the computing device; and

configuring the application for execution on the electronic device with saved application state information saved prior to offloading of the application.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising offloading another application from the electronic device by at least one of uninstalling the other application or deleting an application file corresponding to the other application, and sending the application file corresponding to the other application to the computing device.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising offloading the other application from the electronic device based at least in part on at least one of:

an amount of time since the other application was last accessed on the electronic device;

a frequency with which the other application was accessed over a period of time;

an amount of storage space consumed by the other application file;

or

an amount of available storage space remaining on the electronic device.

10. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising, prior to executing the application, reinstalling the application on the electronic device.

11. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising receiving, from the computing device, at least one of:

the saved application state information;

or

application data saved prior to offloading of the application.

12. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the saved application state information includes at least one of:

a value for a variable used by the application on the electronic device;

a value saved for an application setting set on the electronic device;

a graphic user interface configuration saved on the electronic device;

or

a value for a user input received on the electronic device.

13. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to;

receive an application file from an electronic device;

execute an application corresponding to the application file using an emulator, wherein the emulator emulates, at least in part, execution of the application on the electronic device;

receive application information from the application executing on the emulator; and

send the application information to the electronic device,

wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to;

receive a request from the electronic device for the application file;

cease execution of the application file by the emulator; and

send, to the electronic device, the application file.

14. The computing device as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive, from the electronic device, at least one of;

application data saved from execution of the application on the electronic device;

or

application state information, the application state information indicating a state of the application executed on the electronic device; and

configure the application on the emulator based on at least one of the application data or the application state information.

15. The computing device as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

compare an identifier associated with the application file with a list of application files to be executed on the emulator; and

execute the application file using emulator based at least in part on determining a match between the list and the identifier.

16. The computing device as recited in claim 13, wherein the application information is an application notification and the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive, as a result of execution of the application file on the emulator, a communication corresponding to the application notification from a remote computing device; and

send the application notification to the electronic device for presentation on the electronic device.

17. The computing device as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to send to the electronic device at least one of:

application data generated at least in part by execution of the application file on the emulator;

or

application state information saved from execution of the application file on the emulator.