Systems and methods for creating integrated applications for electronic devices

• US 9,753,702 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2011
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roovy, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Roovy, Inc.
• Inventors: Hershenson, Paul, Opferkuch, John Michael, Barman, Touradj
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Li B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lin, Hui-Wen
• Application Number:
  US13/279,300
• Publication Number:
  US 20120117534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,144 Days
• Field of Search: 717105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

The present technology relates to providing application users methods and systems for dynamically loading an entire application, or a portion of another application, within a currently operating application without having to (a) exit that first application or (b) download the executable code for the other application or part of the other application. For example, in one embodiment, a method of making a mobile application includes: providing a content layout of the mobile application; receiving content to populate the content layout of the mobile application; and providing an executable framework that matches the content to the content layout to render the mobile application.

Claims

1. A method of making a mobile app publishable to an app store, the method comprising:

providing a collection of modules from which a user creates a content and functionality layout for the mobile app, wherein each module describes a different mobile app content or functionality component and includes one or more structured sets of content or functionality preferences;

receiving user provided content and module layout preferences to populate the content and functionality layout of the mobile app, wherein the content and functionality layout and content are stored on a server and collectively described by one or more structured data files;

providing an executable framework that is independent from the distribution network on a smart mobile device and that is configured to receive and interpret the one or more structured data files and execute the one or more structured data files to render the mobile app having a user interface and operating independent of a web browser;

coupling the structured data file to the executable framework to render the mobile app, wherein rendering the mobile app includes the executable framework (1) receiving the content layout as a first-in first-out stack, which allows layouts to be nested, (2) serializing the content layout into a platform specific format, and (3) populating the user interface from the content layout to form a complete app; and

publishing the mobile app to an app store, wherein the mobile app is preloaded with the latest version of the structured data file available when it is published to the app store.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the structured data file is in JavaScript Object notation (JSON) format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the executable framework is configured to ingest the structured data file and render the mobile app.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the executable framework determines if the structured data file is the most current version by reading a timestamp of the structured data file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content layout is provided via a graphic user interface, which is configured to allow users to select the content layout via graphical representations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is displayable to the user in the mobile app prior to publishing the mobile app.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the structured data files describe one or more of the following:

the name of an app, the description of the app, the layout characteristics of the app, the color scheme of the app, and the like.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules include one or more of the following:

web content, news feeds, images, audio playback, artist profiles, discography, global positioning system (“

GPS”

)-based locations, location search, video listing and playback.

9. A system for building a mobile app for use on a mobile device and publishable to an app store, the system comprising:

a first server having s a processor and a memory for storing one or more structured data files, the one or more structured data files defining one or more modules, wherein each module describes a different mobile app component;

a computing device comprising a processor, a memory, a user interface and an executable framework, wherein the user interface is configured for presenting the one or more modules to a user, wherein the user is able to select one or more modules from the user interface to create a content and functionality layout for the mobile app and populate user provided content and functionality into the one or more modules stored on the first server, and wherein the content and functionality is displayable to the user in the mobile app independent of a web browser and each module includes one or more structured sets of content,

and wherein the executable framework is configured for receiving the one or more structured data files and executing the one or more structured data files to render the mobile app, wherein rendering the mobile app includes the executable framework (1) receiving the content layout as a first-in first-out stack, which allows layouts to be nested, (2) serializing the content layout into a platform specific format, and (3) populating the user interface from the content layout to form a complete app

and

wherein a published mobile app is rendered by coupling the structured data file to the executable framework, wherein the mobile app is preloaded with the latest version of the structured data file available when it is published to the app store; and

a second server having a processor and a memory for storing the published mobile app.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the structured data files describe one or more of the following:

the name of an app, the description of the app, the layout characteristics of the app, the color scheme of the app, and the like.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more modules include one or more of the following:

web content, news feeds, images, audio playback, artist profiles, discography, global positioning system (“

GPS”

)-based locations, location search, video listing and playback.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the user selects the one or more modules by clicking on or dragging the one or more modules into a mobile app template presented on the user interface.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the user populates content into the modules by entering content into the structured data files.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the executable framework matches the content to the modules to render the mobile app.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the executable framework determines if the structured data file is the most current version by comparing a timestamp of the structured data file used to create the mobile app with the timestamp of the structured data file stored on the server.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the second server comprises an app store.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the published mobile app includes the user provided content as viewable content.