Method and apparatus for updating application

• US 9,959,107 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2014
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Sunmin, Kim, Sangho, Moon, Boseok, Park, Jaehyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam, Tuan Q.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wei, Zheng
• Application Number:
  US14/319,935
• Publication Number:
  US 20150007157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for updating an application are provided. An electronic device activates an automatic update of an installed application, designates the application as one group of one or more groups distinguished according to an update period. The electronic device controls to update the application after a time point of an update period corresponding to the designated group.

Claims

1. A method of updating an application by an electronic device, the method comprising:

activating an automatic update of an application installed in the electronic device;

designating the application as one group of a plurality of groups based on at least one of a use frequency of the application and a use time of the application, which are determined based on a user interaction, which includes one of whether the user approaches a screen of the electronic device and whether the user interacts with the electronic device, detected by a sensor of the electronic device, each group of the plurality of groups corresponding to a different recurring update period;

receiving new version information of the application pushed from an update server;

controlling an update schedule such that the application is updated after a time point by filtering an update request event generated in response to reception of the new version information; and

postponing the automatic update of the application until the time point of the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group of the application and updating the application after the time point by transmitting the filtered update request of the application to the update server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein designating the application as the one group comprises at least one of:

detecting a use pattern of the application and designating the application as the one group of the plurality of groups based on the detected use pattern; and

designating the application as the one group of the plurality of groups based on a user input,

wherein the use pattern indicates at least one of the use frequency of the application and the use time of the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group can be changed through a user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the application comprises updating the application when an update condition is satisfied after the time point.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the update condition is at least one of a state where the electronic device is connected through WiFi, a state where the electronic device is being charged, a state where the electronic device is connected to a designated access point, and a state where the electronic device enters a designated time zone, and a state where the electronic device enters a time zone and the electronic device is not used for a long time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein designating the application as the one group comprises:

driving a timer for identifying an update time point of the application,

wherein the timer expires when the timer has a value equal to the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group, and the time point of the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group is a time point when the timer expires.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the application comprises:

transmitting a version information request of the application to an update server after the time point of the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group; and

receiving version information of the application from the update server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

activating a manual update of the application installed in the electronic device;

limiting a data capacity allocated to the manual application update to a predetermined capacity in a memory of the electronic device;

updating the application based on a user'"'"'s command; and

providing a notification when the data capacity allocated to the manual application update is exceeded during the manual application update based on the user'"'"'s command or when an update file exceeds a remaining update allocation space.

9. An electronic device updating an application, the electronic device comprising:

memory for storing an application designated as one group of a plurality of groups based on at least one of a use frequency of the application and a use time of the application, which are determined based on a user interaction, which includes one of whether the user approaches a screen of the electronic device and whether the user interacts with the electronic device, detected by a sensor of the electronic device, each group of the plurality of groups corresponding to a different recurring update period;

a communication unit configured to receive new version information of the application pushed from an update server, and to transmit an update request of the application to the update server; and

a controller configured to control to activate an automatic update of the application, to control to filter the update request generated in response to reception of the new version information, and to control to transmit the filtered update request after a time point of the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group of the application, in response to receiving the new version information.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the controller detects a use pattern of the application and designates the application as the one group of the plurality of groups based on the detected use pattern or based on a user input, and

wherein the use pattern indicates at least one of the use frequency of the application and the use time of the application.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group can be changed through a user interface.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to control to transmit the update request when an update condition is satisfied after the time point.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the update condition is at least one of a state where the electronic device is connected through WiFi, a state where the electronic device is being charged, a state where the electronic device is connected to a designated access point, and a state where the electronic device enters a designated time zone, and a state where the electronic device enters a time zone and the electronic device is not used for a long time.

14. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to drive a timer for identifying an update time point of the application when the application is designated as the one group of the plurality of groups, the timer expires when the timer has a value equal to the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group, and the time point of the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group is a time point when the timer expires.

15. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein, before the time point of the recurring update period corresponding to the designated group, the controller is configured to control an update schedule such that the application is updated after the time point by filtering an update request event generated in response to reception of the new version information.

16. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to activate a manual update of the application installed in the electronic device, limit a data capacity allocated to the manual application update to a predetermined capacity in the memory of the electronic device, and, when the application is updated based on a user'"'"'s command, providing a notification if the data capacity allocated to the manual application update is exceeded during the manual application update based on the user'"'"'s command or an update file exceeds a remaining update allocation space.

17. A method of updating an application by an electronic device, the method comprising:

identifying at least one of a use frequency of an application installed in the electronic device and a use time of the application, which are determined based on a user interaction, which includes one of whether the user approaches a screen of the electronic device and whether the user interacts with the electronic device, detected by a sensor of the electronic device;

designating a recurring update period of the application based on at least one of the use frequency of the application and the use time of the application;

receiving new version information of the application pushed from an update server;

controlling an update schedule such that the application is updated until a time point of the designated recurring update period by filtering an update request generated in response to reception of the new version information; and

transmitting the filtered update request of the application to the update server until the time point of the designated recurring update period, in response to reception of the new version information.

18. An electronic device updating an application, the electronic device comprising:

a memory for storing a recurring update period of the application;

a communication unit configured to receive new version information of the application pushed from an update server; and

controller configured to designate the recurring update period based on at least one of a use frequency of the application and a use time of the application, which are determined based on a user interaction, which includes one of whether the user approaches a screen of the electronic device and whether the user interacts with the electronic device, detected by a sensor of the electronic device, to control to filter the update request generated in response to reception of the new version information, and to control to transmit the filtered update request of the application to the update server after a time point of the recurring update period, in response to receiving the new version information.