IDENTIFYING REPUTATION AND TRUST INFORMATION FOR SOFTWARE

• US 20100058468A1
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Green, Mitch, Lynch, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,135,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products identify trust and reputation information for an application. Status information including installation information and/or rating information corresponding to a software application is stored in a service or in a local computer cache. A software application is identified as corresponding to the status information, and the installation information and/or rating information is presented to a user prior to installation, launch, and/or update of the software application. Using the status information the user can make an informed decision on whether the user will trust the software application to permit the installation, launch, and/or update to occur.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a computer and from a service, status information corresponding to a software application, the status information comprising rating information or installation information;

updating a local cache, retained by the computer, with the status information received from the service;

generating an identifier for a software application;

using the identifier for the software application to identify status information; and

presenting a notification when the status information is identified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the installation information comprises a number of prior installations of the software application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the status information comprises installation information, and wherein presenting a notification comprises:

presenting a warning user interface indicating the number of prior installations of the software application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rating information comprises a rating provided by an administrator of the service or an average rating of the application based on a plurality of user ratings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the status information comprises both rating information and installation information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein checking is in response to a request to install the application.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

requesting instructions whether to proceed with the installation of the software application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the status information, updating the local cache, generating the identifier, checking the identifier, and presenting a notification are each performed by a cross-platform runtime environment in which the software application runs.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the identifier for the software application comprises generating an identifier corresponding to a software component of the software application when the software application is updated on the computer by addition of the software component.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein checking the identifier comprises checking the identifier for the software application against the status information in the local cache retained by the computer and against new status information obtained from the service.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the installation information comprises a number of prior installations of the software application.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the status information comprises installation information, and wherein presenting a notification comprises:

presenting a warning user interface to the user indicating the number of prior installations of the software application.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the rating information comprises a rating provided by an administrator of the service or an average rating of the application based on a plurality of user ratings.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the status information comprises both rating information and installation information.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein checking is in response to a request to install the application.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer program product is further operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

requesting instructions whether to proceed with the installation of the software application.

11. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a computer and from a service, status information corresponding to a software application, the status information comprising rating information or installation information;

updating a local cache, retained by the computer, with the status information received from the service;

generating an identifier for a software application;

checking the identifier for the software application against the status information; and

presenting a notification when a match is found during the checking.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein receiving the status information, updating the local cache, generating the identifier, checking the identifier, and notifying the user are each performed by a cross-platform runtime environment in which the software application runs.

19. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein generating the identifier for the software application comprises generating an identifier corresponding to a software component of the software application when the software application is updated on the computer by addition of the software component.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein checking the identifier comprises checking the identifier for the software application against the status information in the local cache retained by the computer and against new status information obtained from the service.

21. A system comprising:

a service; and

a computer operable to interact with a user interface device and operable to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at a computer and from a service, status information corresponding to a software application, the status information comprising rating information or installation information;

updating a local cache, retained by the computer, with the status information received from the service;

generating an identifier for a software application;

checking the identifier for the software application against the status information; and

presenting a notification when a match is found during the checking.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer comprises a portion of a computing device including the user interface device.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the computing device comprises a mobile phone.

24. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to install an application;

in response to the request, generating an identifier for the application;

using the identifier to identify status information received from a service, the status information comprising installation information or rating information for the application; and

presenting a notification when the status information is identified.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the installation information comprises a number of prior installations of the application.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the status information comprises installation information, and wherein presenting a notification comprises:

presenting a warning user interface indicating the number of prior installations of the software application.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the rating information comprises a rating provided by an administrator of the service or an average rating of the application based on a plurality of user ratings.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the status information comprises both rating information and installation information.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

requesting instructions whether to proceed with the installation of the application.

30. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing, at a server, status information comprising rating information or installation information for one or more software applications;

receiving, at the server, a request from a client, where the request;

identifies a first application; and

is initiated at the client in response to an attempt to install the first application; and

sending the client status information corresponding to the first application.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the installation information comprises a number of prior installations of the application.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

collecting rating information or installation information.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

updating the status information.

34. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving, from the client, information identifying that the first application has been installed at the client.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the rating information comprises a rating provided by an administrator associated with the server.