INSTALLING APPLICATIONS BASED ON A SEED APPLICATION FROM A SEPARATE DEVICE

• US 20130124619A1
• Filed: 12/03/2012
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Steakley, Edward D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,732,238 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for synchronizing applications between devices. The method displays, on a sharing device, a list of one or more applications which are available to share with other devices, and receives a selection, at the sharing device, of an application to share with a receiving device from the list of applications. The method then determines by the sharing device, sharing preferences of the selected application, creates an application package at the sharing device, based on the sharing preferences, and establishes a network connection from the sharing device to the receiving device. The system transmits the application package from the sharing device to the receiving device via the network connection.

Claims

1-42. -42. (canceled)

42. A computer-implemented method of sharing an application between a sharing device and a receiving device, the method comprising:

displaying, on a sharing device, a list of one or more applications which are available to share with other devices;

receiving a selection, at the sharing device, of an application to share with a receiving device from the list of applications;

creating an application package at the sharing device based on the sharing preferences associated with the selected application, wherein the application package comprises metadata associated with the selected application;

transmitting the application package from the sharing device to the receiving device via a network connection;

generating a transaction record; and

transmitting the transaction record from the sharing device to a remote server.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of a full copy of the selected application, a limited copy of the selected application, or an application seed.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the application seed uniquely identifies the selected application on the remote server, wherein the receiving device can retrieve a copy of the application from the remote server based on the application package.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the transaction record includes an application ID for the selected application.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the transaction record includes at least one of a user account id for the sharing device and a user account id for the receiving device.

47. The method of claim 42, wherein the transaction record includes information related to the total number of application packages transmitted from the sharing device.

48. The method of claim 42, the method further comprising receiving at the sharing device an acknowledgment from the receiving device that the application package transmitted successfully.

49. The method of claim 42, the method further comprising transmitting the transaction record from the sharing device to the receiving device.

50. The method of claim 42, the method further comprising storing the transaction record in a storage area on the sharing device.

51. The method of claim 42, the method further comprising receiving by the sharing device a device identifier for the receiving device.

52. The method of claim 42, wherein the application package comprises an application seed ID and a graphic image representing the selected application.

53. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a sharing device, causes the sharing device to perform a method comprising:

displaying a list of one or more applications which are available to share with other devices;

receiving a selection of an application to share with a receiving device from the list of applications;

creating an application package based on the sharing preferences associated with the selected application, wherein the application package comprises metadata associated with the selected application;

transmitting the application package from the sharing device to the receiving device via a network connection;

generating a transaction record; and

transmitting the transaction record from the sharing device to a remote server.

54. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of a full copy of the selected application, a limited copy of the selected application, or an application seed.

55. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the application seed uniquely identifies the selected application on the remote server, wherein the receiving device can retrieve a copy of the application from the remote server based on the application package.

56. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the transaction record includes an application ID for the selected application.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the transaction record includes at least one of a user account id for the sharing device and a user account id for the receiving device.

58. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the transaction record includes information related to the total number of application packages transmitted from the sharing device.

59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the method further comprises receiving at the sharing device an acknowledgment from the receiving device that the application package transmitted successfully.

60. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the transaction record from the sharing device to the receiving device.

61. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the method further comprises storing the transaction record in a storage area on the sharing device

62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the method further comprises receiving by the sharing device a device identifier for the receiving device.

63. A system for sharing an application, the system comprising:

a sharing device, the sharing device configured to

display a list of one or more applications which are available to share with other devices,

receiving a selection of an application to share with another device from the list of applications,

create an application package based on the sharing preferences associated with the selected application, wherein the application package comprises metadata associated with the selected application,

transmit the application package to another device via a network connection,

generate a transaction record, and

transmit the transaction record to a remote server;

a receiving device, the receiving device configured

to receive the application package via the network connection, and

responsive to receiving the application message, to install a full copy of the selected application or a limited copy of the selected application; and

a remote server, the remote server configured to receive the transaction record from the sharing device.