Context aware application model for connected devices

• US 8,813,060 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2011
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tewari, Ritwik, Fortier, Dominique
• Primary Examiner(s): DAO, THUY CHAN
• Application Number:
  US13/162,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20120324434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

An application management system is described herein that uses context information based on what the user is currently doing and what platform the user is using to determine which applications to offer to a user and to affect behavior of applications that the user invokes. The system provides a hardware/software driven policy manager coupled with context data in an application manifest to provide for device- and situation-specific application modes. Such a model leverages device-specific dynamics to create context aware installation, cataloging, management, interaction, and uninstallation of applications, hence providing better user engagement and experience. Thus, the application management system makes it easier for users to find relevant applications, configures applications to work well on the user'"'"'s present device, and makes application experiences more relevant to what the user is currently doing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to search for applications considering contextual input information, the method comprising:

receiving contextual information that is related to a computing device and an activity that a user is engaged in;

accessing application manifest information for applications available from an application catalog;

accessing policy information that determines how to match accessed application manifest information to the received contextual information related to the device and user;

identifying one or more applications with manifest data that matches a currently detected context based on the accessed policy information;

ranking identified applications higher than other applications in the application catalog; and

displaying applications to the user based on the modified ranking produced by considering contextual information,

wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving contextual information comprises receiving information from an event subsystem that notifies the system as new context information is available.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving contextual information comprises receiving information from hardware or software components.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving contextual information comprises receiving capability information of the computing device for installing and automatically configuring the application to run on the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing application manifest information comprises information describing a purpose of the application and one or more contextual associations that are related to the application.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing application manifest information comprises invoking an application-programming interface (API) through which the system can query the application manifest information.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing policy information comprises receiving privacy policies that protect user information, organizational policies related to device compliance with legal or other regulations, or preferences of an administrator or user for handling contextual information during the process of searching for applications.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing policy information comprises receiving default policy information if no more specific policy is available.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying applications comprises searching for contextual associations of applications that match the detected user or device contextual information.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein ranking applications higher comprises applying a weighting to applications and weighting applications with a contextual relationship to the current context higher than other applications.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying applications comprises helping the user to find applications in a potentially very large application catalog that are most relevant to the user at the current time, based either on the device the user is using to access the catalog, an activity the user is engaged in, or both.

12. A computer system for context aware application model for connected devices, the system comprising:

a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions embodied within the following components;

an application data store that provides a repository of applications from which a user can select applications to install on the user'"'"'s computing device;

a context-detecting component that detects context information related to the computing device and one or more activities that the user is performing on the device;

an application manifest component that accesses and stores application manifest information associated with an application that describes contextual associations associated with the application;

an application identification component that identifies one or more applications for the user to install based on the detected user context information and the stored application manifest information;

an application installation component that installs a selected application and configures the application based on detected context information related to the computing device;

an application behavior component that modifies application behavior at run time based on detected context information; and

a user interface component that provides a user interface through which the user or an application developer can interact with the system to configure how context information is used.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the application data store includes contextual tags associated with each application that help users find the application in one or more contexts.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the context detecting component provides an event subsystem whereby one or more hardware or software components can indicate context information that may be relevant to applications.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the application manifest component stores one or more contextual tags with which context information from a requesting device can be matched to identify contextually relevant applications.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the application installation component communicates specific hardware, input paradigms, output paradigms, and platform expectations to newly installed applications.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the user interface component receives application metadata from an application developer that specifies a purpose of the application and contextual associations related to the application for storage in an application catalog.

18. A computer-readable storage memory comprising instructions for controlling a computer system to provide context aware application model for a computing device, wherein the instructions, upon execution, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:

providing a repository from which a user can select applications to install on the user'"'"'s computing device;

detecting context information related to the computing device and one or more activities that the user is performing on the device;

accessing stored application manifest information associated with an application that describes contextual associations associated with the application;

identifying one or more applications for the user to install based on the detected user context information and the stored application manifest information;

installing a selected application and configures the application based on detected context information related to the computing device;

modifying application behavior at run time based on detected context information; and

providing a user interface through which the user or an application developer can interact with the system to configure how context information is used.

19. The memory of claim 18 wherein modifying application behavior at run time based on detected context information comprises displaying information related to a content item the user is viewing on a set top box running the application.

20. The memory of claim 18 wherein modifying application behavior at run time based on detected context information comprises selecting a voice-based user interface upon detecting that the application is running in an automotive computing device.