Searching and accessing application functionality

• US 9,720,672 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2014
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Quixey, Inc.
• Inventors: Lipton, Julia, Fan, Cheng-Ruei, Shapira, Liron, Kagan, Tomer
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Chat
• Assistant Examiner(s): SLACHTA, DOUGLAS M
• Application Number:
  US14/572,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20150193546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a computing device, search results transmitted from a search system in communication with the computing device. The search results include a header for an application executable on the computing device and application access mechanisms associated with the header. Each application access mechanism has a reference to the application and indicates one or more performable operations for the application. The method further includes displaying, on a display in communication with the computing device, a graphical user interface including the header and user selectable access links grouped with the header. Each access link is associated with an application access mechanism for the application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device, search results based on a search query, wherein the search results are transmitted from a search system in communication with the mobile computing device, wherein the search results indicate a plurality of native applications installable and executable on the mobile computing device, wherein the search results include a plurality of groups of search results, wherein each group respectively corresponds to a different one of the native applications, and wherein each group of search results includes;

a header for the corresponding native application executable on the mobile computing device and a default application access mechanism associated with the header, wherein the header corresponds to a default state of the corresponding native application, and wherein the default application access mechanism is configured to, upon user selection of the header, at least one of (i) open the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device to the default state and (ii) download and install the corresponding native application onto the mobile computing device and subsequently open the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device to the default state; and

a group of two or more application access mechanisms, wherein each application access mechanism includes a reference to the corresponding native application and indicates one or more performable operations that cause the corresponding native application to enter an operating state, wherein each operating state of each application access mechanism different from the operating states of the other application access mechanisms, and wherein each operating state of each application access mechanism is independently based on the search query; and

displaying, on a display in communication with the mobile computing device, a graphical user interface including the plurality of groups of search results, wherein each of the plurality of groups is displayed in a visual region that is non-overlapping with others of the plurality of groups, and wherein each of the plurality of groups includes (i) the header and (ii) user selectable access links grouped with the header, wherein each access link is associated with each application access mechanism for the corresponding native application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the header comprises a name of the corresponding native application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the access links in an order under the header based on a score associated with each application access mechanism of each access link.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a search criteria through the graphical user interface;

generating, at the mobile computing device, a query wrapper including the search criteria;

transmitting the query wrapper from the mobile computing device to the search system;

receiving search results, at the mobile computing device, from the search system; and

displaying the search results on a display in communication with the mobile computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying in the graphical user interface a header link in the header indicating an installation state of the corresponding native application as being installed or uninstalled.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, in response to user selection of the header link:

in response to the installation state of the associated application being installed, executing the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device; and

in response to the installation state of the associated application being uninstalled, downloading the corresponding native application to non-transitory memory of the mobile computing device and executing the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying in the graphical user interface an ungrouped access link having an associated application access mechanism for an associated native application different from the corresponding native application of the header.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying in the graphical user interface an indicator in the ungrouped access link indicating an installation state of the associated native application as being installed or uninstalled.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising, in response to receiving a user selection of the ungrouped access link:

in response to the installation state of the associated native application being installed, executing the associated native application on the mobile computing device; and

in response to the installation state of the associated application being uninstalled, downloading the associated native application to non-transitory memory of the mobile computing device and executing the associated native application on the mobile computing device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising, in response to receiving a user selection of the ungrouped access link, in response to the installation state of the associated native application being uninstalled, executing a web browser on the mobile computing device and accessing functionality of the associated native application through the web browser.

11. A mobile computing device comprising:

a display;

a processing device in communication with the display; and

non-transitory memory in communication with the processing device, the non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when executed on the processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations including;

receiving search results based on a search query, wherein the search results are transmitted from a search system in communication with the mobile computing device, wherein the search results indicate a plurality of native applications installable and executable on the mobile computing device, wherein the search results include a plurality of groups of search results, wherein each group respectively corresponds to a different one of the native applications, and wherein each group of search results includes;

a header for the corresponding native application executable on the mobile computing device and a default application access mechanism associated with the header, wherein the header corresponds to a default state of the corresponding native application, and wherein the default application access mechanism is configured to, upon user selection of the header, at least one of (i) open the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device to the default state and (ii) download and install the corresponding native application onto the mobile computing device and subsequently open the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device to the default state; and

a group or two of more application access mechanisms, wherein each application access mechanism includes a reference to the corresponding native application and indicates one or more performable operations that cause the corresponding native application to enter an operating state, wherein each operating state of each application access mechanism is different from the operating states of the other application access mechanisms and wherein each operating state of each application access mechanism is independently based on the search query; and

displaying on the display a graphical user interface including the plurality of groups of search results, wherein each of the plurality of groups is displayed in a visual region that is non-overlapping with others of the plurality of groups, and wherein each of the plurality of groups includes (i) the header and (ii) user selectable access links grouped with the header, wherein each access link is associated with each application access mechanism for the corresponding native application.

12. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the header comprises a name of the corresponding native application.

13. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise displaying the access links in an order under the header based on a score associated with each application access mechanism of each access link.

14. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a search criteria through the graphical user interface;

generating, at the mobile computing device, a query wrapper including the search criteria;

transmitting the query wrapper from the mobile computing device to the search system;

receiving search results, at the mobile computing device, from the search system; and

displaying the search results on a display in communication with the mobile computing device.

15. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise displaying in the graphical user interface a header link in the header indicating an installation state of the corresponding native application as being installed or uninstalled.

16. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to user selection at the mobile computing device of the header displayed in the graphical user interface:

in response to the installation state of the associated application being installed, executing the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device; and

in response to the installation state of the associated application being uninstalled, downloading the corresponding native application to non-transitory memory in communication of the mobile computing device and executing the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device.

17. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise displaying in the graphical user interface an ungrouped access link having an associated application access mechanism for an associated native application different from the corresponding native application of the header.

18. The mobile computing device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise displaying in the graphical user interface an indicator in the ungrouped access link indicating an installation state of the associated native application as being installed or uninstalled.

19. The mobile computing device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to receiving a user selection at the mobile computing device of the ungrouped access link displayed in the graphical user interface:

in response to the installation state of the associated native application being installed, executing the associated native application on the mobile computing device; and

in response to the installation state of the associated application being uninstalled, downloading the associated native application to non-transitory memory of the mobile computing device and executing the associated native application on the mobile computing device.

20. The mobile computing device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to receiving a user selection at the mobile computing device of the ungrouped access link displayed in the graphical user interface, in response to the installation state of the associated native application being uninstalled, executing a web browser on the mobile computing device and accessing functionality of the associated native application through the web browser.

21. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device, a search criteria through a graphical user interface of the mobile computing device;

executing, using the mobile computing device, a search of a data store in communication with the mobile computing device using the search criteria;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, function records from the data store in response to the executed search, wherein the function records indicate a plurality of native applications installable and executable on the mobile computing device, and wherein each of the function records includes;

an application identifier;

an application access mechanism having a reference to the corresponding native application and indicating one or more performable operations for the corresponding native application to enter an operating state; and

application state information describing the operating state of the corresponding native application in response to the corresponding native application performing the one or more operations indicated in the application access mechanism;

grouping the function records, at the mobile computing device, based on the application identifiers, wherein each group of function records corresponds to a different one of the native application;

generating search results based on the grouped function records, wherein the search results include a plurality of groups of search results, wherein each group of search results respectively corresponds to a different one of the native applications, and wherein each group of search results includes;

a header that includes a default application access mechanism that links to a default state of the corresponding native application, and wherein the default application access mechanism is configured to, upon user selection of the header, at least one of (i) open the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device to the default state and (ii) download and install the corresponding native application onto the mobile computing device and subsequently open the corresponding native application on the mobile computing device to the default state; and

a plurality of application access mechanisms that link to other states of the respective application that are accessed from the default state, wherein each operating state of each application access mechanism is different from the operating states of the other application access mechanisms, and wherein each operating state of each application access mechanism is independently based on the search criteria; and

displaying search results on the graphical user interface.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising filtering the function records, at the mobile computing device, based on their application identifiers by limiting a number of function records per application identifier.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein executing the search comprises identifying function records of the data store based on matches between terms of the search criteria and terms of the application state information of the function records.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the search results comprise link data for each application access mechanism, the link data including at least one of text or an image associated with the state of the application referenced by the corresponding application access mechanism.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the application access mechanisms comprises a web address that in response to the web address being executed by the mobile computing device causes the mobile computing device to execute a web browser and access a web version of the native application referenced in the application access mechanism.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

scoring the function records based on a relevancy of the function record to the search criteria; and

ordering the function records based on their scores.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the scoring is based on the application state information of the function record.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the application access mechanisms comprises an application resource identifier referencing a native application, wherein the application resource identifier is in a format recognizable by the referenced native application and indicates one or more operations for the mobile computing device.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the application resource identifier comprises a domain name and a path to be used by the referenced native application to retrieve and display information.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the application access mechanism comprises instructions for at least one of a search application, an operating system, or the referenced native application in response to the instructions being executed on the mobile computing device.