Method and system for providing menu data for mobile applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10088980-B2
Application number	US-201514882043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2015
Priority date	Sep 29, 2012
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A menu application provides an integrated interface for launching multiple mobile applications from a dynamically configurable menu. Each of the mobile applications is associated with a servlet that provides the application's menu data to the menu application. The servlet may query design-time data and application run-time data to generate the menu data for the application. Additionally, the set of applications included by the menu application in a menu list may be based on a user authorization level, such that the menu list only includes applications that the user is authorized to access.

First claim

We claim:

1. A processor implemented method for obtaining and providing menu data for a mobile application, comprising:
accessing a list of mobile applications located on an application server;
selecting a mobile application from the list of mobile applications;
receiving a request from a menu application for menu data pertaining to the mobile application;
querying the mobile application for design-time menu data, wherein the design-time menu data pertains to a design-time version of the menu data;
querying the associated mobile application for run-time menu data, wherein the run-time menu data pertains to a run-time version of the menu data;
combining the design-time menu data with the run-time menu data;
modifying the menu data in response to the run-time menu data taking precedence over the design-time menu data; and
providing the combined menu data to the menu application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a servlet associated with the mobile application.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising using the servlet to query the mobile application to determine the menu data for presentation on a menu of the mobile application.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the servlet comprises descriptions and launch information pertaining to the mobile application.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, presenting the list of mobile applications according to an application identifier (ID).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu data comprises a translation bundle providing translations to the mobile application.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein combining the design-time menu data with the run-time menu data is performed by a servlet.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying the mobile application for design-time menu data is performed by a servlet.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying the mobile application for run-time menu data is performed by a servlet.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
wherein accessing the list of mobile applications located on the application server includes querying a database using a web service;
wherein at least some of the mobile applications perform different functions;
wherein the list of mobile applications is kept in a plurality of formats including a single text file separated by commas, or newlines, or a data structure including a Java language configuration file;
determining a user authentication;
determining the list of mobile applications according to the user authentication;
accessing a servlet associated with the mobile application, wherein the servlet comprises descriptions and launch information associated with the mobile application;
determining a servlet class code associated with the servlet;
querying the mobile application with the servlet to determine details to present on a menu of the mobile application including a URL, a launch address, icons, translated name, descriptions, tooltips, animations, layout, color, shape, audio, translations, or application identifier of the mobile application;
wherein combining the design-time menu data with the run-time menu data is performed by the servlet;
wherein the servlet queries the mobile application to determine the run-time menu data;
wherein the servlet obtains run-time information directly from the mobile application;
wherein the servlet generates the menu data and provides the menu data to the mobile application;
wherein the mobile application is configured to expose multiple icons, text styles, or controls for use with a mobile device;
importing a shared library;
creating a configuration file having details specific to the mobile application;
exposing information for an instantiation of the servlet in a file; and
wherein the list of mobile applications include a specific strings pertaining to a root context of each of the mobile applications.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions executable by a digital processor, the computer-readable medium including one or more instructions for:
accessing a list of mobile applications located on an application server;
selecting a mobile application from the list of mobile applications;
receiving a request from a menu application for menu data pertaining to the mobile application;
querying the mobile application for design-time menu data, wherein the design-time menu data pertains to a design-time version of the menu data;
querying the mobile application for run-time menu data, wherein the run-time menu data pertains to a run-time version of the menu data;
combining the design-time menu data with the run-time menu data;
modifying the menu data in response to the run-time menu data taking precedence over the design-time menu data; and
providing the combined menu data to the menu application.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising determining a servlet associated with the mobile application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising using the servlet to query the mobile application to determine the menu data for presentation on a menu of the mobile application.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the servlet comprises descriptions and launch information pertaining to the mobile application.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising, presenting the list of mobile applications according to an application identifier (ID).

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the menu data comprises a translation bundle providing translations to the mobile application.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein combining the design-time menu data with the run-time menu data is performed by a servlet.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein querying the mobile application for design-time menu data is performed by a servlet.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein querying the mobile application for run-time menu data is performed by a servlet.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising:
wherein accessing the list of mobile applications located on the application server includes querying a database using a web service;
wherein at least some of the mobile applications perform different functions;
wherein the list of mobile applications is kept in a plurality of formats including a single text file separated by commas, or newlines, or a data structure including a Java language configuration file;
determining a user authentication;
determining the list of mobile applications according to the user authentication;
accessing a servlet associated with the mobile application, wherein the servlet comprises descriptions and launch information associated with the mobile application;
determining a servlet class code associated with the servlet;
querying the mobile application with the servlet to determine details to present on a menu of the mobile application including a URL, a launch address, icons, translated name, descriptions, tooltips, animations, layout, color, shape, audio, translations, or application identifier of the mobile application;
wherein combining the design-time menu data with the run-time menu data is performed by the servlet;
wherein the servlet queries the mobile application to determine the run-time menu data;
wherein the servlet obtains run-time inf

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Laurent Nicole
• Johnson Mark A

Classifications

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06F21/128

  involving web programs, i.e. using technology especially used in internet, generally interacting with a web browser, e.g. hypertext markup language [HTML], applets, java · CPC title

• G06F8/38

  for implementing user interfaces · CPC title

• G06F2221/2113

  Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control · CPC title

• G06F3/0482 Primary

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title