Techniques for efficient access of software application functionality in search

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10296641-B2
Application number	US-201514685739-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2015
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	May 21, 2019
Grant date	May 21, 2019

Abstract

Techniques include transmitting a search query to a search system and receiving search results from the search system. The search results include an application access mechanism (AAM) that specifies a native application state and an application download address (ADA) that indicates a location for downloading the application. The search results also include preview data associated with the state and/or a web access mechanism (WAM) that specifies a web-based application state. The techniques further include generating a selectable link including the AAM, ADA, and one or both of the preview data and WAM, displaying the link, and receiving a user selection of the link. The techniques also include, in response to receiving the user selection, performing one or more of downloading, installing, and launching the native application, and setting the application into the state, displaying the preview data, and launching the web-based application, and setting the application into the web state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
transmitting a search query to an external search system configured to generate search results in response to a received search query;
receiving search results from the external search system in response to transmitting the search query, the search results including at least one application access mechanism (AAM) each specifying an application state of a native application, at least one application download address (ADA) each indicating a location at which the native application may be downloaded, and at least one web access mechanism (WAM) each specifying a web application state of a web-based application, the at least one AAM being selected by the external search system from among a set of function records identified by the external search system based on the search query;
generating at least one user selectable link each including at least part of the at least one AAM, the at least one ADA, and the at least one WAM received from the external search system;
displaying the at least one user selectable link;
receiving a user selection on a first user selectable link of the at least one user selectable link; and
in response to receiving the user selection, downloading a native application corresponding to the first user selectable link using an ADA corresponding to the first user selectable link, installing the native application corresponding to the first user selectable link, launching the native application corresponding to the first user selectable link, and setting the native application corresponding to the first user selectable link into an application state specified by an AAM corresponding to the first user selectable link.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one AAM references the native application and indicates one or more operations for the native application to perform,
wherein the native application performing the one or more operations sets the native application into the application state,
wherein the at least one WAM references the web-based application and indicates one or more operations for the web-based application to perform, and
wherein the web-based application performing the one or more operations sets the web-based application into the web application state.

3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the web-based application comprises a web version of the native application, and
wherein the web application state of the web-based application corresponds to the application state of the native application.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the user selection, determining whether to download, install, and launch the native application and set the native application into the application state, or launch the web-based application and set the web-based application into the web application state,
wherein the downloading, installing, and launching of the native application and setting the native application into the application state, or the launching of the web-based application and setting the web-based application into the web application state comprises:
downloading, installing, and launching the native application and setting the native application into the application state based on the determination, or
launching the web-based application and setting the web-based application into the web application state based on the determination.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving a user input,
wherein the determining of whether to download, install, and launch the native application and set the native application into the application state, or launch the web-based application and set the web-based application into the web application state comprises determining based on the user input.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining of whether to download, install, and launch the native application and set the native application into the application state, or launch the web-based application and set the web-based application into the web application state comprises determining based on one or more of a size of the native application, bandwidth and quality of a data connection used to download the native application, an amount of memory resources and an amount of processing resources available for one or more of downloading, installing, and launching the native application and setting the native application into the application state, or a number of native applications referenced by AAMs included in the search results that are not installed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user input,
wherein the downloading, installing, and launching of the native application and setting the native application into the application state comprises, in response to receiving the user input, downloading, installing, and launching the native application and setting the native application into the application state.

8. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein the user selection comprises a first user selection on the first user selectable link, and
wherein the downloading, installing, and launching of the native application and setting the native application into the application state comprises:
in response to receiving the first user selection, accessing the location indicated by the ADA corresponding to the first user selectable link;
displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the location, the GUI including a second user selectable link that is different from the first user selectable link, the user input comprising a second user selection of the second user selectable link that is different from the first user selection; and
in response to receiving the second user selection, downloading the native application from the location, installing the native application, launching the native application, and setting the native application into the application state corresponding to the second user selectable link.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the downloading, installing, and launching of the native application and setting the native application into the application state comprises:
in response to receiving the user selection, downloading the native application from the location and installing the native application; and
in response to receiving the user input, launching the native application and setting the native application into the application state.

10. The method of claim 9 ,
wherein the user selection comprises a first user selection on the first user selectable link, and
wherein the launching of the native application and setting the native application into the application state in response to receiving the user input comprises:
generating a second user selectable link that is different from the first use selectable link, the second user selectable link including the AAM corresponding to the second user selectable link;
displaying the second user selectable link, the user input comprising a second user selection of the second user selectable link that is different from the first user selection; and
in response to receiving the second user selection, launching the native application and setting the native application into the application state corresponding to the second user selectable link.

11. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the at least one AAM comprises a first AAM,
wherein the search results further include a second AAM that is different from the first AAM,
wherein the first and second AAMs reference different editions of the native application,
wherein the method further comprises determining that the first AAM references the edition of the native application downloaded from the location indicated

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sogani Shravan
• Shapira Liron
• Glover Eric J

Classifications

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

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

• G06Q30/0251

  Targeted advertisements · CPC title

• G06Q10/02

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title