Enhanced feature vector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10367916-B2
Application number	US-201414587821-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 31, 2014
Priority date	Sep 12, 2014
Publication date	Jul 30, 2019
Grant date	Jul 30, 2019

Abstract

The number, popularity, sophistication, etc. of mobile applications have grown dramatically with the rise of smartphones, tablets, and other such devices. Alternatives to native application development, including approaches such as hybrid application development which may employ among other things a container paradigm, inter alia address various of the drawbacks associated with native application development. A flexible, extensible, and dynamically configurable Feature Vector (FV) facility addresses one challenge with approaches such as hybrid application development—controlling an application's access to features (e.g., functions, methods, resources, etc.) and the efficient administration, management, etc. same.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling access by an application to features on a client device, the method comprising:
receiving, from a server, a Feature Vector (FV) that particularly corresponds to the application, the FV listing one or more of the features on the client device that are to be unavailable to the application while the application executes, on the client device, in a container that has been extended through use of at least one plug-in that is particularly configured to provide the application access to one or more native functionality features on the client device;
processing aspects of the FV including storing at least a portion of the FV in a local repository on the client device;
accessing the stored portion of the FV in the local repository to determine an availability of a particular native functionality feature of the one or more native functionality features that are accessible to the application through the at least one plug-in; and
providing to the application an indicia of the availability of the particular native functionality feature based on determining that the particular native functionality feature is not listed in the stored portion of the FV.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server is configured to store the FV together with the application within an application repository, prior to a downloading of the FV and application to the client device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the FV for the application comprises downloading the FV to the client device in conjunction with at least one of a download, installation, update, or modification of the application at the client device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the FV for the application comprises downloading the FV to the client device when the FV is invoked or modified.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the FV for the application comprises downloading the FV to the client device in response to a change event for the client device, the change event including at least one of a log-in of a user, a change between a sleep/idle/active state of the client device, or a change in a physical location of the client device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the FV specifies the availability of the feature based on at least one of a security policy or a corporate policy.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature includes a native hardware feature of the client device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the native hardware feature includes at least one of a camera and an accelerometer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing aspects of the FV include validating the FV and the local repository includes a secure data vault.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing to the application an indicia of the availability of the feature comprises:
receiving a request from the application to check whether the feature is enabled;
querying the local repository to obtain a corresponding attribute for the feature; and
returning the indicia of the availability of the feature, the indicia including a communication that the feature is enabled.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the FV governs application features, including the feature, exposed through an Application Program Interface (API) for a plug-in for the application.

12. A computer program product, the computer program product being tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause at least one processor to:
receive a Feature Vector (FV) that particularly corresponds to an application, the FV listing one or more features on a client device that are to be unavailable to the application while the application executes, on the client device, in a container that has been extended through use of at least one plug-in that is particularly configured to provide the application access to one or more native functionality features on the client device;
store at least a portion of the FV in a local repository on the client device;
receive a request from the application to access a particular feature on the client device;
access the stored portion of the FV in the local repository to determine an availability of the particular native functionality feature of the one or more native functionality features that are accessible to the application through the at least one plug-in; and
providing to the application an indicia of the availability of the particular native functionality feature, based on determining that the particular native functionality feature is not listed in the stored portion of the FV.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the FV and the application are downloaded from a server, and the server is configured to store the FV together with the application within an application repository, prior to the downloading of the FV and application to the client device.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the feature includes a native hardware feature of the client device.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the FV indicates whether the feature is available based on a platform being run by the client device.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the client device is a mobile device including the container for executing the application, and the FV governs application features, including the feature, exposed through an Application Program Interface (API) for a plug-in of the container.

17. A computer program product, the computer program product being tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause at least one processor to:
provide a Feature Vector (FV) for administering an application repository that includes an application that executes, on a client device, in a container that has been extended through use of at least one plug-in that is particularly configured to provide the application access to one or more native functionality features of the client device, the FV including access controls for access by the application to the features of the client device, the FV listing one or more of the features of the client device that are to be unavailable to the application while the application executes, on the client device, in the container;
perform Create/Read/Update/Delete (CRUD) operations on the FV, including storing at least a portion of the FV in a local repository on the client device;
access the stored portion of the FV in the local repository to determine an availability of a particular native functionality feature of the one or more native functionality features that are accessible to the application through the at least one plug-in;
providing to the application an indicia of the availability of the particular native functionality feature based on determining that the particular native functionality feature is not listed in the stored portion of the FV.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the FV is provided in conjunction with at least one of a security policy or a corporate policy governing the access of the application to at least one of the features.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the features includes a native hardware feature of the client device.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the CRUD operations are performed through Representational State Transfer (REST) based functions.

Assignees

• Sap Se

Inventors

• Sethi Raman
• Mall Sanjeet
• Schneider Juergen

Classifications

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• G06F8/63

  Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04L67/26

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/42

  Electricity · mapped topic