Message extension app store

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10595169-B2
Application number	US-201715400544-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2017
Priority date	Jun 12, 2016
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

A service for providing messaging extension apps can be an online store that can be browsed and searched for the apps. The store uses extension app identifiers which are related to app identifiers that are sent between devices in a conversation of messages so that a receiving device can, when it does not have the extension app installed to interact with received content, use the extension app identifier to download and install the required extension app. In one embodiment, the download and install can occur while the messaging app remains the foreground app, and the messaging app adds an icon of the newly installed extension app into a browsable tray in the UI of the messaging app.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing executable program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method comprising:
receiving, by a first messaging application (app) on a first device, a message and associated metadata from a second device, the message including content created by a second extension app that operated with a second messaging app on the second device, the first and the second messaging apps are each configured to transmit Short Message Service (SMS) text messages and other content and display the text messages in a message transcript, wherein the associated metadata includes an app identifier previously provided to the second extension app by an on-line store for extension apps;
displaying the content in a message transcript in a user interface view of the first messaging app;
determining whether a first extension app identified by the app identifier is installed for use with the first messaging app;
displaying a notice to a user, the notice including an option to cause the first device to download the first extension app from the on-line store based on the app identifier and to install the first extension app, the notice displayed in response to determining the first extension app is not installed for use with the first messaging app; and
in response to a selection of the option, downloading the first extension app from the on-line store based on the app identifier and installing the first extension app.

2. The medium as in claim 1 , the method further comprising:
communicating the content from the first messaging app to the first extension app through an interprocess communication (IPC), wherein the first messaging app executes in a first process and the first extension app executes in a second process that is distinct from the first process; and
displaying a user interface of the first extension app within the user interface of the first messaging app.

3. The medium as in claim 2 wherein the user interface of the first extension app is configured to display the content and to receive user input to modify the content, and wherein the user interface of the first extension app, when displayed, replaces an on-screen keyboard of the first messaging app.

4. The medium as in claim 3 wherein the first extension app modifies the content and passes the modified content to the first messaging app, through an IPC, for transmission to the second messaging app for delivery to the second extension app on the second device.

5. The medium as in claim 4 wherein the on-line store includes one or more server systems that include a browsable catalog of extension apps which can be downloaded from the on-line store.

6. The medium as in claim 5 wherein the download and install of the first extension app occur while the first messaging app remains the foreground app.

7. The medium as in claim 1 wherein the first device determines the first extension app is not installed in response to a selection of the content in the message transcript, the content being displayed in a message bubble.

8. The medium as in claim 1 wherein the associated metadata includes a URL which is separate from the app identifier, and
wherein the associated metadata includes data retained for use by the first extension app after the first extension app is installed.

9. The medium as in claim 1 , the method further comprising:
adding an icon representing the first extension app into a browsable view of installed extension apps, the browsable view displayed by the first messaging app, the adding occurring after the first extension app is installed.

10. The medium as in claim 9 wherein the first messaging app displays the content before the first extension app is installed but the first messaging app is not capable of modifying the content.

11. A machine implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a first messaging application (app) on a first device, a message and associated metadata from a second device, the message including content created by a second extension app that operated with a second messaging app on the second device, the first and the second messaging apps are each configured to transmit Short Message Service (SMS) text messages and other content and display the text messages in a message transcript, wherein the associated metadata includes an app identifier previously provided to the second extension app by an on-line store for extension apps;
displaying the content in a message transcript in a user interface view of the first messaging app;
determining whether a first extension app identified by the app identifier is installed for use with the first messaging app, by comparing the app identifier to a locally-stored list of app identifiers corresponding to extension apps installed on the first device;
displaying a notice to a user, the notice including an option to cause the first device to download the first extension app from the on-line store based on the app identifier and to install the first extension app, the notice displayed in response to determining the first extension app is not installed for use with the first messaging app; and
in response to a selection of the option, downloading the first extension app from the on-line store based on the app identifier and installing the first extension app.

12. The method as in claim 11 , the method further comprising:
communicating the content from the first messaging app to the first extension app through an interprocess communication (IPC), wherein the first messaging app executes in a first process and the first extension app executes in a second process that is distinct from the first process; and
displaying a user interface of the first extension app within the user interface of the first messaging app.

13. The method as in claim 12 wherein the user interface of the first extension app is configured to display the content and to receive user input to modify the content, and wherein the user interface of the first extension app, when displayed, replaces an on-screen keyboard of the first messaging app.

14. The method as in claim 13 wherein the first extension app modifies the content and passes the modified content to the first messaging app, through an IPC, for transmission to the second messaging app for delivery to the second extension app on the second device.

15. The method as in claim 14 wherein the on-line store includes one or more server systems that include a browsable catalog of extension apps which can be downloaded from the on-line store.

16. The method as in claim 15 wherein the download and install of the first extension app occur while the first messaging app remains the foreground app.

17. The method as in claim 11 wherein the first device determines the first extension app is not installed in response to a selection of the content in the message transcript, the content being displayed in a message bubble.

18. The method as in claim 11 wherein the first extension app is configured to be executed exclusively by the first messaging app and the first extension app is unexecutable by applications outside of the first messaging app.

19. The method as in claim 11 , the method further comprising:
adding an icon representing the first extension app into a browsable view of the extension installed apps on the first device, the browsable view displayed by the first messaging app, the adding occurring after the first extension app is installed.

20. A devic

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Peterson Adele C
• Sarma Bhaskar P
• Lindeman Kevin J
• Garcia Roberto
• Kowalczykowski Keith
• Chaudhri Imran
• Karunamuni Chanaka

Classifications

• H04L51/04

  Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] · CPC title

• H04W4/60

  Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits · CPC title

• H04W4/12 Primary

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04W4/14 Primary

  Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] · CPC title