Feature switching kits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10901697-B2
Application number	US-201816208080-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2018
Priority date	Aug 28, 2015
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

A system and method for feature switching in software applications. A feature switching action (FSA) is received and at least one user device is identified based on the received FSA. At least one feature switching instruction (FSI) is generated based on the received FSA and the FSI is sent to at least one of the identified user devices. A feature switching instruction response (FSIR) is received from each user device that received a FSI and a feature switching action response (FSAR) is generated based on the received FSIRs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for feature switching in a software application executing on a user device, comprising:
receiving, at a developer device, a service status report (SSR) for a service from a service provider, wherein the developer device manages code of the software application, and wherein the software application communicates with the service;
determining, at the developer device, that a feature adjustment of the software application executing on the user device is required based on the received SSR;
in response to determining that the feature adjustment is required, generating, at the developer device, a feature switching action (FSA) authorizing the feature adjustment of the software application, wherein the FSA comprises a service provider identifier, one or more feature identifiers, a set value corresponding to each of the one or more feature identifiers, and a user device identifier;
sending, by the developer device, the FSA to a software development kit (SDK) platform to execute the feature adjustment of the software application; and
receiving, at the developer device, a feature switching action response (FSAR) from the SDK platform, the FSAR indicating an outcome associated with the execution, by the SDK platform, of the feature adjustment of the software application on the user device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received SSR specifies a state of at least one feature provided by a service.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received SSR comprises at least one metric related to the state of a provided service, and wherein determining that the feature adjustment is required comprises:
for each of the at least one metric:
comparing the respective metric to a preset threshold corresponding to the respective metric; and
in response to determining that the respective metric fails to satisfy the preset threshold corresponding to the respective metric, determining that the feature adjustment is required.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that a feature adjustment is required comprises determining a state of the service, and comparing the state of the service to a reference state.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the FSA further comprises a user interface (UI) skin index.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user device identifier identifies the user device as to be modified based on the FSA, wherein the one or more feature identifiers identify respective features to be modified such that a value associated with the respective feature is equal to the set value corresponding to the respective feature, and wherein the service provider identifier identifies the service provider sending the SSR.

7. A method for feature switching in software applications, comprising:
receiving a service status report (SSR) from a service provider;
determining that a feature adjustment is required based on the received SSR;
in response to determining that the feature adjustment is required, generating a feature switching action advice (FSAA), wherein the FSAA comprises a proposed feature switching action (FSA) comprising a service provider identifier, one or more feature identifiers, a set value corresponding to each of the one or more feature identifiers, and a user device identifier;
sending the FSAA to a command authority for validation;
receiving a final FSA from the command authority, wherein the final FSA comprises an alternate FSA to be implemented in place of the FSAA; and
generating, based on the final FSA and one or more characteristics of a device identified by the user device identifier, a device-specific feature switching instruction (FSI);
sending the device-specific FSI to the device identified by the user device identifier;
receiving, from the device identified by the user device identifier, a feature switching instruction response (FSIR) comprising an outcome resulting from an execution of the FSI; and
generating, based on the FSIR, the FSAR; and
sending the FSAR to the command authority.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the command authority is one selected from a group consisting of an application developer and a developer device.

9. A method for feature switching in a software application executing on a first user device of a set of user devices, each user device of the set of user devices executing the software application, the method comprising:
receiving, at a software development kit (SDK) platform, a feature switching action (FSA) from a command authority authorizing a feature adjustment of the software application, wherein the SDK platform is authorized to execute the feature adjustment of the software application, wherein the FSA comprises a service provider identifier, one or more feature identifiers, a set value corresponding to each of the one or more feature identifiers, and a user device identifier;
identifying, by the SDK platform, the first user device based on the user device identifier in the received FSA; and
for the first user device:
generating, by the SDK platform, at least one device-specific feature switching instruction (FSI) based on the received FSA for the first user device, wherein the device-specific FSI for the first user device is based on the hardware configuration, the software configuration, or both, of the first user device;
sending, by the SDK platform, the device-specific FSI to the first user device;
receiving, by the SDK platform, a feature switching instruction response (FSIR) from the first user device;
generating, by the SDK platform, a feature switching action response (FSAR) based on the received FSIR, the FSAR indicating an outcome associated with the execution, by the SDK platform, of the feature adjustment of the software application on the first user device based on the device-specific FSI sent to the first user device; and
sending, by the SDK platform, the FSAR to the command authority.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the FSI comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a service software development kit (SDK) identifier based on the service provider identifier, the one or more feature identifiers, the set value corresponding to each of the one or more feature identifiers, and a user interface (UI) skin index.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the FSIR comprises an outcome resulting from an execution of the FSI.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the device-specific FSI comprises:
generating, based on the FSA and one or more characteristics of the first user device, a device-specific feature switching instruction (FSI).

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprise a specification of an operating system executing on the first user device.

14. A software development kit (SDK) platform for executing feature switching in a software application executing on a first user device of a set of user devices, each user device of the set of user devices executing the software application, the SDK platform comprising:
at least one processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:
receive a feature switching action (FSA) from a command authority authorizing a feature adjustment of the software application, wherein the SDK platform is authorized to execute the feature adjustment of the software application, wherein the FSA comprises a service provider identifier, one or more feature identifiers, a set value corresponding to each of the one or more feature identifiers, and a user device identifier;
identify the first user device based on the user device identifier in the received FSA; an

Assignees

• Twitter Inc

Inventors

• Chang Wayne
• Seibert Jr Jeffrey H

Classifications

• G06F8/30 Primary

  Creation or generation of source code · CPC title

• G06F8/36

  Software reuse · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F8/24 Primary

  Object-oriented · CPC title