Context-Based Selective Downloading of Application Resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016309003-A1
Application number	US-201615194299-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 27, 2016
Priority date	May 30, 2013
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for generating a bundle package, digitally signing the bundle package, selectively distributing the bundle package, and/or indexing one or more resource packages retrieved from the bundle package. That is, a bundle package (e.g., an application or game bundle package) comprises one or more app packages comprising application code configured to execute on various computing environments (e.g., operating systems, processors, etc.). The bundle package may comprise one or more resource packages comprising supplemental data used to provide optional user experience functionality for the application (e.g., French language support, high resolution textures, a gaming pad support, etc.). In this way, a client device may selectively download portions of the bundle package that may be relevant, which may mitigate download bandwidth, storage space, or resources otherwise used to obtain unnecessary portions of the bundle package (e.g., a tablet device may merely download low resolution textures).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of selective resource downloading, comprising:
determining an applicability context of a computing device, the applicability context specifying a display resolution of the device, a set of one or more user languages of the device, and a support capability of the device; sending the applicability context to a marketplace with a request for access to an application; downloading to the device from the marketplace at least one resource of the application which has the specified display resolution, at least one resource of the application which has at least one specified user language, and at least one resource of the application which is tailored to the specified support capability; automatically refraining from downloading to the device an existing but contextually unnecessary display resource of the same application, namely, a resource which has a display resolution other than the specified display resolution; automatically refraining from downloading to the device an existing but contextually unnecessary language resource of the same application, namely, a resource which has a user language which is not in the specified set of one or more user languages; and automatically refraining from downloading to the device an existing but contextually unnecessary support resource of the same application, namely, a resource which requires hardware that is not present on the device or requires a multimedia application program interface that is not present on the device after the downloading.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises downloading one of the following listed resources and refraining from downloading the other listed resource: a high resolution texture, or a texture which has lower resolution than the high resolution texture.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises downloading one of the following listed resources and refraining from downloading at least one of the other listed resources: an English language resource, a French language resource, a German language resource, or a Spanish language resource.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises downloading one of the following listed resources and refraining from downloading the other listed resource: a support resource which requires a first graphics processing unit, or a support resource which requires a second graphics processing unit that is different from the first graphics processing unit.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises downloading one of the following listed resources and refraining from downloading the other listed resources: a support resource which requires a first multimedia application program interface, or a support resource which requires a second multimedia application program interface that is different from the first multimedia application program interface.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the applicability context of the computing device comprises at least one of the following: implicitly identifying a user language based on user location, or applying a fuzzy matching logic.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein downloading comprises downloading hardware-aware data including at least one of the following kinds of data: texture imagery, terrain data, character geometry, or game visualization data.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising verifying a digital signature of at least one downloaded resource.

9 . A computer readable medium comprising RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices storing instructions which when executed at least in part via a processing unit perform a method of selective downloading, the method comprising:
determining an applicability context of a computing device, the applicability context specifying a display contrast of the device, a graphics processing hardware of the device, and an operating system type of the device; sending the applicability context to an app marketplace with a request for access to an application; downloading to the device from the app marketplace at least one resource of the application which has the specified display contrast, at least one resource of the application which requires the specified graphics processing hardware, and at least one package of the application which depends on the specified operating system type; automatically refraining from downloading to the device an existing but contextually unnecessary display resource of the same application, namely, a resource which has a display contrast other than the specified display contrast; automatically refraining from downloading to the device an existing but contextually unnecessary graphics processing resource of the same application, namely, a resource which requires a graphics processing hardware that is not present on the device; and automatically refraining from downloading to the device an existing but contextually unnecessary executable package of the same application, namely, a package which requires for execution an operating system type that is not present on the device.

10 . The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method comprises downloading one of the following listed resources and refraining from downloading the other listed resources: a resource which includes a high contrast user interface element or high contrast image, or a resource which includes a low contrast user interface element or low contrast image.

11 . The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method comprises downloading one of the following listed executable packages and refraining from downloading at least one of the other listed executable packages:
an executable package which requires for execution a tablet operating system; an executable package which requires for execution a desktop operating system; an executable package which requires for execution a cloud operating system; an executable package which requires for execution a mobile operating system; or an executable package which requires for execution a gaming-based operating system.

12 . The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the applicability context also specifies a set of one or more user languages, and the method further comprises downloading one of the following listed resources and refraining from downloading at least one of the other listed resources: an English language resource, a French language resource, a German language resource, or a Spanish language resource.

13 . A device comprising:
a display; at least one processing unit; at least one memory storing instructions which when executed by the at least one processing unit perform a method of selective downloading to the device, the method including:
determining an applicability context of the device, the applicability context specifying at least three of the following listed characteristics: a display resolution of the device, a display contrast of the device, a set of one or more user languages of the device, a multimedia application program interface feature set of the device, a graphics processing hardware of the device, a peripheral of the device, a location of the user, a gaming hardware of the device, a processor architecture of the device, and an operating system type of the device;
sending the applicability context to a marketplace with a request for access to an application;
downloading to the device from the app marketplace at least three resources and/or packages of the application, each of which has

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Boyd Charles
• Lu Jianye

Classifications

• A63F13/77

  involving data related to game devices or game servers, e.g. configuration data, software version or amount of memory · CPC title

• G06F8/60

  Software deployment · CPC title

• A63F13/60

  Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor · CPC title

• G06F16/1834

  implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella (p2p communication protocols H04L67/104) · CPC title

• A63F13/00

  Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions · CPC title