Sharing of a user input interface of an application session of one application between two or more applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9875116-B2
Application number	US-201314091001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2013
Priority date	Nov 26, 2013
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

A primary application and a secondary application installed on a mobile communication device are both configured to obtain input from a user of the device through an application session of the primary application. The primary application transmits a notification to cause the secondary application to begin execution in the background. The primary application further transmits a request for user interface (UI) information to the secondary application. Based on UI information received from the secondary application, the primary application generates a graphical user interface (GUI) including an interface for receiving user input relating to the secondary application. The generated GUI is displayed on the device in the application session of the primary application, and user input relating to the secondary application is received in the application session of the primary application. The primary application then transmits to the secondary application user input identified as relating to the secondary application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
opening, by a setup application configured to begin execution automatically in response to a mobile communication device being first powered on by a user to obtain settings from the user for configuring the mobile communication device for operation, an application session of the setup application on the mobile communication device in response to a determination that the setup application has not previously executed on the mobile communication device;
generating and transmitting, by the setup application, a request for an end-user application installed on the mobile communication device along with the setup application to provide user interface (UI) information to be used by the setup application to generate a user interface by which the setup application will obtain configuration settings including setup information for the end-user application from the user;
receiving, by the setup application from the end-user application based on the request, the UI information to be used by the setup application to generate the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application from the user;
generating, by the setup application based on the received UI information from the end-user application, a graphical user interface (GUI) including the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application from the user;
displaying, by the setup application and within the application session of the setup application opened on the mobile communication device, the generated GUI including the user interface;
obtaining, by the setup application from the user and within the application session of the setup application, user input representative of the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application; and
transmitting, by the setup application to the end-user application, the obtained user input representative of the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application, the transmitting of the obtained user input including storing the obtained user input in a predetermined storage location in memory that is associated with the end-user application to allow the end-user application to access the obtained user input at the predetermined storage location during a next execution of the end-user application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to transmitting the request for UI information from the setup application, generating and transmitting, by the setup application to the end-user application, a notification to cause the end-user application to begin execution in the background while the setup application is running.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the GUI comprises generating, by the setup application, a GUI including the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application from the user and an interface for receiving input relating to the setup application from the user.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the setup application generates the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application and the interface for receiving input relating to the setup application to have a similar visual appearance and user experience.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the setup application generates the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application to have a visual appearance and user experience consistent with a look and feel of the end-user application.

6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
in response to receiving user input relating to the generated GUI from the user, processing the received user input relating to the generated GUI to identify the user input representative of the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application;
wherein the transmitting of the obtained user input representative of the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application is performed in response to the identification of the user input and includes transmitting the received user input identified as the user input representative of the configuration settings including the setup information for the end-user application.

7. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the UI information identifies at least one user input element to be displayed to the user so as to receive from the user a text or selection input, and the identified at least one user input element includes a unique identifier for identifying content received from the user through the user input element.

8. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the UI information received from the end-user application is formatted in accordance with a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) schema for defining the structure and content of a user interface.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the UI information received from the end-user application further comprises a style sheet for defining visual elements of the GUI generated based on the UI information.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the end-user application automatically ceases background execution on the mobile communication device prior to the transmitting of the obtained user input representative of the configuration settings including setup information for the end-user application.

11. A mobile communication device comprising:
a display screen configured to display information to a user of the mobile communication device;
a user input interface configured to receive input from the user of the mobile communication device;
a memory; and
a processor operative to execute machine-readable instructions stored in the memory to cause the mobile communication device to perform functions including functions to:
open an application session of a setup application on the mobile communication device in response to a determination that the setup application has not previously executed on the mobile communication device, the setup application configured to begin execution automatically in response to the mobile communication device being first powered on by the user to obtain settings from the user for configuring the mobile communication device for operation;
generate and transmit, from the setup application to an end-user application installed on the mobile communication device along with the setup application, a request for the end-user application to provide user interface (UI) information to be used by the setup application to generate a user interface by which the setup application will obtain configuration settings including setup information for the end-user application from the user;
receive, by the setup application from the end-user application based on the request, the UI information to be used by the setup application to generate the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including setup information for the end-user application from the user;
generate, in the setup application based on the received UI information from the end-user application, a graphical user interface (GUI) including the user interface by which the setup application will obtain the configuration settings including setup information for the end-user application from the user;
display the generated GUI including the user interface

Assignees

• Cellco Partnership Dba Verizon

Inventors

• Khalid Mohammad Raheel
• Berman Paul
• Rahman Sm Masudur
• Vaidya Samir S

Classifications

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• H04L67/34 Primary

  involving the movement of software or configuration parameters  (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416) · CPC title

• G06F8/61

  Installation · CPC title

• G06F9/4443 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F9/451 Primary

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title