Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130063767 | Presenting Devices as Applications - One or more management components mediate a bi-directional interaction between applications. The components mediate interaction between a first application such as a word processing, video conference, or multimedia application, and a second application that is a virtualization of a physical device such as a printer, camera, or multimedia device. Further, embodiments also support a second application that provides an interface to a service provider, online business, and the like. The management component(s) may function as part of an operating system (OS), allowing the OS to mediate the interaction, and enable greater flexibility and a richer user experience, including presenting a common user experience for the interaction and/or acting as a broker to present a experience generated from the second application. Embodiments also include a unified application programming interface (API) to allow applications to interact with each other via the management component(s) of the OS. | 03-14-2013 |
20130065526 | Platform-Enabled Proximity Service - Embodiments include processes, systems, and devices for initiating proximity actions upon the activation of a proximity connection. A proximity service receives an indication from a proximity provider that a proximity connection is established, and then determines a joint proximity context of the proximity connection. The proximity service then initiates a proximity action to facilitate a proximity function indicated by the joint proximity context. Joint proximity contexts include indications that an application has queued content to be shared with a proximity device, that an application has registered to publish messages on a namespace, that an application has subscribed to messages on a namespace, that an application has registered to find a peer application on a proximity device to enable multi-user collaboration, and that a device seeks to pair with another device. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067531 | Access Brokering Based on Declarations and Consent - Embodiments include processes, systems, and devices for brokering application access to capabilities, such as device capabilities. An access broker receives requests from applications to access capabilities. The access broker determines whether to grant access based at least in part on whether the application manifest declares the capability. The access broker also may cause a user interface element to be displayed requesting user consent to the access request. Also, an in-application user interface element is provided that displays capability access settings for a particular application. The in-application user interface element includes selectable options for changing those settings. Changes in those settings via the user interface update the settings in the access broker. | 03-14-2013 |
20140358887 | APPLICATION CONTENT SEARCH MANAGEMENT - A search service accesses application content accessible via one or more enumerated applications. The search service ranks the accessed application content in combination with non-application content to produce a combined ranking. Responsive to a search query, the search service provides one or more search results based on the combined ranking. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358909 | SEARCH RESULT CONTEXTS FOR APPLICATION LAUNCH - A search service executes on one or more computing systems and searches at least one index associated with content accessible through an application based on the at least one portion of the search query to provide search results associated with the application. A search results interface returns one or more search results from the search. At least one of the search results is associated with an application identifier identifying the application. The search service ranks the search results associated with the application with other search results from at least one other search of other content based on the search query. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358910 | INTEGRATED SEARCH RESULTS - A storage management system receives at a computing system one or more search results from a search operation based on a search query. The search operation had performed a first search on content in a database accessible through an application, a second search on local to the computing system content, and a third search on Web content. At least one of the search results from the first search is associated with an application identifier identifying the application. The storage management system further ranks the search results from the first search, the second search, and the third search in aggregation. A search results integrator presents the ranked search results from the first, second, and third searches in an integrated view. The search results integrator further groups a subset of the ranked search results from the first search, the second search, and the third search into a subgroup within the integrated view. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358916 | PERSONALIZED PRIORITIZATION OF INTEGRATED SEARCH RESULTS - A search management system receives at a computing system one or more search results from a search operation based on a search query. The search operation performed a first search on content in a database accessible through an application, a second search on local to the computing system content, and a third search on Web content. At least one of the search results from the first search is associated with an application identifier identifying the application. A search results integrator ranks the search results from the first search, the second search, and the third search in aggregation according to historical search behavior collected about a user and presents the ranked search results from the first search, the second search, and the third search in an integrated view. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358958 | SURFACING DIRECT APP ACTIONS - One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for surfacing direct app actions. For example, a search interface may be configured to provide search results based upon queries submitted by users. Direct app actions may be surfaced through the search interface based upon a search context associated with search query formulation input associated with a search query that is input through the search interface. For example, map directions, a view social network vacation album, and/or other direct app actions may be surfaced through the search interface based upon a search query “Where is The Beach”. Direct app actions may be provided during formulation of the search query or after submission of the search query. Responsive to selection of a direct app action, a third party application (e.g., a locally installed application) may be invoked to perform the direct app action with little to no additional user input or navigation. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358970 | CONTEXT-BASED ACTIONS FROM A SOURCE APPLICATION - An action framework system provides context-based actions in association with a source application. The source application detects selection of a content element presented by the source application. The content element is associated with an application identifier identifying a target application and an action identifier identifying an operation to be executed by the target application on the content element. The target application identified by the application identifier is executed to perform the operation identified by the action identifier on the content element, responsive to detection of the selection of the content element. In one implementation, the source application is a search feature providing different contexts of search results (e.g., from a local file system search, a local application content search, a Web search, a remote application content search). | 12-04-2014 |
20140359598 | APPLICATION INSTALLATION FROM SEARCH RESULTS - A search management system receives at a computing device one or more search results from a search operation based on a search query. The search operation was performed a search on content in a datastore accessible through an application. At least one of the search results is associated with an application identifier identifying the application. A contextual application installer determines whether the application identified by the application identifier is already installed for execution by the computing device and installs the application on the computing device, if the application is not already installed on the computing device. As part of the installing operation, the contextual application installer presents a prompt identifying the application and installs the application on the computing device if an instruction to install the application is received responsive to presentation of the prompt. | 12-04-2014 |