Delayed application installation
View Patent ↗Techniques for delaying the installation of an application are presented. An installation is downloaded to a portable device. The installation is associated with an application, which is to be loaded onto the portable device. The installation is delayed after download and is processed on the portable device when an alarm is raised indicating that the application is to be loaded on the portable device.
1. A method implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and to process on a portable device to perform the method, comprising:
downloading an installation for an application over a network to the portable device, the installation is pushed to the portable device and a user of the portable device is unaware of the installation being pushed to the portable device;
setting an installation condition on the portable device, wherein the installation is downloaded over the network from a remote service and an entirely different remote service from the remote service network sets the installation condition, the different remote service sets the installation condition via a different network connection to the portable device from an original network connection used for downloading the installation, the portable device having the installation when the different remote service sets the installation condition via the different network connection to the portable device;
delaying the processing of the installation until the installation condition occurs, wherein the installation condition is an alarm that is raised when a user of a different version of the application tries to access a feature of that different version that has been enhanced in the installation, the different version of the application co-exists with the installation and is executing on the device when the user tries to access the enhanced feature associated with the installation; and
processing, upon satisfaction of the installation condition, the installation which loads the application on the portable device, forces a replacement of the different version of the application and, subsequently, forces the removal of the different version of the application.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, raising an alarm on the portable device when the installation condition is satisfied.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein raising further includes activating a pilot main portion of the installation when the alarm is raised, and wherein the portable device is a PALM-enabled device.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein downloading further includes masking a name for the installation on the portable device and hiding the installation within the portable device.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing further includes renaming an original application associated with a different version of the application when the application is loaded on the portable device.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing further includes processing the installation upon satisfaction of the installation condition, which is when the portable device is offline from the network.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein setting further includes remotely setting the installation condition on the portable device over the network when the installation is downloaded over the network.
8. A method implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and to process on a portable device to perform the method, comprising:
receiving an installation for a new version of an application over a network and masking the name of the new version of the application upon receipt;
processing metadata associated with the installation to set an alarm, the metadata received separately from the installation;
detecting the alarm when it is raised, the alarm is raised when a user of a different version of the application tries to access an enabled feature of that different version that has been enhanced in the new version of the application, the different version of the application co-exists with the new version of the application and is executing on the device when the user tries to access the enhanced feature associated with the new version of the application; and
processing the installation to terminate execution of the different version of the application, to unmask the name of the new version of the application, to replace the different version of the application with new version of the application, and to execute the application and remove the different version of the application from the portable device.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
detecting the different version of the application; and
masking a name associated with the installation.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
stopping processing associated with the different version of the application when the application is loaded;
renaming the different version in storage; and
changing the name to a name originally associated with the different version and starting the application.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting further includes detecting the raised alarm when the method is processing offline from the network.
12. A system implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and to process on a portable device, comprising:
an installation for an application implemented as instructions that process on the portable device, the installation is pushed and previously downloaded from a remote service over a network to the portable device;
metadata associated with the installation and processed on the portable device, the metadata is pushed from a different remote service to the portable device during a different network connection from that which was used to acquire the installation, the portable device having the installation when the metadata is pushed to the portable device using the different network connection; and
an installation manager that processes on the portable device to set an alarm defined in the metadata and to process the installation when the alarm is raised to load the application, wherein the alarm defined in metadata is raised when a user of a different version of the application tries to access a feature of that different version that has been enhanced in the installation, the different version of the application co-exists with the installation and is executing on the device when the user tries to access the enhanced feature associated with the installation, and wherein processing the installation comprises loading the application, forcing a replacement of the different version of the application and, subsequently, forcing the removal of the different version of the application.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the installation is acquired over a network.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the network is at least one of wireless, wired, and a combination of wired and wireless.
15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the portable device is at least one of a phone, a tablet personal computer, a personal digital assistant, and a laptop computer.
16. A system implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and to process on a portable device, comprising:
an installation for a new version of an application implemented as instructions that process on the portable device;
metadata received by the portable device separately from the installation and associated with the installation and processed on the portable device; and
a remote installation service that processes on a device to deliver the installation and the metadata over a network to the portable device via a push and the installation and the metadata delivery is unknown to a user of the portable device, masking the name of the new version of the application upon receipt, the metadata defines for the portable device when the installation is to be processed on the portable device to load the new version of the application, and an alarm defined via the metadata is raised indicating the portable device is to unmask the name of the new version and load the new version of the application when the user attempts to access a feature of a different version of the application that has been enhanced by the new version of the application, and the different version of the application is removed from the portable device when the new version of the application is loaded, the different version of the application co-exists with the new version of the application on the portable device and the different version of the application is executing on the portable device until the user attempts to access the enhanced feature that triggers the alarm and forces stoppage and removal of the different version of the application from the portable device.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the metadata defines a condition associated with at least one of predefined calendar date and a predefined event, which when detected on the portable device causes the portable device to process the installation.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the remote installation service delivers the installation in a compressed format over the network.