HK1219315B - Method for processing application and device thereof - Google Patents

Description

A method and device for processing an application

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of computer technology, and in particular to a method and device for processing an application.

Background Art

An application is a type of application software that is provided to users with the help of a software platform, such as Android system applications, website applications, and Apple (ISO) system applications.

Generally, different users may have different functional requirements for the same application. For example, in the "Contacts" application, some users only want to use the "View Contacts" and "Recent Calls" functions of the application, while other users want to use multiple functions such as "Favorites", "View Contacts", and "Recent Calls".

However, according to the existing technology, when different user terminals install (or update) the same application, they can only download the complete installation package of the application and use the downloaded complete installation package to install (or update) the application, so that the applications finally installed on different user terminals have the same functions.

As can be seen from the above, the existing technology has the problem of poor flexibility, which may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

Summary of the Invention

The embodiments of the present application provide an application processing method to solve the problem in the prior art that the installed application may not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

The embodiment of the present application also provides an application processing device to solve the problem that the existing technology may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

The embodiments of this application adopt the following technical solutions:

A method for processing an application includes: sending a plug-in identifier to a server; obtaining and installing an installation package for the plug-in sent by the server based on the plug-in identifier; wherein each plug-in satisfies the requirement that, by running the individual plug-in, a portion of the application's functionality can be implemented; obtaining an application plug-in search instruction; and determining an application plug-in; wherein the determined application plug-in satisfies the requirement that, by calling the determined application plug-in, a specific functionality can be implemented.

An application processing device includes: a plug-in identification sending unit for sending a plug-in identification to a server; an installation unit for obtaining and installing a plug-in installation package sent by the server based on the plug-in identification; wherein each plug-in satisfies: by running the individual plug-in, part of the application's functionality can be implemented; an instruction acquisition unit for obtaining an application plug-in search instruction; and a plug-in determination unit for determining an application plug-in; wherein the determined application plug-in satisfies: by calling the determined application plug-in, a specific functionality can be implemented.

At least one of the above technical solutions adopted in the embodiments of the present application can achieve the following beneficial effects:

By sending a plug-in identifier to the server, a request can be made to obtain the plug-in used to implement a specific function for installation and search, thereby supporting the local application to have corresponding functions according to the actual needs of the user, solving the problem that the existing technology has poor flexibility and may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present application and constitute a part of the present application. The illustrative embodiments of the present application and their descriptions are used to explain the present application and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present application. In the drawings:

FIG1 is a flowchart of an implementation method of an application processing method provided in Example 1 of the present application;

FIG2a is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the “plug-in management module” and the “interface implementation module” provided in Example 2 of the present application;

FIG2 b is a flowchart of a method for installing the “Contact Book” application according to Example 2 of the present application;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the specific structure of a processing device for an application provided in Example 3 of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To make the purpose, technical solutions, and advantages of this application more clear, the technical solutions of this application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the specific embodiments of this application and the corresponding drawings. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of this application, not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

The following describes in detail the technical solutions provided by various embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Example 1

In order to solve the problem that the existing technology has poor flexibility and may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application, Example 1 of the present application first provides an application processing method. The implementation flow chart of this method is shown in Figure 1, which mainly includes the following steps:

Step 11: Send the plug-in identifier to the server.

In Example 1, in order to enable the user to independently select the functions of the application installed locally on the user terminal, the plug-in identifier sent to the server may be input by the user; or determined according to the user's plug-in identifier selection instruction.

Specifically, before sending the plug-in identifier to the server, if at least one plug-in identifier sent by the server is received, the at least one plug-in identifier sent by the server can be displayed; thereafter, a plug-in identifier selection instruction can be received, and a plug-in identifier can be selected from the at least one plug-in identifier sent by the server according to the plug-in identifier selection instruction; and then the selected plug-in identifier is sent to the server.

Alternatively, the system may display the plug-in description information corresponding to at least one plug-in sent by the server, receive a plug-in selection instruction, and send the selected plug-in identifier to the server. The plug-in description information may include the name or type of the application to which the plug-in is adapted, a description of the functions that the plug-in can implement, and a description of the application version number.

Step 12: Obtain the installation package of the plug-in sent by the server according to the plug-in identifier and install it.

Each plug-in satisfies the following conditions: running the plug-in enables partial functionality of the application. The partial functionality here often refers to one or more of the application's functions, rather than all of the application's functions. The plug-in identifier can be a character identifier or a signal identifier, for example.

The process of installing the plug-in installation package may include: determining whether the plug-in installation package matches the local operating system based on an interface identifier in the plug-in installation package, and running the plug-in installation package if the determination result indicates that the interface identifier matches the local operating system. The interface identifier in the plug-in installation package indicates the local operating system that the plug-in installation package can match.

Steps 11 and 12 above independently constitute the plug-in installation process. Various plug-ins can be installed on the terminal based on user or application requirements, and then the plug-in usage process (steps 13 and 14) can be entered. Furthermore, if a required plug-in is not installed during the use of a plug-in, steps 11 and 12 above can be performed to continue installing the required plug-in.

The following steps 13 and 14 independently constitute the processing flow of using the plug-in.

Step 13: Obtain an application plug-in search instruction.

Step 14: Determine the plug-in to be applied.

The determined application plug-in satisfies the requirement that a specific function can be realized by calling the determined application plug-in.

Specifically, in the above step 13, the application plug-in search instruction can be triggered in a variety of ways. For example, the user opens the application, triggering the application plug-in search instruction for the application; or, when the terminal installs a new plug-in or uninstalls a plug-in, the application plug-in search instruction can be triggered. Furthermore, if a new plug-in is installed, the application plug-in search instruction can be used to determine whether the application can call the newly installed plug-in; if the plug-in is uninstalled, the application plug-in search instruction can be used to determine whether the plug-in that the application can call has been uninstalled, so as to avoid invalid calls to the uninstalled plug-in.

Specifically, the above step 14 can be implemented using the following method a or method b:

Method a includes the following steps:

First, the application's ID is determined based on the application plugin search instructions.

Then, based on the application identifier, a plug-in having a plug-in identifier that matches the application identifier is determined from the locally installed plug-ins.

The application identifier can be found in the application registry according to the application plug-in search instruction.

Method b includes the steps of: determining the application plug-in according to the plug-in that responds to the application plug-in search instruction. Method b can also be vividly called a "greeting" method.

Specifically, after receiving the application plug-in search instruction, method b sends a request signal to each locally installed plug-in. If a plug-in responds to the signal, the plug-in for the application can be determined. The signal may include the application's identifier. This identifier allows the plug-in to determine whether its own identifier matches the application's identifier contained in the signal. If so, the plug-in responds to the signal; otherwise, the plug-in does not respond to the signal.

In Example 1, after the application plug-in is determined, a specific operation may be further performed on the determined application plug-in, wherein the specific operation generally includes: updating, deleting or running the determined plug-in.

Furthermore, to complete the initialization of the found plug-in, after executing step 14 and before running the determined application plug-in, the method shown in FIG1 may further include the step of loading the determined application plug-in into the application configuration file.

Specifically, the specific implementation process of running the found plug-ins may include: assigning the same process ID to at least two plug-ins among the determined application plug-ins; and running the at least two plug-ins. The plug-ins assigned the same process ID satisfy the following conditions: during the running process, the plug-in can call resources of other plug-ins assigned the same process ID.

For example, using plugins adapted for the Android system as an example, by setting the same identifier (UserId) for different plugins, multiple plugin installation packages (Android Package, APK) with the same UserId can be run in the same process. In other words, multiple plugin APKs with the same UserId can run in the same process and access each other's resources (such as databases and files in the data directory) within that process.

In Example 1, in order to solve the problem of poor flexibility in calling application functions in the prior art, it can be achieved in the following way: first, a function call request is sent to the plug-in of the determined application; then, a function call result fed back by the plug-in of the determined application is received.

Specifically, a function call request may be sent to the determined application plug-in through the first interface, and a function call result fed back by the determined application plug-in may be received through the second interface.

By adopting the above method provided in Example 1, since a plug-in identifier can be sent to the server to request the installation and search of a plug-in for implementing a specific function, it is possible to support the local application with corresponding functions according to the actual needs of the user, thereby solving the problem that the existing technology has poor flexibility and may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

Furthermore, since some of the application's functions can be implemented by a single plug-in, when a user wishes to update or delete a portion of the application's functions, they can do so by updating or deleting a specific plug-in. Compared to the prior art method of only being able to achieve this goal by updating or deleting the entire application, the update and deletion method adopted in the embodiments of the present application is more flexible.

It should be noted that the execution entity of each step of the method provided in Example 1 can be the same device, or the method can be executed by different devices. For example, the execution entity of steps 11 and 12 can be device 1, and the execution entity of steps 13 and 14 can be device 2; for another example, the execution entity of steps 13 and 14 can be device 1, and the execution entity of steps 11 and 12 can be device 2; and so on.

Example 2

Example 2 provides a method for installing and running an "address book" application. In this method, the application platform used to search for and communicate with plug-ins can be called a "plug-in platform." The main functions of the plug-in platform can be implemented by two modules: a "plug-in management module" and an "interface implementation module," as shown in Figure 2a.

Based on the plug-in platform shown in FIG2a , the implementation flow diagram of the method provided in Example 2 is shown in FIG2b , which mainly includes the following steps:

In step 21, the user uses a mobile phone that has not yet installed the "Contacts" application to browse the application store and find the icon of the "Contacts" application, and then clicks the icon, so that the mobile phone detects the application selection instruction.

In step 22, the mobile phone sends the identifier of the "Contact Book" application to the server of the application store according to the application selection instruction.

In step 23, the server of the application store searches for a plug-in that matches the identifier of the application sent by the user, and sends information about the functions that can be realized by the found plug-in to the mobile phone for display and selection by the user.

The information about the functions that can be realized by the plug-in may be information read by the plug-in platform from the installation package of the queried plug-in.

Step 24: The plug-in management module in the mobile phone determines the identifier of the plug-in selected by the user and sends it to the server of the application store.

Step 25: The server of the application store obtains the installation package of the plug-in that matches the identifier of the plug-in sent by the mobile phone, and sends it to the mobile phone.

In step 26, the interface implementation module of the plug-in platform in the mobile phone receives the plug-in installation package sent by the application store server; and after determining that the plug-in installation package matches the local operating system based on the interface identifier in the plug-in installation package, installs the plug-in installation package.

Step 27: The user clicks the "Contacts" icon displayed on the mobile phone.

The icon is displayed on the mobile phone's operating interface after the plug-in installation package is successfully installed locally on the mobile phone.

In Example 2, when a user clicks the "Contact Book" icon displayed on the mobile phone, it is equivalent to sending an application plug-in search instruction to the mobile phone, and the application plug-in search instruction includes the identifier of the "Contact Book" application.

Step 28: The plug-in management module of the plug-in platform in the mobile phone determines, based on the identifier of the "address book", a plug-in whose identifier matches the identifier of the "address book" from among the locally installed plug-ins;

In step 29, the interface implementation module of the plug-in platform in the mobile phone loads the plug-in selected by the user into the configuration file of the "Contacts" application and runs it.

By executing step 29 , the functions that can be realized by the selected plug-in can be provided to the user.

By adopting the above method provided in Example 2, users can select plug-ins for implementing different functions of the application according to their own needs. Therefore, this method has high flexibility and can avoid the problem that the existing technology has poor flexibility and may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

Similarly, when a user wants to update the function of a locally installed application, he or she may send a plug-in identifier to the application store server to request a plug-in for implementing the specific function of the application, thereby completing the operation of installing the plug-in locally on the user terminal.

Example 3

To address the problem of poor flexibility in existing technologies, which may result in a mismatch between installed applications and user functional requirements, Embodiment 3 of the present application provides an application function implementation device. The device mainly includes: a plug-in identification sending unit 31, an installation unit 32, an instruction acquisition unit 33, and a plug-in determination unit 34. The specific functions of each unit are as follows:

The plug-in identification sending unit 31 is configured to send the plug-in identification to the server.

The installation unit 32 is configured to obtain and install the installation package of the plug-in sent by the server according to the plug-in identifier.

The instruction acquisition unit 33 is used to obtain an application plug-in search instruction.

The plug-in determination unit 34 is configured to determine a plug-in of an application; wherein each plug-in installed locally satisfies the requirement that a specific function can be realized by running the single plug-in.

Optionally, the plug-in determination unit specifically includes:

The identification determination subunit is used to determine the identification of the application according to the application plug-in search instruction;

The plug-in matching subunit is configured to determine, based on the identification of the application, a plug-in having a plug-in identification that matches the identification of the application from among the locally installed plug-ins.

Alternatively, the plug-in determining unit is configured to determine a plug-in that responds to the application plug-in search instruction.

Optionally, the apparatus provided in Example 3 may further include a plug-in execution unit. The plug-in execution unit is configured to: run the plug-in of the determined application; update at least one of the plug-ins of the determined application; or delete at least one of the plug-ins of the determined application.

Optionally, in order to enable the user to know the plug-ins available to the user terminal, the device provided in Example 3 may also include: a loading unit, which is used to load the determined application plug-in into the application configuration file after the plug-in determination unit determines the application plug-in and before the plug-in execution unit runs the determined application plug-in.

Optionally, in the apparatus provided in Example 3, the plug-in execution unit may be specifically configured to assign the same process identifier to at least two plug-ins among the determined application plug-ins; and to run the at least two plug-ins. The single plug-in assigned the same process identifier satisfies the following conditions: during execution, the single plug-in can call resources of other plug-ins assigned the same process identifier.

Optionally, installing the plug-in installation package includes: judging whether the plug-in installation package matches the local operating system based on the interface identifier in the plug-in installation package; wherein the interface identifier is used to indicate the local operating system that the plug-in installation package can match; when the judgment result indicates that the interface identifier matches the local operating system, running the plug-in installation package.

Optionally, corresponding to an implementation method of the plug-in identifier sending unit function, the plug-in identifier sending unit can also be used to display at least one plug-in identifier sent by the server, receive a plug-in identifier selection instruction, select a plug-in identifier from at least one plug-in identifier according to the plug-in identifier selection instruction, and send the selected plug-in identifier to the server; or, be used to display plug-in description information corresponding to at least one plug-in sent by the server, receive a plug-in selection instruction, and send the selected plug-in identifier to the server.

Optionally, in order to solve the problem of poor flexibility in calling application functions in the prior art, the device provided in Example 3 may also include: a sending unit for sending a function call request to the plug-in of the determined application; and a receiving unit for receiving the function call result fed back by the sending unit.

Optionally, the device provided in Example 3 may further include: sending a function call request to the determined application plug-in via the first interface, and receiving a function call result fed back by the determined application plug-in via the second interface.

The device provided in Example 3 can send a plug-in identifier to the server to request the installation and search of a plug-in used to implement part of the application's functions, thereby supporting the local application with corresponding functions based on the user's actual needs, solving the problem of poor flexibility in existing technologies that may cause the installed application to not match the user's functional requirements for the application.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Thus, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

The present invention is described with reference to the flowcharts and/or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that each process and/or box in the flowchart and/or block diagram, as well as the combination of processes and/or boxes in the flowchart and/or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPUs), input/output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.

Memory may include non-permanent storage in a computer-readable medium, random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatile memory in the form of read-only memory (ROM) or flash RAM. Memory is an example of a computer-readable medium.

Computer-readable media include permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media that can be implemented by any method or technology to store information. The information can be computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other non-transmission media that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, computer-readable media does not include transitory computer-readable media (transitory media), such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "includes," or any other variations thereof are intended to encompass non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, commodity, or apparatus that includes a series of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly listed, or includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity, or apparatus. In the absence of further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprises a ..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, commodity, or apparatus that includes the element.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

The foregoing is merely an embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the present application may have various changes and variations. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application should all be included within the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims (16)

1. A processing method for an application, characterized in that the method comprises: Send the plugin identifier to the server; Obtain the installation package of the plugin sent by the server based on the plugin identifier and install it; Obtain application plugin search instructions; According to the application search instruction, the application identifier is determined; according to the application identifier, from the plugins installed locally, a plugin with a plugin identifier that matches the application identifier is determined, a function call request is sent to the determined application plugin, and the function call result is received from the determined application plugin; wherein, the determined application plugin satisfies the following condition: by calling the determined application plugin, a specific function can be achieved. 2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein determining the application plugin comprises: Identify the plugin that responds to the application plugin search command. 3. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises: Run the plugin for the identified application; or Update at least one of the identified plugins for the application; or Delete at least one plugin from the identified plugins for the application. 4. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, after determining the application's plugin and before running the determined application's plugin, the method further includes: The identified plugins for the application are loaded into the application's configuration file. 5. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that running the determined application plugin includes: Assign the same process identifier to at least two plugins among the identified plugins of the application; Run at least two of the aforementioned plugins; Among them, a single plugin assigned the same process identifier satisfies the following condition: the single plugin can call the resources of other plugins assigned the same process identifier during operation. 6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the installation package for the installation plugin comprises: Based on the interface identifier in the plugin's installation package, determine whether the plugin's installation package matches the local operating system; wherein, the interface identifier is used to indicate the local operating system that the plugin's installation package can match; When the determination result indicates that the interface identifier matches the local operating system, the installation package of the plugin is run. 7. The method as described in claim 1, wherein sending the plugin identifier to the server includes: Display at least one plugin identifier sent by the server, receive a plugin identifier selection instruction, select a plugin identifier from the at least one plugin identifier according to the plugin identifier selection instruction, and send the selected plugin identifier to the server; or Display the plugin description information corresponding to at least one plugin sent by the server, receive the plugin selection instruction, and send the selected plugin identifier to the server. 8. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that a function call request is sent to the determined plugin of the application through a first interface, and a function call result is received from the determined plugin of the application through a second interface. 9. A processing apparatus for an application, characterized in that the apparatus comprises: The plugin identifier sending unit is used to send the plugin identifier to the server; The installation unit is used to obtain and install the installation package of the plugin sent by the server according to the plugin identifier. The instruction unit is used to obtain the application plugin search instruction; The plugin determination unit is used to determine the identifier of the application according to the plugin search instruction; and to determine, from the plugins installed locally, a plugin whose identifier matches the identifier of the application according to the identifier of the application; wherein the determined plugin of the application satisfies the following condition: a specific function can be achieved by calling the determined plugin of the application. The sending unit is used to send a function call request to the identified plugin of the application; The receiving unit is used to receive the function call result fed back by the sending unit. 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that: The plugin determination unit is used to determine the plugins that respond to the application plugin search command. 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises: A plugin execution unit, used to run the identified plugins for the application; or Update at least one of the identified plugins for the application; or Delete at least one plugin from the identified plugins for the application. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus further comprises: The loading unit is used to load the determined plugins of the application into the application's configuration file after the plugin determination unit determines the plugins of the application and before the plugin execution unit runs the determined plugins of the application. 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that: A plugin execution unit is configured to assign the same process identifier to at least two plugins among the identified plugins of the application; and run the at least two plugins. Among them, a single plugin assigned the same process identifier satisfies the following condition: the single plugin can call the resources of other plugins assigned the same process identifier during operation. 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that: The installation unit is used to determine whether the installation package of the plugin matches the local operating system based on the interface identifier in the installation package of the plugin; wherein, the interface identifier is used to indicate the local operating system that the installation package of the plugin can match. When the determination result indicates that the interface identifier matches the local operating system, the installation package of the plugin is run. 15. The apparatus as described in claim 9, wherein the plug-in identifier sending unit is configured to display at least one plug-in identifier sent by the server, receive a plug-in identifier selection instruction, select a plug-in identifier from the at least one plug-in identifier according to the plug-in identifier selection instruction, and send the selected plug-in identifier to the server; or, configured to display plug-in description information corresponding to at least one plug-in sent by the server, receive a plug-in selection instruction, and send the selected plug-in identifier to the server. 16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises: The system sends function call requests to the identified plugins of the application through the first interface and receives function call results from the identified plugins of the application through the second interface.