System, method and computer program product for dynamically enhancing an application executing on a computing device

Abstract

A system is described that dynamically enhances a software application executing on a computing device without having to change and recompile the original application code. The system includes a staging environment that monitors the execution of the application and indexes each item of graphical and/or audio information generated by the application into a first database. A second database is then populated by manual or automated means with one or more business rules, wherein each business rule is associated with one or more of the objects indexed in the first database. The system further includes a run-time environment that identifies items of graphics and/or audio information as they are generated by the application during run-time, uses the second database to determine if an identified item is associated with a business rule, and, responsive to a determination that an identified item is associated with a business rule, applies the business rule.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 (a) intercepting a function call to an application programming interface (API) generated by a software application executing on a first computing device;   (b) determining if information associated with the function call intercepted in step (a) is associated with a business rule; and   (c) augmenting graphics or audio content to be played back by on behalf of the software application responsive to a determination that the information associated with the function call is associated with a business rule;   wherein steps (a), (b) and (c) are performed by software components that are provided on the first computing device in a manner that does not require recompiling of source code associated with the software application.