Method, medium and system for an integrated application store for a user device

Abstract

Methods, systems and machine readable tangible storage media that integrate an application store in a user device. In one embodiment, a selected document that cannot be used as selected triggers a request to an application store server to determine an availability of applications to use the document as selected. The user device enhances the display of the document selection interface to allow the user to display an application store interface to purchase the application. The purchased application is downloaded and installed on the user device, and the user is optionally apprised of the progress of the purchase with an animated icon representing the application “flying” from the application store interface and “landing” in a dock area within the display on the user device when ready for subsequent launch. Other embodiments are also described.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method for generating an application store access interface on a data processing system, the method comprising:
 receiving, on the data processing system, a first user input selecting an object;   determining, in response to the first user input, whether an application store includes an application for download suitable for accessing the object based at least in part on data received over a network connection from a server, the server being remote from the data processing system; and   generating, on the data processing system in response to a determination that the application store includes an application suitable for accessing the object, the application store access interface providing access to the application store.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein generating the application store access interface includes generating a dialog box with a button for launching an application store interface on the data processing system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein generating the application store access interface includes generating a menu including a first menu item for launching an application store interface on the data processing system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein generating the menu includes generating a second menu item to launch an application already installed on the data processing system capable of accessing the object. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 identifying, in response to the first user input, an installed application capable of accessing the object;   determining whether the installed application is capable of generating or editing objects of the same type as the object; and   in response to determining that the installed application cannot generate or edit objects of the same type as the object, determining whether the application store includes an application suitable for generating or editing objects of the same type as the object.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining whether the application store includes an application includes transmitting, over the network connection to the server, information identifying the object, wherein the information identifying the object is one of a uniform type identifier, a document type, a file type, or a file extension. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising generating, on the data processing system, an application store interface listing applications available for purchase and download over the network connection to the data processing system. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein generating the application store interface includes ranking the listing of applications available for purchase and download, wherein the listing of available applications includes more than one available application. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 downloading, in response to a selection of an available application for download from the application store interface, over the network connection onto the data processing system a selected application for accessing the object; and   automatically installing the selected application upon download to the data processing system.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising automatically launching the selected application after installation, and accessing the object with the selected application. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a data processing system, cause the data processing system to:
 receive, on the data processing system, a first user input selecting a user interface element representing a file accessible by the data processing system;   transmit, in response to the first user input, data identifying a type of the file to an application store server over a network connection;   receive, from the application store server, an indication that the application store server maintains an application suitable for accessing the file; and   generating, on the data processing system in response to receiving the indication that the application store server maintains the application suitable for accessing the file, an application store access interface to enable a user of the data processing system to select the application suitable for accessing the file.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the data processing system to generate the application store access interface include instructions that generate a dialog box with a button for launching an application store interface. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the data processing system to generate the application store access interface include instructions that generate a menu including a first menu item for launching an application store interface. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions that cause the data processing system to generate the menu include instructions to generate a second menu item to launch an application already installed on the data processing system capable of accessing the object. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that cause the data processing system to:
 identify, in response to the first user input, an installed application capable of accessing the file;   determine whether the installed application is capable of generating or editing a file type of the file; and   in response to determining that the installed application cannot generate or edit the file type, determining whether the application store service maintains an application suitable for generating or editing the file type.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the data processing system to transmit data identifying the type includes transmitting one of a uniform type identifier, a document type, a file type, or a file extension. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , further comprising instructions that cause the data processing system to generate a application store interface listing applications available for purchase and download over the network connection to the data processing system. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions that cause the data processing system to generate the application store interface include instructions to rank the listing of available applications, wherein the listing of applications available for purchase and download includes more than one available application suitable for accessing the file. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , further comprising instructions that cause the data processing system to:
 download, in response to a selection of an available application for download from the application store interface, over the network connection onto the data processing system a selected application for accessing the file; and   automatically install the selected application upon download to the data processing system.   
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 20 , further comprising instructions that cause the data processing system to automatically launch the selected application after installation, and access the file with the selected application 
     
     
         22 . A data processing system comprising:
 a network interface;   a processor;   a display controller;   a memory device coupled to the processor and including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the data processing system to:   receive a first user input selecting an object represented on a display by the display controller;   determine, in response to the first user input, whether an application store includes an application for download suitable for accessing the object based at least in part on data received over the network interface from an application store server remote from the data processing system;   generate, in response to determining that the application store includes an application suitable for accessing the object, a user interface providing access to the application store; and   display, via the display controller, the user interface providing access to the application store.   
     
     
         23 . The data processing system of  claim 22 , further comprising instructions that cause the data processing system to:
 identify, in response to the first user input, an installed application capable of accessing the object;   determine whether the installed application is capable of generating or editing objects of the same type as the object; and
 in response to determining that the installed application cannot generate or edit objects of the same type as the object, determine whether the application store includes an application suitable for generating or editing objects of the same type as the object.