Deep application crawling

Abstract

The deep application crawling technique described herein crawls one or more applications, commonly referred to as “apps”, in order to extract information inside of them. This can involve crawling and extracting static data that are embedded within apps or resource files that are associated with the apps. The technique can also crawl and extract dynamic data that apps download from the Internet or display to the user on demand, in order to extract data. This extracted static and/or data can then be used by another application or an engine to perform various functions. For example, the technique can use the extracted data to provide search results in response to a user query entered into a search engine. Alternately, the extracted static and/or dynamic data can be used by an advertisement engine to select application-specific advertisements. Or the data can be used by a recommendation engine to make recommendations for goods/services.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   memory that comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising:
 responsive to receipt of a query from a mobile computing device, executing a search over indexed data for content related to the query, the indexed data comprises data extracted from an application that is available for download from a marketplace of applications; and 
 based upon the search, providing search results to the mobile computing device, the search results comprise at least one of:
 the data extracted from the application; or 
 an option to download the application from the marketplace. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the application is a mobile application that is configured for installment on the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         3 . The computing system of  claim 2 , wherein the application is a location-based application that is configured to present location-specific information on a display of the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the search results further comprise a link to a web page. 
     
     
         5 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the data extracted from the application comprises data extracted from binary code of the application. 
     
     
         6 . The computing system of  claim 5 , wherein the data extracted from the binary code of the application comprises hyperlinks. 
     
     
         7 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the data extracted from the application comprises data retrieved by the application from a web page. 
     
     
         8 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the data extracted from the application, when included in the search results, is indicated as corresponding to the application. 
     
     
         9 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the option to download the application from the marketplace includes a request to purchase the application from the marketplace. 
     
     
         10 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the query is registered with the computing system as an alert request, and wherein the at least one processor periodically executes the search over the indexed data based upon the query being registered with the computing system as an alert request. 
     
     
         11 . A method executed by at least one computer processor, the method comprising:
 in response to receipt of a query from a mobile computing device, executing a search over indexed data, the indexed data comprises data extracted from within an application, the application is configured to be executed on the mobile computing device, the application available for download from a marketplace of applications, wherein the data extracted from within the application is identified during the search as being relevant to the query; and   transmitting search results to the mobile computing device based upon the search, the search results transmitted for display on the mobile computing device, the search results comprise a selectable option to download the application from the marketplace of applications.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , the search results further comprise the data extracted from within the application. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , the data extracted from within the application, when included in the search results, comprises an indicator that the data extracted from within the application corresponds to the application. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , the marketplace of applications comprises a plurality of applications that are configured to be installed and executed on the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , the mobile computing device being a mobile telephone. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 identifying an advertisement based upon the data extracted from within the application; and   causing the advertisement to be presented with the search results on the mobile computing device.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , the data extracted from within the application being data extracted from at least one of binary code of the application or source code of the application. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , the data extracted from within the application being data extracted from a resource file of the application. 
     
     
         19 . Computer-readable memory comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:
 searching over indexed data based upon a query received from a mobile computing device, the indexed data comprises data extracted from a mobile application that is available for download and installment from an application marketplace, the application marketplace comprises a plurality of mobile applications that are available for download and installment on the mobile computing device;   determining that the data extracted from the mobile application is relevant to the query; and   transmitting search results to the mobile computing device responsive to determining that the data extracted from the mobile application is relevant to the query, the search results comprise an option to download the mobile application from the application marketplace.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 19 , the search results further comprise the data extracted from the mobile application.