Searching for Software Applications Based on Application Attributes

Abstract

An application search system provides search results for applications based on one or more attributes of the applications. A search query is received by the application search system from a partner. The application search system retrieves a set of applications in response to the search query. In addition, the application search system receives, from one or more sources, restrictive information regarding one or more security attributes for one or more applications in the set of applications. A security value is generated for each of the one or more applications in the set of applications. The security value includes a security attribute value for each of the one or more security attributes. The application search system provides the retrieved set of applications for display at a user interface to the partner. Furthermore, each generated security value is also displayed in conjunction with the corresponding application.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for performing application searches, the method comprising an application search system performing the steps of:
 receiving, from a partner, a search query;   retrieving a set of application representations in response to the search query;   obtaining, from one or more sources, restrictive information regarding one or more security attributes for one or more application representations in the set of application representations;   generating a security value for each of the one or more application representations in the set of application representations, wherein the security value includes a security attribute value for each of the one or more security attributes, the security attribute value determined for each of the one or more security attributes based on the restrictive information regarding the corresponding security attribute; and   providing, for display at a user interface, the set of application representations retrieved in response to the search query, wherein each generated security value is displayed in conjunction with the corresponding application representation in the one or more application representations in the set of application representations.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 ranking the one or more application representations in the set of application representations, each application representation ranked based on the determined relevance of the application representation to the search query in conjunction with the application representation's security value.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a subset of application representations from the set of application representations, each application representation in the subset of application representations having a security value less than a threshold value; and   removing, from the set of application representations, the subset of application representations.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, from the search query, an indication that an application representation's security value be used to influence the application representation's ranking; and   ranking the one or more application representations in the set of application representations, each application representation ranked based at least in part on the application representation's security value.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more sources comprise one or more third-party sources. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the restrictive information comprises results of a security scan for the one or more application representations. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the restrictive information comprises user feedback regarding the one or more application representations. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the security value for each application representation comprises a weighted sum of the one or more security attribute values for the corresponding application representation. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the weights in the weighted sum are determined based on the preferences of the partner. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the security attribute value comprises a weighted sum of source scores, each source score determined from a source of the one or more sources based on the restrictive information regarding the security attribute. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the source score comprises a weighted sum of one or more method scores, each method score calculated by a method chosen by the source. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-implemented method for generating search indexes to support application search, the method comprising an application search system performing the steps of:
 receiving, from one or more sources, information for a plurality of application representations, the information including restrictive information regarding a plurality of security attributes for the plurality of applications;   identifying, from the received information, one or more application representations;   extracting one or more security attributes for the identified one or more application representations based on the restrictive information; and   generating one or more search indexes based on the extracted one or more security attributes for the identified one or more application representations.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 determining a security attribute value for each of the extracted one or more security attributes for the identified one or more application representations based on the restrictive information.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the step of generating one or more search indexes comprises:
 identifying a set of application representations from the one or more application representations, each application representation in the set of application representations having at least one security attribute value less than a threshold value for said security attribute; 
 removing, from the one or more application representations, the set of application representations; and 
 generating one or more search indexes based on the extracted one or more security attributes for the remaining application representations in the one or more application representations. 
 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions executable to perform steps comprising:
 receiving, from a partner, a search query;   retrieving a set of application representations in response to the search query;   obtaining, from one or more sources, restrictive information regarding one or more security attributes for one or more application representations in the set of application representations;   generating a security value for each of the one or more application representations in the set of application representations, wherein the security value includes a security attribute value for each of the one or more security attributes, the security attribute value determined for each of the one or more security attributes based on the restrictive information regarding the corresponding security attribute; and   providing, for display at a user interface, the set of application representations retrieved in response to the search query, wherein each generated security value is displayed in conjunction with the corresponding application representation in the one or more application representations in the set of application representations.   
     
     
         16 . A computer program product for performing application search, the computer program product comprising
 at least one processor; and   a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to:
 receive, from a partner, a search query; 
 retrieve a set of application representations in response to the search query; 
 obtain, from one or more sources, restrictive information regarding one or more security attributes for one or more application representations in the set of application representations; 
 generate a security value for each of the one or more application representations in the set of application representations, wherein the security value includes a security attribute value for each of the one or more security attributes, the security attribute value determined based on the restrictive information regarding the corresponding security attribute; and 
 provide, for display at a user interface, the set of application representations retrieved in response to the search query, wherein each generated security value is displayed in conjunction with the corresponding application representation in the one or more application representations in the set of application representations.