System and method for indexing mobile applications

Abstract

A system and method for indexing mobile applications. The method includes crawling through a plurality of data sources to detect applications accessible through a user device; for each detected application, generating metadata characterizing the application; analyzing the generated metadata to classify each detected application to at least one category; and updating an application index to include at least the classified applications and the respective classified categories.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for indexing applications accessible through a user device, comprising:
 crawling through a plurality of data sources to detect applications accessible through a user device;   for each detected application, generating metadata characterizing the application;   analyzing the generated metadata to classify each detected application to at least one category; and   updating an application index to include at least the classified applications and the respective classified categories.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 crawling through deep uniform resource locators (URLs) of each detected application;   indexing contents addressed by the deep URLs; and   saving the indexed contents in the application index.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each application is appropriate to serve categories of queries matching the at least one classified category of the application. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 receiving a query from a user device; and   searching, using the application index, for at least one application that is appropriate to serve the query.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 analyzing at least the received query; and   classifying, based on the analysis of the received query, the query to at least one category, wherein the search is based on the at least one category of the query.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 comparing the at least one category of the query to the at least one category of each indexed application;   determining, based on the comparison, whether each application is appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query; and   returning each application that is appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query to the user device.   
     
     
         7 . The method  claim 6 , wherein the at least one matching application is returned as at least one of: a native application, and a virtual application. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein determining whether each application is appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query further comprises:
 determining an appropriateness score of the application with respect to the at least one category of the query, wherein each application having an appropriateness score above a predetermined threshold is determined to be appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating the application index based on usage of the detected applications.   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing one or more processing units to execute a process, the process comprising:
 crawling through a plurality of data sources to detect applications accessible through a user device;   for each detected application, generating metadata characterizing the application;   analyzing the generated metadata to classify each detected application to at least one category; and   updating an application index to include at least the classified applications and the respective classified categories.   
     
     
         11 . A system for indexing applications accessible through a user device, comprising:
 an interface to a network for accessing a plurality of data sources over the network;   a processor; and   a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory contains instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the system to:   crawl through the plurality of data sources to detect applications accessible through a user device;   for each detected application, generate metadata characterizing the application;   analyze the generated metadata to classify each detected application to at least one category; and   update an application index to include at least the classified applications and the respective classified categories.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 crawl through deep uniform resource locators (URLs) of each detected application;   index contents addressed by the deep URLs; and   save the indexed contents in the application index.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein each application is appropriate to serve categories of queries matching the at least one classified category of the application. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 receive a query from a user device; and   search, using the application index, for at least one application that is appropriate to serve the query.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 analyze at least the received query; and   classify, based on the analysis of the received query, the query to at least one category, wherein the search is based on the at least one category of the query.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 compare the at least one category of the query to the at least one category of each indexed application;   determine, based on the comparison, whether each application is appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query; and   return each application that is appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query to the user device.   
     
     
         17 . The system  claim 16 , wherein the at least one matching application is returned as at least one of: a native application, and a virtual application. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 determine an appropriateness score of the application with respect to the at least one category of the query, wherein each application having an appropriateness score above a predetermined threshold is determined to be appropriate to serve the at least one category of the query.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 update the application index based on usage of the detected applications.