Efficient application feedback collection

Abstract

To reduce the risk of exposing personally identifiable information and reduce resource consumption while still collecting helpful screen-based experience data, an application feedback system can build an application screen library from initial screen captures. When sufficient screens of an application have been captured for the library, the application feedback system can stop collecting actual screen captures. Instead, agents at the host devices (i.e., devices hosting the application) can capture screen identifiers instead of screens and transmit the screen identifiers along with other screen-based application experience data. For screen-based application experience playback, the application feedback system constructs a playback sequence with screens from the screen library as identified by the screen identifiers. Since a screen identifier can be implemented as a basic data type, storing and transmitting of the screen identifier consumes substantially less resources than storing and transmitting of image data for a captured screen.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 after receiving first application information, determining that a minimum set of application screen images for an application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured;   instructing agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to stop capturing application screen images for the application; and   after receiving second application information, correlating screen identifiers in the second application information with images in the minimum set of application screen images.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 prior to the instruction to stop capturing application screen images, a first mobile device of the one or more mobile devices,
 capturing an image of each of a sequence of application screens displayed on the first mobile device; 
 for each application screen in the sequence of application screens, recording each detected event corresponding to the application screen; and 
 transmitting the images and the detected events as the first application information to a server. 
 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that a minimum set of application screen images for the application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured comprises at least one of:
 determining that a threshold number of application screen images have been captured for the application;   determining that an application screen image has been captured for each of a plurality of screen categories; and   determining that a period of time for capturing application screen images has expired.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that a minimum set of application screen images for the application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured comprises:
 adding application screen images in the first application information to a collection of application screen images for the application; and   determining that the collection of application screen images contains a minimum set of application screen images.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first application information comprises application screen images and a plurality of detected events representing user interaction with one or more the application screen images. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 after instructing agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to stop capturing application screen images for the application,
 determining that a first application screen image in the minimum set of application screen images has expired; and 
 instructing one or more of the agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to capture an application screen image corresponding to the first application screen image. 
 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 maintaining a collection of screen identifiers for a plurality of sessions of the application across the one or more mobile devices; and 
 maintaining a collection of application screen images for the application. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 based on a request to playback a first session, retrieving screen identifiers for the first session from the collection of screen identifiers; 
 constructing the playback of the first session with the screen identifiers for the first session, wherein constructing the playback comprises,
 for each screen identifier in the screen identifiers for the first session,
 using the screen identifier to request a corresponding application screen image from the collection of application screen images; and 
 inserting the corresponding application screen image into the playback according to a sequence of the screen identifiers for the first session. 
 
 
 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:
 after receiving first application information, determining that a minimum set of application screen images for an application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured;   instructing agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to stop capturing application screen images for the application; and   after receiving second application information, correlating screen identifiers in the second application information with images in the minimum set of application screen images.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9  further comprising instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:
 prior to the instruction to stop capturing application screen images, a first mobile device of the one or more mobile devices,
 capturing an image of each of a sequence of application screens displayed on the first mobile device; 
 for each application screen in the sequence of application screens, recording each detected event corresponding to the application screen; and 
 transmitting the images and the detected events as the first application information to a server. 
 
 
     
     
         11 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising determining that a minimum set of application screen images for the application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured comprises instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising at least one of:
 determining that a threshold number of application screen images have been captured for the application;   determining that an application screen image has been captured for each of a plurality of screen categories; and   determining that a period of time for capturing application screen images has expired.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9  further comprising instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:
 after instructing agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to stop capturing application screen images for the application,
 determining that a first application screen image in the minimum set of application screen images has expired; and 
 instructing one or more of the agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to capture an application screen image corresponding to the first application screen image. 
 
 
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9  further comprising instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:
 maintaining a collection of screen identifiers for a plurality of sessions of the application across the one or more mobile devices; 
 maintaining a collection of application screen images for the application; 
 based on a request to playback a first session, retrieving screen identifiers for the first session from the collection of screen identifiers; 
 constructing the playback of the first session with the screen identifiers for the first session, wherein constructing the playback comprises, 
 for each screen identifier in the screen identifiers for the first session,
 using the screen identifier to request a corresponding application screen image from the collection of application screen images; and 
 inserting the corresponding application screen image into the playback according to a sequence of the screen identifiers for the first session. 
 
 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor unit; and   a machine-readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processor unit to cause the apparatus to,
 after receipt of first application information, determine that a minimum set of application screen images for an application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured; 
 instruct agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to stop capturing application screen images for the application; and 
 after receipt of second application information, correlate screen identifiers in the second application information with images in the minimum set of application screen images. 
   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions to determine that a minimum set of application screen images for the application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured comprises instructions to at least one of:
 determine that a threshold number of application screen images have been captured for the application;   determine that an application screen image has been captured for each of a plurality of screen categories; and   determine that a period of time for capturing application screen images has expired.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions to determine that a minimum set of application screen images for the application executing on one or more mobile devices has been captured comprises instructions to:
 add application screen images in the first application information to a collection of application screen images for the application; and   determine that the collection of application screen images contains a minimum set of application screen images.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the first application information comprises application screen images and a plurality of detected events representing user interaction with one or more the application screen images. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 14  further comprising instructions to:
 after instructing agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to stop capturing application screen images for the application,
 determine that a first application screen image in the minimum set of application screen images has expired; and 
 instruct one or more of the agents executing on the one or more mobile devices to capture an application screen image corresponding to the first application screen image. 
 
 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14  further comprising instructions to:
 maintain a collection of screen identifiers for a plurality of sessions of the application across the one or more mobile devices; and 
 maintain a collection of application screen images for the application. 
 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19  further comprising instructions to:
 based on a request to playback a first session, retrieve screen identifiers for the first session from the collection of screen identifiers; 
 construct the playback of the first session with the screen identifiers for the first session, wherein constructing the playback comprises,
 for each screen identifier in the screen identifiers for the first session,
 use the screen identifier to request a corresponding application screen image from the collection of application screen images; and 
 insert the corresponding application screen image into the playback according to a sequence of the screen identifiers for the first session.