System and method for mobile application deep linking

Abstract

A system and method for application deep linking is presented. A request is received, via a communications network, from a computing device of a user for a first web page of a website and a content of the first web page is retrieved from a first computer server via a communications network. A deep link setting is retrieved for the first web page of the website from a data storage server and a uniform resource indicator is inserted into the first web page to create a modified content of the first web page. The uniform resource indicator includes the deep link setting and, when executed by the computing device of the user, the uniform resource indicator causes the computing device to load an application identified by the uniform resource indicator. The modified content of the first web page is transmitted to the computing device of the user.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A server, comprising:
 a proxy server having at least one processor to execute program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor of the proxy server to:
 receive, via a communications network, from a computing device associated with a user, a request for a first web page of a website; 
 retrieve, via the communications network, a content of the first web page from a first computer server; 
 retrieve at least one deep link setting for the first web page of the website from a data storage, 
 construct a uniform resource indicator that comprises the deep link setting and identifies at least one software application, 
 modify a hypertext markup language code associated with the first web page to insert the uniform resource indicator into the first web page to create a modified content of the first web page; and wherein the uniform resource indicator is configured, when executed by the computing device of the user, to cause the computing device to load the deep link software application identified by the uniform resource indicator; and 
 transmit the modified content of the first web page to the computing device associated with the user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The server of  claim 1 , wherein the uniform resource indicator comprises at least one portion of a uniform resource locator identifying the first web page of the website. 
     
     
         3 . The server of  claim 2 , wherein the program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor of the proxy server to append the at least one portion of the uniform resource locator to the deep link setting to generate the uniform resource indicator. 
     
     
         4 . The server of  claim 1 , wherein the software application is a mobile application. 
     
     
         5 . The server of  claim 4 , wherein the deep link setting identifies a first mobile application associated with a first operating system and a second mobile application associated with a second operating system. 
     
     
         6 . The server of  claim 5 , wherein the program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor of the proxy server to encode the deep link setting into a domain name server (DNS) record associated with the website. 
     
     
         7 . The server of  claim 6 , wherein the program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor of the proxy server to encode the deep link setting into a domain name text record associated with the website. 
     
     
         8 . The proxy server of  claim 6 , wherein the program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor of the proxy server to instruct a DNS to store the DNS record in association with an Internet protocol address of the proxy server. 
     
     
         9 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by at least one processor, via a communications network, from a computing device associated with a user, a request for a first web page of a website;   retrieving, by the at least one processor, via the communication network, a content of the first web page from a first computer server;   retrieving, by the at least one processor, at least one deep link setting for the first web page of the website from a data storage;   constructing, by the at least one processor, a uniform resource indicator that comprises the at least one deep link setting and identifies at least one software application;   modifying, by the at least one processor, a hypertext markup language code associated with the first web page; and   
       inserting, by the at least one processor, the uniform resource indicator into the first web page to create a modified content of the first web page, and wherein the uniform resource indicator is configured that when executed by the computing device of the user, to cause the computing device associated with the user to load the at least one software application identified by the uniform resource indicator; and
 transmitting, by the at least one processor, the modified content of the first web page to the computing device associated with the user. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the uniform resource indicator includes at least one portion of a uniform resource locator identifying the first web page of the website. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising generating, by the at least one processor, the uniform resource indicator by appending, by the at least one processor, the at least one portion of the uniform resource locator to the deep link setting 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the deep link setting identifies a first mobile application associated with a first operating system and a second mobile application associated with a second operating system. 
     
     
         13 . A system, comprising
 a gateway computing device having at least one processor to execute a program code when executed by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor of the gateway computing device to:   receive, via a communications network, from a computing device associated with a user, a request for a first web page of a website;   wherein the first web page of the website is hosted at a hosting server;   retrieve at least one deep link setting for the first web page from a data storage;   construct a uniform resource indicator that comprises the at least one deep link setting;   automatically insert the uniform resource indicator into the first web page to generate a modified content of the first web page; and   dynamically update the first webpage to the modified content before the first webpage is transmitted to the computing device associated with a user.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the uniform resource indicator when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to receive the modified content of the first webpage for all requests made to the website. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the gateway computing device dynamically updates a domain name system entry of the website which causes an update to the modified content of the first web page. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the gateway computing device dynamically updates a hypertext markup language of the web page which causes an update to the modified content of the first web page. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the hosting server is located on a server device that hosts the gateway computing device;
 wherein the hosting server manages domain name records of the website;   wherein the gateway computing device is configured to update the domain name records of the website to cause the website to send requests from the computing devices associated with the user for the first webpage of to the website directly to the gateway computing device;   wherein the gateway computing device is configured to access and retrieve at least one or more webpages of the website to update to the modified content.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the hosting server is located remotely from the gateway computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the gateway computing device is configured to store at least one or more webpages of the modified content of the website. 
     
     
         20 . A system, comprising
 a gateway computing device, having at least one processor to execute a program code when executed by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor of the gateway computing device to:   receive, via a communications network, from a computing device associated with a user, a request for a first web page of a website; wherein the first web page of the website is hosted at a hosting server;   receive a uniform resource locator, at least one or more domain name server text records and a domain name setting of the website   automatically map the uniform resource locator of the website by using the domain name server text records to directly link the domain name setting to at least one deep link uniform resource indicator; and   dynamically update the first webpage of the website to generate modified content before the first webpage is transmitted to the computing device associated with the user.