Contextual remote management of virtual app lifecycle

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing app lifecycles on a user device. A user device context is determined and a set of server based apps associated with the context is determined based on the context and a set of conditions associated with server based apps. An indicator for user interface elements for each server based app is sent with the indication of the context. These user interface elements are displayed to a user of the device. In an example, these user interface elements are displayed on a default pane of the device. A user interface element in some examples is able to be selected by a single interaction. Interactions between a user and a user interface for a selected app are received at a. The user interactions are processed to produce results based on the user interface inputs, and the results are sent.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method on a server, the method comprising:
 determining a first context for a user's device, the first context being a context of the user's device at a first timepoint;   determining, based on the first context and a respective set of context related conditions defined for each server based app within a plurality of server based apps, a first set of server based apps associated with the first context;   determining, based on the first context and the respective set of context related conditions, a display position for a respective indicator of a respective user interface element of one or more server based apps within the first set of server based apps;   sending, in association with an indication of the first context, a respective indicator of a respective user interface element for each server based app within the first set of server based apps;   sending to the user's device, based on determining the display position, an indication of the display position for the respective indicator of the respective user interface element of the one or more server based apps within the first set of server based apps;   receiving, at a server from the user's device based on sending the respective indicator, user interface inputs associated with a selected user interface for a selected app within the first set of server based apps;   processing, based on receiving the user interface inputs, the user interface inputs to produce results based on the user interface inputs; and   sending, based on the producing, the results.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sending, in association with the respective indicator of the respective user interface element for each server based app within the first set of server based apps, an indication of the first context. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the first context is based on context related information received from the user's device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the first context is based on at least one of user device location, user device movement, user device communications status, user device communications history, social media contacts for a user of the user device, social media activities of a user of the user device, physiological information of a user associated with the user device, calendar entries for a user of the user device, preferences of a user of the user device, or information within a profile of a user of the user device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a second context for the user's device, the second context being a context at a second timepoint after the first timepoint, the second context being a change in context from the first context;   determining, based on the second context and the respective set of context related conditions defined for each server based app within the plurality of server based apps, a second set of server based apps; and   sending, to the user's device based on determining the second set of server based apps, an indication of the second context in association with a respective indicator of a respective user interface element for each app within the second set of server based apps.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that one or more context related conditions of the respective set of context related conditions defined for at least one of the server based app from the first set of server based apps fails to be satisfied; and   removing the respective indicator for the at least one of the server based app from the user's device.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the one or more context related conditions of the respective set of context related conditions defined for the at least one of the server based app fails to be satisfied comprises:
 determining a second context for the user's device, the second context being a context at a second timepoint after the first timepoint, the second context being different from the first context; and   determining that the second context does not satisfy a set of context related conditions associated with a particular app within the first set of server based apps.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a sponsor of each app within the first set of server based apps prior to determining the first context, the respective set of context related conditions for the each app within the first set of server based apps,   wherein determining the first set of server based apps associated with the first context comprises comparing the first context for the user's device to each respective set of context related conditions for each app within the first set of server based apps.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 determining a second context for the user's device, the second context being a context at a second timepoint after the first timepoint, the second context being different from the first context;   determining that the second context does not satisfy any set of context related conditions associated with any app within the first set of server based apps; and   sending to the user's device, based on determining that the second context does not satisfy any set of context related conditions for each app within the first set of server based apps, an indication to present a default set of apps.   
     
     
         10 . A method on a user device, the method comprising:
 determining a present user device context;   receiving, from a remote processor, a respective indicator of a respective user interface element associated with each respective server based app within a first set of server based apps, each respective indicator indicating a user interface element to display for selection of its associated server based app;   receiving, at the user device from the remote processor, a respective indication of a device context defined for at least each server based app of the first set of server based apps;   determining that the present user device context matches the respective indication of a device context for one or more server based apps of the first set of server based apps;   receiving, from the remote processor, a respective display position for the respective indicator of the respective user interface element associated with at least each of the one or more server based apps; and   displaying, based on receiving the respective indicator and based on determining that the present user device context matches the respective indication of a device context, the respective user interface element associated with each of the one or more server based apps at the respective display position.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving, based on displaying the respective user interface element, a selection of a selected user interface element that is associated with a selected server based app, the selected server based app executing on the remote processor and interacting with a user interface components of the user device;   presenting on a display of the user device, based on the selection, a user interface for the selected server based app; and   exchanging with the remote processor, in conjunction with the user interface, information between the selected server based app executing on the remote processor and user interface components of the user device.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 storing, in association with the indication of a device context, the respective indicator of the respective user interface element associated with each respective server based app within the first set of server based apps; and   determining, after the storing, a change in a user device context to a new device context as the present user device context,   wherein the determining that the present user device context matches the indication of a device context is based on determining the change to a new device context.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the present user device context comprises at least one of user device location, user device movement, user device communications status, user device communications history, social media contacts for a user of the user device, social media activities of a user of the user device, physiological information of a user associated with the user device, calendar entries for a user of the user device, preferences of a user of the user device, or information within a profile of a user of the user device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining a new present user device context;   determining that the new present user device context no longer matches the indication of the device context; and   removing, based on determining that the new present user device context no longer matches the indication of the device context, the respective user interface elements associated with each server based app with in the first set of server based apps.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the respective user interface element comprises an app icon. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein displaying the respective user interface element comprises displaying the respective user interface element on a display of a mobile device. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the selection of a selected user interface element comprises at least one of a single click, a single tap, or a single touch of the respective user interface element. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the respective display position specifies a respective location on a display of a plurality of interface indicators on the user device, and
 wherein the displaying comprises displaying the respective indicator of the respective user interface element at the respective display position on a display of a plurality of interface indicators on the user device.   
     
     
         19 . A method on a server, the method comprising:
 determining a context for a user's device, wherein the context is a context of the user's device at a given point in time;   determining, based on the context and a respective set of context related conditions defined for each server based app within a plurality of server based apps, a set of server based apps associated with the context, the set of server based apps comprising a first server based app and a second server based app;   determining, based on the context and the respective set of context related conditions defined, at least a first display position on the user's device for a respective indicator of the first server based app and a second display position on the user's device for the respective indicator of the second server based app, wherein the first display position and the second display position are relative to each other; and   sending, to the user's device and in association with an indication of the first context, a respective indicator of a respective user interface element for each server based app within the set of server based apps, and the at least first display position and the second display position for the respective indicators of the first and second server based apps.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 receiving, at a server from the user's device based on sending the respective indicator, user interface inputs associated with a selected user interface for a selected app within the first set of server based apps;   processing, based on receiving the user interface inputs, the user interface inputs to produce results based on the user interface inputs; sending, based on the producing, the results;   determining that one or more context related conditions of the respective set of context related conditions defined for at least one of the server based app from the first set of server based apps fails to be satisfied; and   removing the respective indicator for the at least one of the server based app from the user's device.