Location-aware mobile application management

Abstract

Described herein are techniques related to managing mobile applications (“apps”) of a mobile device based, at least in part, upon the determined location of the device. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile device comprising:
 a location-awareness system configured to determine a location of the mobile device;   an app-management facilitator configured to:   select one or more mobile applications (“apps”) that are associated with the determined location;   facilitate a change in use state of one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1 , further comprising a contextualizer configured to determine contextual factors of the mobile device, the app-management facilitator being further configured to select based, at least in part, upon the determined contextual factors. 
     
     
         3 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 2 , wherein the contextual factors are selected from a group consisting of mode of travel of a user of the mobile device, crowd-sourced ratings of apps, personal history of app usage at or near the determined location, crowd-sourced history of app usage at or near the determined location, identification of type of the determined location, and identification of the type of event happening at the location. 
     
     
         4 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1 , wherein the determined location of the mobile device is selected from a group consisting of a physical location, geo-location, and a logical location. 
     
     
         5 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1 , wherein the location-awareness system is further configured to determine the location using, at least in part, geo-location information obtained from a global positioning system (GPS). 
     
     
         6 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1 , wherein the location-awareness system is further configured to determine the location using, at least in part, location information obtained from one or more ambient identifiable wireless signal (IWS) sources. 
     
     
         7 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1  further comprising:
 a display configured to present thereon a user interface to a user of the mobile device, the user interface offering one or more of the selected apps are not installed on the mobile device; 
 a user input system operatively associated with the user interface, the user-input system being configured to obtain input from a user that indicates the user's choice of one or more of the selected app to install on the mobile device. 
 
     
     
         8 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1  further comprising:
 a display configured to present thereon a user interface to a user of the mobile device, the user interface offering one or more of the selected apps are not active on the mobile device; 
 a user input system operatively associated with the user interface, the user-input system being configured to obtain input from a user that indicates the user's choice of one or more of the selected app to activate on the mobile device. 
 
     
     
         9 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1 , wherein the app-management facilitator is further configured to deactivate one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device. 
     
     
         10 . A mobile device as recited by  claim 1 , wherein the app-management facilitator is further configured to change a user notification setting for one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device. 
     
     
         11 . A method of location-aware mobile application selection and management, the method comprising:
 determining a location of a mobile device;   selecting one or more mobile applications (“apps”) that are associated with the determined location;   facilitating a change in use state of one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device.   
     
     
         12 . A method as recited by  claim 11  further comprising determining contextual factors of the mobile device, wherein the selecting is based, at least in part, upon the determined contextual factors. 
     
     
         13 . A method as recited by  claim 12 , wherein the contextual factors are selected from a group consisting of mode of travel of a user of the mobile device, crowd-sourced ratings of apps, personal history of app usage at or near the determined location, crowd-sourced history of app usage at or near the determined location, identification of type of the determined location, and identification of the type of event happening at the location. 
     
     
         14 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the determined location of the mobile device is selected from a group consisting of a physical location, geo-location, and a logical location. 
     
     
         15 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the determining of the location includes, at least in part, geo-location information obtained from a global positioning system (GPS). 
     
     
         16 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the determining of the location includes, at least in part, location information obtained from one or more ambient identifiable wireless signal (IWS) sources. 
     
     
         17 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the selecting includes:
 querying a database to find a list of apps that are associated with the determined location;   choosing one or more apps from the list of apps found by the query.   
     
     
         18 . A method as recited by  claim 17  further comprising accessing the database via a communications network. 
     
     
         19 . A method as recited by  claim 17 , wherein the database includes crowd-sourced information about apps. 
     
     
         20 . A method as recited by  claim 17 , wherein the database includes crowd-sourced information about apps, wherein such information is selected from a group consisting of usage at or near locations and user-supplied ratings. 
     
     
         21 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the facilitating includes:
 presenting, via a user interface, one or more of the selected apps to a user of the mobile device, the user interface offering one or more of the selected apps are not installed on the mobile device;   obtaining an input from the user to install one or more of the presented apps on the mobile device.   
     
     
         22 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the facilitating includes:
 presenting, via a user interface, one or more of the selected apps to a user of the mobile device, wherein one or more of the presented apps are not active on the mobile device;   obtaining an input from the user to activate one or more of the presented apps on the mobile device.   
     
     
         23 . A method as recited by  claim 11 , wherein the facilitating includes actions selected from a group consisting of installing one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, activating one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, invoking one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, uninstalling one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, deactivating one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, and changing a user notification setting for one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device. 
     
     
         24 . One or more computer-readable media with processor-executable instructions stored thereon which when executed by one or more processors cause performance of operations comprising:
 determining a location of a mobile device;   determining contextual factors of the mobile device;   selecting one or more mobile applications (“apps”) that are associated with the determined location and with one or more determined contextual factors;   facilitating a change in use state of one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device.   
     
     
         25 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 24 , wherein the contextual factors are selected from a group consisting of mode of travel of a user of the mobile device, crowd-sourced ratings of apps, personal history of app usage at or near the determined location, crowd-sourced history of app usage at or near the determined location, identification of type of the determined location, and identification of the type of event happening at the location. 
     
     
         26 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 24 , wherein the determined location of the mobile device is selected from a group consisting of a physical location, geo-location, and a logical location. 
     
     
         27 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 24 , wherein the facilitating includes actions selected from a group consisting of installing one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, activating one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, invoking one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, uninstalling one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, deactivating one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device, and changing a user notification setting for one or more of the selected apps on the mobile device. 
     
     
         28 . One or more computer-readable media with processor-executable instructions stored thereon which when executed by one or more processors cause performance of operations comprising:
 determining a location of a mobile device;   determining contextual factors of the mobile device;   tracking usage of one or more mobile applications (“apps”) of the mobile device while at the determined location;   generating an association between the determined location, determined contextual factors, and the one or more tracked apps;   facilitating storage of the association in a database.   
     
     
         29 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 28 , wherein the contextual factors are selected from a group consisting of mode of travel of a user of the mobile device, crowd-sourced ratings of apps, personal history of app usage at or near the determined location, personal history of app usage en route to the determined location, crowd-sourced history of app usage at or near the determined location, identification of type of the determined location, and identification of the type of event happening at the location. 
     
     
         30 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 28 , wherein the determining the contextual factors includes determining usage of one or more apps of the mobile device while at or near the determined location. 
     
     
         31 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 30 , wherein the usage being determined for a particular app is selected from a group consisting of whether the particular app is used while at or near the determined location, how much or how long the particular app is used while at or near the determined location, whether the particular app is initiated while at or near the determined location, whether the particular app is active while at or near the determined location, whether the particular app is inactive while at or near the determined location, whether the particular app is deactivated while at or near the determined location, whether the particular app is installed while at or near the determined location, whether the particular app is uninstalled while at or near the determined location, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         32 . One or more computer-readable media as recited by  claim 28 , wherein the determined location of the mobile device is selected from a group consisting of a physical location, geo-location, and a logical location.