Abstract: A method includes receiving, by a processing system, a search query and a device type identifier from a user device and identifying, by the processing system, a consideration set of application records based on the search query and the device type identifier. Each application record of the consideration set corresponds to a respective software application and has an initial score associated therewith indicating a degree to which the application record matches the search query. The method also includes determining, by the processing system, a result score of the application record based on the initial score and features corresponding to the application record for each application record. The method further includes generating, by the processing system, device-specific search results based on the consideration set of application records and the result scores thereof and transmitting, by the processing system, the device-specific search results to the user device.

Abstract: A method includes determining, by a processing device of a user device, whether a set of crawling conditions are net by the user device, and generating, by the processing device a work request in response to the set of crawling conditions being met by the user device. The method also includes transmitting, by the processing device, the work request to a content acquisition server, and receiving, by the processing device, one or more crawling tasks from the content acquisition server. For each crawling task, the method further includes, requesting content from a content server based on information contained in the crawling task, receiving the content from the content server, and transmitting the content to the content acquisition server.

Abstract: A method for recommending content based on user profiles clustered by subscription data includes receiving usage data of users. The usage data for each user includes device usage data and subscription data associated with the one or more applications installed on the user device. The method further includes receiving a recommendation request from a first user device of a first user for new subscription data and determining first usage data of the first user. The method also includes identifying a second user having second usage data that has a threshold similarity to the first usage data amongst the users. The method includes determining the new subscription data as being at least some of the subscription data of the second usage data that is different than the subscription data of the first usage data and outputting the new subscription data to the user device of the first user.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a search query and a device type identifier from a user device at a processing system. The method also includes identifying a consideration set of application records based on the search query. Each application record in the consideration set has an initial score associated therewith indicating a degree to which the application record matches the search query. For each application record, the method includes determining a device-specific rating of the software application identified in the application record based on the device type identifier by the processing system, and determining a result score of the application record based on the device-specific rating and the initial score. The method further includes generating device-specific search results based on the consideration set of application records and the result scores thereof by the processing system and transmitting the device-specific search results from the processing system to the user device.

Abstract: Techniques include transmitting a search query to a search system and receiving search results from the search system. The search results include an application access mechanism (AAM) that specifies a native application state and an application download address (ADA) that indicates a location for downloading the application. The search results also include preview data associated with the state and/or a web access mechanism (WAM) that specifies a web-based application state. The techniques further include generating a selectable link including the AAM, ADA, and one or both of the preview data and WAM, displaying the link, and receiving a user selection of the link. The techniques also include, in response to receiving the user selection, performing one or more of downloading, installing, and launching the native application, and setting the application into the state, displaying the preview data, and launching the web-based application, and setting the application into the web state.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a translation request including an application-independent function name and one or more parameters from a user device. The method further includes retrieving a translation record, the translation record including the application-independent function name of the translation request, one or more access mechanism templates, and template rules for generating a completed access mechanism based on the access mechanism templates. Additionally, the method includes generating one or more completed access mechanism based on the one or more parameter values, the access mechanism templates, and the template rules, generating translation results based on the completed access mechanisms, and transmitting the translation results to the user device. The translation results are configured to be displayed as user-selectable links.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a search query containing one or more query terms from a remote device, determining one or more entity types implicated by the search query based on the one or more query terms, and determining an entity score indicating a likelihood that the search query implicates the entity type. The method also includes identifying one or more index clusters from index clusters to search based on the one or more entity types implicated by the search query, generating a query execution plan based on the entity scores, and performing a consumer driven search on the identified index clusters based on a set of query terms corresponding to the one or more query terms and in accordance with the query execution plan to identify a delivery consideration set of records. The method also includes generating delivery search results based on the delivery consideration set of records.

Abstract: A method includes receiving an indication from a user device of one or more installed applications on the user device, receiving a partial search query from the user device, and identifying one or more application states of the one or more installed applications based on the partial search query and auto-suggest data. The auto-suggest data associates application states of the one or more installed applications with keywords corresponding to the respective application states and is at least partially based on content feed data corresponding to application states of the one or more installed applications. The method further includes generating auto-suggest search results including one or more application access mechanisms of the identified one or more application states and transmitting the auto-suggest search results to the user device.

Abstract: An application search system provides search results for applications based on one or more attributes of the applications. A search query is received by the application search system from a partner. The application search system retrieves a set of applications in response to the search query. In addition, the application search system receives, from one or more sources, restrictive information regarding one or more security attributes for one or more applications in the set of applications. A security value is generated for each of the one or more applications in the set of applications. The security value includes a security attribute value for each of the one or more security attributes. The application search system provides the retrieved set of applications for display at a user interface to the partner. Furthermore, each generated security value is also displayed in conjunction with the corresponding application.

Abstract: Techniques include receiving a user input (e.g., a text string), transmitting the input to a search system (e.g., as a search query), and receiving search results from the system in response to transmitting the input. The techniques further include determining whether the user input includes a message (e.g., using the user device, search system, or another system or device). The techniques include, when the user input includes a message, generating a messaging result that indicates a messaging software application (app) (e.g., which may or may not be installed on the user device), and displaying the search results and the messaging result at the device. The techniques also include, when the user input does not include a message, refraining from generating the messaging result, and displaying the search results at the user device without displaying the messaging result.

Abstract: A method includes receiving advertisement data from a plurality of advertiser devices and generating advertisement records in a data store based on the advertisement data. Each of the advertisement records includes an entity name associated with an advertisement, an action associated with the advertisement, and a bid price. The method further includes receiving an advertisement request from a search system, the advertisement request including an entity name and an action associated with an application state included in a set of search results generated by the search system. Additionally, the method includes selecting an advertisement record having the entity name indicated in the advertisement request and having a different action than the action indicated in the advertisement request, generating an advertisement result based on the selected advertisement record, and transmitting the advertisement result to the search system. The advertisement result is configured to be included in a search result.

Abstract: Techniques include receiving a search query from a user device, performing a search for software applications using the search query, and generating a preliminary set of one or more software applications identified during the search. The techniques further include generating a similarity set of one or more software applications that are each similar to at least one of the one or more software applications of the preliminary set, generating a modified set of one or more software applications based on the preliminary set and the similarity set, and transmitting the modified set to the user device. In some examples, generating the modified set based on the preliminary set and the similarity set includes one or more of increasing a rank value of an existing software application included in the preliminary set, and adding a new software application not included in the preliminary set to the preliminary set.

Abstract: A method includes receiving, at a computing device, a search query from a remote device. The method further includes identifying a primary set of application state records, selecting a first application state record from the primary set of application state records, and identifying an entity name and action associated with the first application state record. The method further includes identifying a second application state record associated with the same entity name as the first application state record and a different action than the first application state record. Additionally, the method includes generating a combined result based on the first application state record and the second application state record, generating search results based on the primary set of application state records, and transmitting the search results to the remote device. The search results include the combined result in addition to search results based on the primary set of application state records.

Abstract: Techniques include receiving a search query from a user device, determining native applications installed on the user device, and identifying function records based on the search query and the applications. In this example, each function record includes an application access mechanism (AAM) and application state information (ASI). The AAM references a native application and indicates operations for it to perform. The ASI describes a state of the application after it has performed the operations. In this example, identifying the function records based on the applications includes determining that the AAM included in each function record references one of the applications. The method further includes selecting AAMs from the identified function records, and transmitting the AAMs to the user device. Other techniques include receiving AAMs at a user device, determining native applications installed on the user device, and displaying only those of the received AAMs that reference any of the applications.

Abstract: A method includes receiving, at a computing device, a search query from a general purpose search system or a user device in communication with the general purpose search system and assessing, at the computing device, a special purpose search intent of the search query. The method also includes sending a recommendation from the computing device to at least one of the general purpose search system or the user device, the recommendation indicating whether to send the search query to a special purpose search system to obtain special purpose search results.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for facilitating re-creation of an application collection of a source computing device at a destination computing device. The techniques include receiving a source application identifier indicative of a source application edition, the edition of the application being programmed for a source operating system. The techniques also include receiving an indicator of a destination operating system. The techniques further include determining a source canonical application corresponding to the source application edition based on the source application identifier, the source canonical application being a representative of one or more application editions including the source application edition.

Abstract: A method of performing a search includes receiving, at a computing device, search results transmitted from a search system in communication with the computing device. The search results include a header for an application executable on the computing device and application access mechanisms associated with the header. Each application access mechanism has a reference to the application and indicates one or more performable operations for the application. The method includes displaying, on a display in communication with the computing device, a graphical user interface including the header, an expansion element associated with the header, and user selectable access links grouped with the header. Each access link is associated with an application access mechanism for the application. The expansion element has an expanded state and a collapsed state.

Abstract: Disclosed are techniques for a method for generating search results that indicate to a user whether the applications listed in the search results have been installed on one or more of their user devices. A search engine obtains one or more user device profiles and combines them to generate a master device profile. The search engine is further configured to provide search results that indicate the installation history of the applications appearing in the search results based on the master device profile. The master device profile contains the installation history of applications across the user devices associated to a particular user. A user device can be configured to generate and maintain a master device profile and can tag search results received from the search engine accordingly.

Abstract: A disclosed system, method, and computer-readable storage medium automatically identify, cluster, and cross-reference various editions of an application. The editions are clustered and associated with a canonical application structure describing the general functionality of each edition in the cluster. When an application search query is received from a client device, one or more canonical applications corresponding to the query are identified and provided to the client device. Enhancing the relevancy of search results by merging several editions of an application into one canonical application structure reduces unwanted and redundant results on a search result page.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a request from a user device executing a native application. The request indicates an accessed state of the native application to which the native application is set. The method includes identifying one or more categories of the accessed state of the native application and recommended application resource identifiers based on features of the accessed state. Each of the recommended application resource identifiers references a different state of a native application, When a native application is selected by the user, the method includes setting the native application to the different state. For each of the application resource identifiers, the method includes identifying one or more recommended categories of the state referenced by the recommended application resource identifier and determining whether to recommend the different state referenced by the recommended application resource identifier based on features of the accessed state and features of the state of the application.