Patent Description:
The process of working with vendors to develop desired software from initial idea through final software involves many stages and can take many months or years from start to finish. This process can oftentimes result in projects dying because of the complexity and the extended time from the initial excitement of the new idea to receiving anything tangible while also paying for potentially increasing development costs. Techniques for improving this process, which can improve the design process and provide greater efficiencies for vendors, are desired.

As generally understood, the conventional approach for developing a custom software application is to engage designers to develop the interface designs, the visual component, and software developers to implement the customer requirements for the software application including the design aspect into working source and object code (e.g., adapted for selected operating systems). The interactions with the software developer may involve initial conversations, artwork, or input from designers (that develop the user interface layout). The three party interaction can result in deficiencies in efficiency, pricing, and consistency.

Overall, there can be one or more technical problems related to software development, and the integration of source code development and user interface design for software applications.

<CIT> discloses component-based software development methodology, wherein a software architecture modeling subsystem provides a component reuse recommendation function.

<CIT> discloses known systems and methods for optimizing the iOS application build process to reduce build times for highly templated mobile applications.

According to the present invention, a system for creating software is disclosed.

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a system and method that automate aspects of developing software applications. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide a process as part of a customer driven application development platform that includes a process stage that generates an early prototype of the customer's desired application for inspection and fine tuning by the customer. A computer-implemented process can be implemented that provides a platform that is accessible by a customer using conventional browsers. The platform can be a cloud service that permits the user to interact with the platform through graphical user interfaces to complete the different stages of the application development process. That would generally be understood to involve a combination of one or more computers, software implemented on the one or more computers that configures the computers to provide a specialized application, and online, Internet website access, to the functionality through a (conventional) browser or in some cases, a software application (e.g., a mobile app). The platform or system can be structured to define features as individual elements having certain characteristics such as meta data. The primary focus of this application is a subsystem directed to generating an instant prototype or quick delivery prototype. The sub-system may be part of a platform or system configured to generate code for a software application based on user selections of features and on the instant prototype. The customer can interact with the platform and by as little selecting a set of features, be able to receive a prototype. This is performed by providing a visual representation of the screen that will be displayed by the desired software based on the selected features. The prototype will be functional in that at the minimum there will be live areas in displayed screens (e.g., a representation of a mobile phone screen displayed through a web browser or other graphical user interface) that the customer can "click" or interact with that in response, will display a connected next screen. The platform can permit the user to edit the prototype or prototype demonstration by changing the flow of screen using interactive visual options such as through a displayed screen on a browser. A prototype engine can run the prototype by using meta data or structure stored for the features such as for a particular project to generate the visual display consistent with the feature. This process can for example generate the prototype, that generally simulates the expected user interactive experience, extremely quickly (immediately) in response to the user desired specification and software design such as by simply pressing a button to be able to see an early version of the desired software in operation. For example, simply by pressing a preview button, the user can be immediately cause the display of an operable interactive prototype displayed using screen or window representations. This can be at the initial process stage when a user uses the platform to specify the requirements (communicates the desired software application) and as such can also be given the ability to provide interactive feedback and design refinement with the platform interface on the proposed design requirement (including visual design) at this initial software development or engagement stage. It can be provided in other situations.

The platform is configured to automatically connect and arrange features (and corresponding screens) to provide the prototype. In some embodiments, this is performed by using underlying set of inter-feature characteristics information. This inter-feature information can be information that summarizes a history of user interaction involved in creating new software applications using features. The history may involve many different interactions including inter-screen connections. The user or customer can edit the arrangement. An advantage being that the timely and overwhelming task of handling the minutiae of selecting each feature, selecting what it connects to, and how it connects to is automatically performed. This can lead to the customer only need to conduct fine tuning. The use of historical information can provide the capability to automatically and dynamically update how features are interconnected as additional historical information are obtained, aggregated and processed for use. Overall, these are computer implemented techniques that provide a significant step forward compared to the known processes. In preferred embodiments, the platform is an online software development platform that is used by the public to engage a company to develop a particular software application for the customer. An example of such a system is illustratively described in <CIT>. The platform is configured to provide the user, a potential customer, with the ability to interact with different interactive user interfaces to intuitively specify the requirements for the desired custom software application. The platform can be configured to operate as an application in object code that interacts with the user. The platform includes a repository of existing source code for individual features that have been previously collected, used and/or tested to implement a corresponding feature. This source code can be reused, modified or compiled during the software development to produce the actual software application sought by the user. The platform includes separate from the source code and object code for the features, object code adapted into the application of the platform (operating and existing in object code) that is configured to be a simulation of an actual corresponding feature (e.g., without the need to compile the code to create the simulation). This provides dynamic live features of the software development platform that are a component of the object code of that application. The platform maintains an association between the integrated object code simulation or interactive representation and the source code for the actual feature to be used in custom developed application. These are predetermined or preconfigured aspects of the platform. Thus, the system is configured to maintain different modes of a feature, including one that is an object code simulation and one that is the source code for the actual feature for use in developed application. The platform can also include a subsystem that communicates with a set of third party software developers to communicate the requirements (via messaging) and to engage the developers to develop additional source code or desired modification that after a query to the existing database of feature source code is determined to be needed or unavailable in the repository, thus requiring the developers to create new code for requirements or selections that are not in the repository (which is communicated via the platform). The platform can also communicate the requirements internally via electrical communications and in response automatically generate or assemble source code that contains the source code for the selected features from the repository. The repository can store different version of the source code such for different operating system or different end use platforms (e.g., mobile phones versus laptops). As part of the software development process, the platform can display interfaces that requires the user to select the operating system and end user platform. The platform takes that selection into account in pricing and/or generating or assembling source code for a customer's actual application.

In operation, in embodiments of the present invention, the features and described inter feature relationship are preconfigured when a user accesses the platform to select features and select to view the prototype (instantly).

The platform can be configured to allow the user to select the desired features as a preliminary step in order to specify the requirements for the desired custom software application. In response, the platform can use that information to automatically generate pricing taking into account selected features.

The platform can therefore be configured for the user to perform the design process or a portion thereof, e.g., on its own without the need to involve designers or third party user interface design applications, and to have a general initial (mutual) understanding of expectation and scope through this process. The platform can preferably provide the user with an integrated resource for design and the automatic generation of prototypes or simulations in addition with a streamlined process for software development where there is preexisting common structure between design and development such as by way of correspondence between prototype visualization and designed corresponding source code for the actual software that is part of the platform.

Preferably, the prototyping has limited functionality and is a simulation provided through the interface of the software development platform. For example, a feature to reset a password as a prototype is configured to display the relevant custom application screens, not actually require a true login credentials or to send an email resent link. It is focused on the in-software shell interaction.

The term prototype is used herein to refer to a simulation of a desired software application (based on user requirements) graphically provided within a user interface of an online platform by displaying simulated user interfaces within the environment of the graphical interface of an online platform that provides online software development tools such as a software application development platform. The simulation corresponds to a desired actual application. This is so as to clarify that the general usage of prototype can refer to an early or experimental version of an actual software application running as opposed to a simulation within the interface of the software development platform wherein the prototype process within the software development application is adapted to collect user requirements and specify design characteristics related to contents of interfaces, interaction, and flow of the desired actual application for that customer.

<FIG> is a simplified block diagram of a distributed computer network <NUM> incorporating an embodiment of the present invention. Computer network <NUM> includes a number of client systems <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, and a server system <NUM> coupled to a communication network <NUM> via a plurality of communication links <NUM>. Communication network <NUM> provides a mechanism for allowing the various components of distributed network <NUM> to communicate and exchange information with each other.

Communication network <NUM> may itself be comprised of many interconnected computer systems and communication links. Communication links <NUM> may be hardwire links, optical links, satellite or other wireless communications links, wave propagation links, or any other mechanisms for communication of information. Various communication protocols may be used to facilitate communication between the various systems shown in <FIG>. These communication protocols may include TCP/IP, HTTP protocols, wireless application protocol (WAP), vendor-specific protocols, customized protocols, and others. While in one embodiment, communication network <NUM> is the Internet, in other embodiments, communication network <NUM> may be any suitable communication network including a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless network, an intranet, a private network, a public network, a switched network, Internet telephony, IP telephony, digital voice, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, Voice over IP (VoIP), public switched telephone network (PSTN), and combinations of these, and the like.

System <NUM> in <FIG> is merely illustrative of an embodiment and does not limit the scope of the systems and methods as recited in the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize other variations, modifications, and alternatives. For example, more than one server system <NUM> may be connected to communication network <NUM>. As another example, a number of client systems <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be coupled to communication network <NUM> via an access provider (not shown) or via some other server system. An instance of a server system <NUM> and a computing device <NUM> may be part of the same or a different hardware system. An instance of a server system <NUM> may be operated by a provider different from an organization operating an embodiment of a system for specifying an object in a design, or may be operated by the same organization operating an embodiment of a system for specifying an object in a design.

Client systems <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> typically request information from a server system which provides the information. Server systems by definition typically have more computing and storage capacity than client systems. However, a particular computer system may act as both a client and a server depending on whether the computer system is requesting or providing information. Aspects of the system may be embodied using a client-server environment or a cloud-cloud computing environment.

Server <NUM> is responsible for receiving information requests from client systems <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, performing processing required to satisfy the requests, and for forwarding the results corresponding to the requests back to the requesting client system. The processing required to satisfy the request may be performed by server system <NUM> or may alternatively be delegated to other servers connected to communication network <NUM>.

Client systems <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> enable users to access and query information or applications stored by server system <NUM>. Some example client systems include portable electronic devices (e.g., mobile communication devices) such as the Apple iPhone®, the Apple, or any device running the Apple iOS™, Android™ OS, Google Chrome OS, Symbian OS®, or Windows Mobile® OS,. In a specific embodiment, a "web browser" application executing on a client system enables users to select, access, retrieve, or query information and/or applications stored by server system <NUM>. Examples of web browsers include the Android browser provided by Google, the Safari® browser provided by Apple, the Opera Web browser provided by Opera Software, and Internet Explorer Mobile browsers provided by Microsoft Corporation, the Firefox® and Firefox for Mobile browsers provided by Mozilla®, and others.

<FIG> shows an exemplary computer system such as a client system of the present invention. In an embodiment, a user interfaces with the system through a client system, such as shown in <FIG>. Mobile client communication or portable electronic device <NUM> includes a display, screen, or monitor <NUM>, housing <NUM>, and input device <NUM>. Housing <NUM> houses familiar computer components, some of which are not shown, such as a processor <NUM>, memory <NUM>, battery <NUM>, speaker, transceiver, antenna <NUM>, microphone, ports, jacks, connectors, camera, input/output (I/O) controller, display adapter, network interface, mass storage devices <NUM>, and the like. Computer system <NUM> may include a bus or other communication mechanism for communicating information between components. Mass storage devices <NUM> may store a user application and system software components. Memory <NUM> may store information and instructions to be executed by processor <NUM>.

Input device <NUM> may also include a touchscreen (e.g., resistive, surface acoustic wave, capacitive sensing, infrared, optical imaging, dispersive signal, or acoustic pulse recognition), keyboard (e.g., electronic keyboard or physical keyboard), buttons, switches, stylus, gestural interface (contact or non-contact gestures), biometric input sensors, or combinations of these.

Mass storage devices <NUM> may include flash and other nonvolatile solid-state storage or solid-state drive (SSD), such as a flash drive, flash memory, or USB flash drive. Other examples of mass storage include mass disk drives, floppy disks, magnetic disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, fixed disks, hard disks, CD-ROMs, recordable CDs, DVDs, recordable DVDs (e.g., DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, HD-DVD, or Blu-ray Disc), battery-backed-up volatile memory, tape storage, reader, and other similar media, and combinations of these.

System <NUM> may also be used with computer systems having different configurations, e.g., with additional or fewer subsystems. For example, a computer system could include more than one processor (i.e., a multiprocessor system, which may permit parallel processing of information) or a system may include a cache memory. The computer system shown in <FIG> is but an example of a computer system suitable for use. Other configurations of subsystems suitable for use will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, in a specific implementation, the computing device is mobile communication device such as a smartphone or tablet computer. Some specific examples of smartphones include the Droid Incredible and Google Nexus One®, provided by HTC Corporation, the iPhone® or iPad®, both provided by Apple, and many others. The computing device may be a laptop or a netbook. In another specific implementation, the computing device is a non-portable computing device such as a desktop computer or workstation.

A computer-implemented or computer-executable version of the program instructions useful to practice the present invention may be embodied using, stored on, or associated with computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium may include any medium that participates in providing instructions to one or more processors for execution. Such a medium may take many forms including, but not limited to, nonvolatile, volatile, and transmission media. Nonvolatile media includes, for example, flash memory, or optical or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes static or dynamic memory, such as cache memory or RAM. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, fiber optic lines, and wires arranged in a bus. Transmission media can also take the form of electromagnetic, radio frequency, acoustic, or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

For example, a binary, machine-executable version, of the software useful to practice embodiments of the present invention may be stored or reside in RAM or cache memory, or on mass storage device <NUM>. The source code of this software may also be stored or reside on mass storage device <NUM> (e.g., flash drive, hard disk, magnetic disk, tape, or CD-ROM). As a further example, code useful for practicing embodiments of the invention may be transmitted via wires, radio waves, or through a network such as the Internet. In another specific embodiment, a computer program product including a variety of software program code to implement features of embodiments of the invention is provided.

Computer software products may be written in any of various suitable programming languages, such as C, C++, C#, Pascal, Fortran, Perl, Matlab (from MathWorks, www. com), SAS, SPSS, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, Objective-C, Objective-J, Ruby, Python, Erlang, Lisp, Scala, Clojure, and Java. The computer software product may be an independent application with data input and data display modules. Alternatively, the computer software products may be classes that may be instantiated as distributed objects. The computer software products may also be component software such as Java Beans (from Oracle) or Enterprise Java Beans (EJB from Oracle).

An operating system for the system may be the Android operating system, iPhone OS (i.e., iOS), Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Palm web OS, bada, MeeGo, Maemo, Limo, or Brew OS. Other examples of operating systems include one of the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems (e.g., Windows <NUM>, <NUM>, Me, Windows NT, Windows <NUM>, Windows XP, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows Vista, Windows <NUM>, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone <NUM>), Linux, HP-UX, UNIX, Sun OS, Solaris, Mac OS X, Alpha OS, AIX, IRIX32, or IRIX64. Other operating systems may be used.

Furthermore, the computer may be connected to a network and may interface to other computers using this network. The network may be an intranet, internet, or the Internet, among others. The network may be a wired network (e.g., using copper), telephone network, packet network, an optical network (e.g., using optical fiber), or a wireless network, or any combination of these. For example, data and other information may be passed between the computer and components (or steps) of a system useful in practicing the invention using a wireless network employing a protocol such as Wi-Fi (IEEE standards <NUM>, <NUM>1a, <NUM>. 11b, <NUM>. 11e, <NUM><NUM>, <NUM>. 11i, and <NUM>. 11n, just to name a few examples). For example, signals from a computer may be transferred, at least in part, wirelessly to components or other computers.

<FIG> illustrates a flow chart of an interactive application building process <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present invention. A user may interact from a browser or other application on their client device to participate in the process. The application development system of the present invention packages a set of selected features into a functional prototype of software application by setting up and regulating the flow of data between the features based on attributes embedded in each feature. The system implements a method that includes providing a graphical user interface on a display of a client device, the graphical user interface displaying a plurality of features from a library of features for a custom software application; receiving from the client device, by a server running a software building component, one or more selected features for the software application; automatically integrating, by the software building component, the one or more selected features to generate an integrated feature set based on attributes of each of the selected features and an inter-feature rules set, and generating on the graphical user interface an interactive visualization of a navigable prototype of the software application based on the integrated feature set. In some embodiments, the system further comprises customizing a feature by receiving from the client device one or more inputs for modifying attributes for the feature. The system may also further provide for customizing by enabling the addition, subtraction, editing, or reordering of features or the editing of connections between the features.

<FIG> illustrates a system for developing software according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes an application development software application <NUM> installed on an electronic device <NUM> and a builder software application <NUM> implemented on one or more servers <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> is preferably a desktop computer that can communicate with server via mobile networks or other wireless networks. Each of the electronic device and servers is a computer system that includes a microprocessor and volatile and non-volatile memory to configure the computer system. The computer system also includes a network connection interface that allows the computer system to communicate with another computer system over a network. Each software application may also be used independently or in conjunction with another software application to strengthen or supplement functionalities of the other software application.

The builder application <NUM> installed on the server <NUM> maintains a library of features for a software application. The library of features may be stored in a database <NUM>. The builder application <NUM> is configured to transmit to the software development application on the client computer <NUM> the library of features, to receive a selection of a set of features, integrate the selected features into an integrated build card, and generate an interactive visualization of a prototype to the software on the client device. The builder application further maintains a rules database <NUM> configured to store and update rules governing interactions including connections between features of the library.

The software development application <NUM> is configured to provide a graphical user interface that enables a customer to select and customize a set of features as part of a build card for building an early prototype of the customer's desired application for inspection and fine tuning by the customer. In some embodiments, the software development application <NUM> is a web application provided by the builder application on the server and configured to run in a conventional browser. In a preferred embodiment, the software development application is the conventional browser <NUM> configured to access an application development website provided by the server.

Feature database <NUM> an also include source code for each of the plurality of available features. The saved source code provides a repository of source code for available features that the platform can use to generate object code for the actual application (e.g., based on the selected operating system) and/or to send the source code to select third party software developers to perform desired integration or modification based on customer specified requirements. The prototype engine <NUM> preferably uses object code and related data for corresponding features (e.g., without using or compiling the source code for actual implementation) to provide simulation of a set of specified requirement and the ability to interact to arrange or rearrange graphical elements or interface interactions. The simulated features may be based on the source code from the repository in database <NUM>. Preferably, the live feature provides greater flexibility and efficiency.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present invention. The graphical user interface may be displayed in a web browser of a client computing device as part of a web page served by a server. The graphical user interface of embodiments of the present invention is configured to enable a user to select from a library of software features <NUM> to build a software application. The library of features <NUM> may be presented as a set of icons, a list, a drop down menu, or any other means of presenting information on graphical user interface.

A feature of the software application is a function or set of functions for the application. Conceptually, the feature is the atomic unit of the software project, according to embodiments of the present invention. That is, a feature is an independent unit of predefined functionality that comprises the basic building block of the software according to embodiments of the present invention. Accordingly, a feature is the smallest unit of the desired software application that the customer can employ (or need conceptualize). Further, a feature can be employed in disparate applications with minimal to no change to its core functionality, as will be described further down in this specification. This modular nature of the feature enables embodiments of the system of the present invention to build a prototype merely by logically connecting a selected set of features. In some embodiments, source code for the application or an intermediate representation thereof may be collected or assembled (and saved) based on the prototype. Embodiments of the present invention thus enable the user to select a set of features to be automatically assembled into a working prototype to serve as a basis for an application.

Functionally, a feature includes one or more screens that are logically linked and provide a particular function or set of functions for the application. For example, for a mobile application, a feature's interface may comprise a single screen or a set of logically linked screen, each of which may be invoked from another screen of the set. For a desktop application, a feature's interface may comprise a screen, a set of screens, a frame embedded in a screen provided by another feature, or combinations thereof. Each screen of the feature may exhibit one or more display regions and one or more interactive regions. The display regions serve to display content whereas the interactive region serve to interact with a user of the application, as will be described further in this specification. Metadata associated with each feature governs how each display region and region of the feature connects to other features of the library of feature. That is, a feature's metadata controls which others features it may call or be invoked by.

At the code level, a feature may represent one or more blocks of software code. For example, a feature may represent a set of objects and data configured to provide a particular function or set of functions to the software application. Thus, the one or more blocks of code may be compiled into one or more object files corresponding to the feature during the software build. The object files may be linked with other object files of other features during the software build according to the configuration of each feature to provide executable code for the application. In the alternative, the feature may correspond to one or more object files or a combination of blocks of source code and object files. For example, a feature at the code level may represent a combination of pre-processor directives, source code, object code/files, including form various libraries, standard and otherwise.

A feature may include a functionality that can be implemented in a modular fashion and that can be interchangeable between multiple software applications. For example, a feature that requires a user of software application to login (or a login feature) can be implemented using the same code and screen or interface across multiple software applications. Other features may require the same core code across multiple applications and platforms but differ in details. For example, an Account Creation feature may differ in details from one application to another depending the information that the account creation requires from the user. To that end, the software development platform of the present invention enables the user to customize a feature without modifying its core code and functionality and therefore without affecting its interchangeability between software applications.

Each feature provides an additional means to process data and/or interact with other applications and users. In the context of prototype generation for presenting a workable graphic demonstration of a prototype through a platform such as a browser, embodiments of the present invention do not necessarily need to generate source or assemble or generate object code from source code. In operation, the system will be operated as a software application that can interact with data, store and modify data, and have the application (running in object form) generate the prototype for interaction with the user via a browser for example.

Features of the software application may include for example, Account Creation, which enables the application to have users set up an account by filling out personal details on a form; Location, which enables provides the application access to the mobile device's location functions; or Push Notification, which enables the application to send notification to users when the application is closed. Typically, features provided in the graphical user interface for selection may be grouped by types of features. For example, the interface may provide a bundle of features deemed "Essentials" (which includes for example Account Creation, Search, or Two-factor Authentication), a "Finance & Payments" set (which includes Payments, Centralized Billing, or Automatic Renewal), or a "Customer Insight" (e.g., Review or Polling features).

In some embodiments, a subset of the library of features may be organized in pre-organized sets called templates. <FIG> illustrates graphical user interfaces <NUM> displaying a library of templates <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each template <NUM> of the library provides the basic functional architecture and visual layout of the software project. In particular, the template <NUM> provides a predefined and customizable basic process flow process between a set of predefined and customizable features or functions of the software application. The library of templates <NUM> may be displayed on the graphical user interface <NUM> as a set of icons, a list, a drop down menu, or any other means of presenting a set of information on a graphical user interface.

In the embodiment illustrated, the templates <NUM> are grouped by types of software, such as mobile applications for mobile devices, web applications for website, marketplace applications that help buyers and sellers transact in real time, e-commerce application, applications for wearable devices such as apple watches or google wear, or any other types of applications that may be available on consumer devices. In the embodiment illustrated, the graphical user interface <NUM> further provides examples of templates within each grouping of templates. For example, the mobile application grouping may include a list of mobile application templates such as Uber, Snapchat, Quora, Tinder, or other popular mobile applications that a customer may want to use as a model to communicate requirements for their own application. A social media grouping for templates may include Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and templates of other social media applications. It should be noted that Applicant is not affiliated with the providers of the above applications and services whose structures may provide bases for templates in some embodiments.

After the user has selected a template <NUM>, the user is provided with the opportunity to customize the software project by adding features to or removing features from the template. In some embodiments, the interface may display a set of pre-selected additional features specifically corresponding to the template. For example, if the chosen template is that of a social media app, the user may be provided with additional relevant features such as Private Messages or Take Photo. Thus, the system enables the user to build software by either selecting features individually (e.g., "a la carte") or selecting a predefined set of features or a template, building upon the template by adding or subtracting features to form the software project.

Referring back to <FIG>, in some embodiments, the builder software <NUM> on the server <NUM> may further comprise a feature selector <NUM> configured to select a set of features based on input from the user. In such embodiments, the client device <NUM> may prompt the user with various questions for specifying the type of software application and broad set of features desired, rather than presenting the user with a list of specific features. The feature selector <NUM> is configured to translate the user's input into a set of features to be integrated to form the target software application.

After the selection of features, or the selection of a template and if desired, a set of additional user-selected features for the template on the graphical user interface, the features are transmitted to the server <NUM> from the client computing device <NUM>. The template would be understood as discussed herein to include a set of predetermined interconnected features that correspond to a particular model. As described above, the selection of features may also be generated by a feature selector <NUM> that receives as input answers to prompts from the user interface and generates a selection of features therefrom. Upon receiving the selection of features from the client computing device <NUM>, the builder application <NUM> transmits the set of selected features to the integration engine <NUM>. The integration engine <NUM> is configured to assemble the selected features into an integrated build card of the software application. Specifically, the integration engine <NUM> is configured to receive a set of features, identify new or additional features from the library that may be required by the selection of features, automatically generate connections between the features of the set based on rules from the rules database and the attributes of each feature, and provide an editable visualization of the set of interconnected features or integrated build card. Elements of a feature that enable its connections with other features to form the prototype of the application are described next. The rules can include strength of feature associations, prioritized list per feature, conditional based on other selected features, or association based on phase of application use (e.g., checkout versus shopping), other rules, or combinations thereof.

<FIG> illustrates a feature <NUM> as a displayed screen of an application according to an embodiment of the present invention. As previously described, a feature <NUM> may include one or more screens and the illustrated feature comprises a single screen. The feature screen may include one or more display regions <NUM> and one or more interactive regions <NUM> (only one of each is shown to simplify the figure). The display regions <NUM> serve to display content relevant to the feature. The display region <NUM> may display text, animations, images, videos, or any information configured to be displayed by the feature of the application. The interactive regions <NUM> host interactive elements <NUM> that enable the user to interact with the application. Two types of interactive elements <NUM> are provided: input elements, and navigation elements. Input elements enable the user to provide information in the application. An input element may be a text box, a drop down menu, a radio button, and other forms of input interface elements. The navigation element enables the user to navigate to another screen in the application. In some embodiments, an interactive element <NUM> may be both an input element and a navigation element.

A particular type of interactive region <NUM>, called hotspot <NUM> herein, is configured to host a type of interactive element <NUM> that serves to call another feature. That is, some interactive elements <NUM> are links or icons in a source feature configured to activate a target or destination feature of the application (which typically involves displaying another screen) when actuated. These interactive elements <NUM> are configured to call another feature are called sidekicks <NUM> herein.

<FIG> illustrates a representation of a feature <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present invention. The feature <NUM> is illustrated as a data structure stored in a database. The feature <NUM> comprises a layout element that defines the layout of feature screen, a display element that defines the functions of the display regions of the feature screen, an interactive region element that defines the functions of the interactive regions of the feature screen (e.g., interactive elements and hotspots), rules element governing how the feature may be called, and a core function element that regulates the substantive functionality of the feature (what it actually does).

<FIG> illustrates two features 700A and 700B as displayed screens, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The first feature 700A comprises a hotspot 745A in one its interactive regions 740A that hosts a sidekick 755B for the second feature 700B. Actuating the sidekick 755B in the hotspot 745A calls the second feature 700B. For example, the first feature 700A may be a Login feature of an application. The sidekick 755B hosted by a hotspot 745A on the Login feature may be a sidekick of a Forgot Password feature 700B, which is configured to call a Forgot Password feature 700B. Actuating the Forgot Password sidekick 755B (whether by clicking, long-pressing, swiping, or by any other action allowed and specified by the sidekick) thus activates the feature 700B.

A feature comprises a set of attributes that govern how it may be called. These attributes may be stored as metadata associated with each feature. <FIG> illustrates an exemplary hierarchy of attributes <NUM> for a feature that governs the feature's interaction with other features. In particular, this hierarchy of attributes <NUM> governs the action type that can call or activate the feature (as a target feature or destination feature) from another feature (source feature). The Action Type for the subject feature can be a single action or Multi-Action. A single action may include a tap, a long press, a swipe, or a drag. Multi-Action may comprise Navigation, input, output, and edit. Thus, if the action type for an exemplary feature were Single Action, Long Press, such a feature could only be linked to by a long press on an interface element linking to the feature.

Referring back to <FIG> and <FIG>, a hotspot <NUM> in the interactive region <NUM> of a feature also comprises a set of attributes that indicate which features the hotspot <NUM> may invoke. More specifically, the attributes indicate the types of features whose sidekicks <NUM> or icons the hotspot <NUM> may host. Accordingly, the hotspot's set of attributes mirrors features' metadata that govern how the features may be called. For example, a hotspot's attributes may be single action, long press. This means that only sidekicks (or links) <NUM> of features that match these attributes (i.e., single action, long press), can be hosted in the hotspot <NUM> and therefore be called from it.

Each feature thus may comprise two sets of attributes that govern how the feature may interact with other features: a first set of attributes in the feature's metadata that determines its behavior as a destination feature, that is, which types actions may be invoked from a hotspot to call the feature, and a set of attributes that determines its behavior as a source feature, that is, which types of features one or more hotspots of the source feature can call. Table <NUM> illustrates an exemplary set of action types attributes for a feature or for a hotspot of a feature.

The integration engine <NUM> (shown in <FIG>) is configured to assemble or integrate the set of selected features into an integrated build card for the application based on the attributes for each feature (e.g., as described above) and a inter-feature rules set governing the inter-feature relationships or associations (as stored in the rules database). To automatically integrate the features of the application, the integration engine <NUM> accepts as an input the set of features received from the client device (which may include the selected template and any additional features). Specifically, the integration engine <NUM> receives a build card, which is an instance of the set of features that is instantiated from the selected set of features received from the development application <NUM> on the client device <NUM>, and generates an integrated build card based on the received build card and the inter-features rules set.

The integration engine <NUM> may retrieve the inter-feature rules set used to integrate the features from a rules database <NUM> configured to define and store the relationships between features of the library of features. The integration engine <NUM> can be configured to store common feature interconnections or feature flows and present the user with suggested interconnections or flows. This can include suggestion of proximity of features to each other within a flow of screens or pages in the application.

In some embodiments, the relationship (e.g., connections or flow) may be stored in terms of probability of connections between the features <NUM>. Other methods for storing or representing dependencies or relationships between features in the database are contemplated.

Thus, for each feature, the integration engine <NUM> automatically identifies which source features should be provided with links to the feature, based on the rules database (i.e., the graph database, in some examples). The integration engine <NUM> may also automatically determine destination features whose links the feature should host. The integration engine <NUM> is further configured to identify new or additional (i.e., features not selected by the user) that the rules database indicate may be associated with features that were selected by the user. Further, for each feature still, the integration engine determines links to which functions of the feature, and the form of those links in the source feature based on the attributes of the source and destination. For example, in an eCommerce application whose feature selection by the user include a Product feature that displays a product for sale and a Checkout feature to checkout purchases, the integration engine <NUM> may automatically determine the Product feature should call the Checkout feature based on the rules database because the rules database associates the Checkout feature with the Product feature; this may mean that a link to the Checkout feature should be placed in an interactive region of the Product feature to provide the ability to check out. Further, within each source feature, the integration engine <NUM> may cause the feature to provide a logical and optimal layout for the screen (e.g., size, shape, number, functionality of display regions and interactive regions) to accommodate the destination features whose links the source feature hosts, based on the attributes of the source and destination features. Thus, the integration engine <NUM> may automatically determine that the checkout link should be in the form of a button rather than a check box.

The integration engine <NUM> subsequently generates a screen flow view of the integrated build card on the graphical user interface of the client device. <FIG> illustrates a screen flow view of the integrated build card <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present invention. The screen flow view illustrates the software project as a set of features <NUM>, each represented by one or more screens <NUM>. The features <NUM> of the screen flow consist of the features of the selected template and set of additional selected features that are logically and automatically connected together by the integration engine <NUM> based on the rules database <NUM> and on the attributes of each feature <NUM> of the feature set. The screens <NUM> are linked by connectors <NUM> such as lines or arrows <NUM> that indicate the interaction between the features <NUM>. The connectors <NUM> may be of various types and colors to represent different types of interactions between the screens <NUM>. For example, a connector <NUM> of a certain color may indicate that the destination feature is called by a single action gesture (e.g., a tap), whereas a connector of another color may indicate a multi-action gesture. In addition to the color of the connectors, other visual indicators (thickness, dashed lines, etc.) may serve to indicate the type of interaction between the source and the destination feature. The screen flow view enables the developer to visualize the interactions between the various features <NUM> of the application.

The system further enables the user to customize the prototype by editing the screen flow. Connections or navigation <NUM> between the features or screens <NUM> can be altered by changing the source of an arrow, its destination, or both (interactively using graphics), as well as the type of arrow (type of connection). When a new connection is formed <NUM>, the integration engine automatically determines and provides the appropriate link (i.e., the type of connection) to the destination feature in the source feature based on the attributes of the source feature and destination feature. The integration engine may further adjust the layout of the destination feature to accommodate the link. The attributes of each of the source and destination feature may govern which connections <NUM> are possible. For example, if a particular feature can only accommodate three links to destination features (for example, because of limited space in the interactive regions of the source feature), the screen flow may not allow the addition of a fourth destination feature link to the source feature. Alternatively, the source feature may switch to a different type of interface elements (e.g., from a set of icons to a drop down menu) to accommodate the additional link. The customer or user may also edit individual features <NUM> to modify the layout, change the size and shape of the display and interactive regions and elements, add or subtract the same as well as links to destination features.

The integration engine <NUM> saves each edit of a feature and alteration of the connections <NUM> or navigation between features <NUM> in the rules governing the relevant features of the integrated build card. In particular, the integration engine translates each edit to a feature on the interface into the database entry for the instance of the feature. This enables the integration engine <NUM> to build the integrated build card from a set of edited features that reflect the edits of the customer (e.g., changes to the features and connections between the features) made on the screen flow as described above. After the next integrated build card is built, reflecting the changes made on the screen flow, the user may further alter the screen flow (which is regenerated based on the saved edits) to revise the application project and build a subsequent prototype. This iterative process enables the customer to observe the result of each change and progressively fine tune the project to project to meet their specification.

<FIG> illustrates a screenshot of a prototype <NUM> of the software application according to an embodiment of the present invention. The prototype <NUM> is an interactive representation of the application on a virtual platform provided in the graphical user interface. The prototype <NUM> enables the developer to use and test the initial version of the application prototyped according his selection of templates and features. The prototype <NUM> is generated by a prototype engine <NUM> (shown in <FIG>). The prototype engine <NUM> generates the prototype based on the integrated build card. Specifically, the prototype engine <NUM> accepts as an input the set of instantiated features as modified by the integration engine (if edited) and the connections between the features as identified by the integration engine <NUM> and modified by the user. The prototype engine logically arranges the features of the integrated build card and populates their display and interactive regions according to the edited attributes and rules to provide an operable visual interactive simulation demonstrating a functional prototype of the desired application. The prototype <NUM> generated by the prototype engine <NUM> and transmitted for display by the graphical user interface on the client device is thus a clickable or navigable prototype of the customer's application, in some embodiments. That is, the interface elements of the prototype simulate the operation of the actual application, to the extent possible. For example, a button linked to another feature will bring up that feature when clicked upon or otherwise actuated by the user on the prototype. After operating the prototype, the user may refine the application by returning to the screen flow to edit the integrated build card (add/remove/edit features and their connections) as previously described.

In some embodiments, the build card, the integrated build card, or both, may serve to update the rules database <NUM>. Specifically, the aggregate selections of multiple clients and builds can provide or enhance statistical data on the preferred connections between features as recorded in the rules database. In some embodiments, feature dependencies may be crowdsourced from the historical selections of users of the system. Thus, inter-feature information use in the rules can include the frequency or probability of selecting a specific feature when another is selected. The history may involve many different interactions including inter-screen connections and edits thereof. Other mechanisms for updating the rules database based on the aggregate history of build cards are contemplated.

The editing and selection by the user to adjust or create the described instant prototype can preferably be incorporated into the development process. In particular, the selections may automatically be included in the source code generated for the software application.

Pricing can be integrated using a database in server <NUM> that contains pricing information and a pricing engine as part of builder application <NUM> that is configured to determine or identify pricing using the database and as a function of the selected features for an actual software application sought to be developed by the platform.

Server <NUM> can also have a database in server <NUM> that contains information about a plurality of software developers including communications address for each and integration into the builder application <NUM> using communication connection and login credentials. Server <NUM> can include communication platform using the information from the database to operating a work flow through the various phases using one or software developers that are integrated into the platform to provide an efficient work flow.

Each of the system, server, computing device, and computer described in this application can be implemented on one or more computer systems and be configured to communicate over a network. In one embodiment, the computer system includes a bus or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a hardware processor coupled with bus for processing information.

The computer system also includes a main memory, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus for storing information and instructions to be executed by a processor of the computer or computing device. Main memory also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by a processor. Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to processor, configure the computer system into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions and provide or be capable of features and functionality described herein. The processes described herein can be implemented as computer instructions executable by the processor of a computer of computing device to performs described process steps the computer instructions can be saved on nonvolatile or nontransitory memory for providing such implementations.

The computer system further includes a read only memory (ROM) or other static storage device coupled to bus for storing static information and instructions for processor. A storage device, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus for storing information and instructions.

The computer system may be coupled via bus to a display, such as an LCD, for displaying information to a computer user. An input device, including alphanumeric and other keys, may be coupled to bus for communicating information and command selections to processor. Another type of user input device is cursor control, such as a mouse, a trackball, touchscreen (e.g., on mobile phones) or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor and for controlling cursor movement on display.

The computer system may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/or program logic which in combination with the computer system causes or programs computer system to provide specialized features. According to one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by the computer system in response to the processor executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory. Such instructions may be read into main memory from another storage medium, such as storage device. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory causes the processor to perform the process steps described herein.

The term storage media as used herein refers to any non-transitory media that stores data and/or instructions that cause a machine to operation in a specific fashion. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory.

For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus.

Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor for execution. A bus carries the data to main memory, from which processor retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory may optionally be stored on storage device either before or after execution by the processor.

The computer system also includes a communication interface coupled to bus. The communication interface provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link that is connected to a local network. For example, the communication interface may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the communication interface may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. In any such implementation, the communication interface sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For instance, network link may provide a connection through local network to a host computer or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISP in turn provides data communication services through the worldwide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the "Internet. " Local network and Internet both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link and through the communication interface, which carry the digital data to and from the computer system, are example forms of transmission media.

The computer system can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link and the communication interface. In the Internet example, a server might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet, ISP, local network and the communication interface.

The received code may be executed by the processor as it is received, and/or stored in storage device, or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

It should be understood that variations, clarifications, or modifications are contemplated.

Exemplary systems, devices, components, and methods are described for illustrative purposes. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact constructions as demonstrated in this disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined by the claims.

It is also implicit and understood that the applications or systems illustratively described herein provide computer-implemented functionality that automatically performs a process or process steps unless the description explicitly describes user intervention or manual operation.

It is understood from the above description that the functionality and features of the systems, devices, components, or methods of embodiments of the present invention include generating and sending signals to accomplish the actions.

The terms or words that are used herein are directed to those of ordinary skill in the art in this field of technology and the meaning of those terms or words will be understood from terminology used in that field or can be reasonably interpreted based on the plain English meaning of the words in conjunction with knowledge in this field of technology. This includes an understanding of implicit features that for example may involve multiple possibilities, but to a person of ordinary skill in the art a reasonable or primary understanding or meaning is understood.

Claim 1:
A system for developing software comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one processor configured to acquire computer readable instructions stored in the at least one memory and execute the instructions comprising instructions to cause the system to:
- provide a graphical user interface (<NUM>) on a display of a client device (<NUM>), the graphical user interface (<NUM>) displaying a plurality of features from a library of user-selectable features for a custom software application and implement simulations of a plurality of the features available for demonstration through the graphical user interface (<NUM>), the simulations being executable visualizations of associated features of the library configured to be displayed within the graphical user interface (<NUM>);
- store blocks of source code for each feature in a source code repository, wherein the blocks are adapted to provide an actual application when compiled by developers;
- receive from the client device (<NUM>), by a server running a software building component of a software development application (<NUM>), one or more selected features for the software application;
- automatically integrate, by the software building component, the one or more selected features to generate an integrated feature set based on attributes of each of the selected features and an inter-feature rules set, and
- generate on the graphical user interface (<NUM>) an interactive visualization of a navigable prototype (<NUM>) of the software application based on the integrated feature set and the corresponding simulations,
wherein the inter-feature rules set define relationships or associations between features of the library of features, and the attributes of a feature comprise a first set of attributes configured to regulate how the feature is called, and a second set of attributes configured to regulate which features the feature calls.