WO2013173940A1

WO2013173940A1 - A method and system for providing application data

Info

Publication number: WO2013173940A1
Application number: PCT/CN2012/000709
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tiefeng Liu; Yongzhi Yang
Original assignee: Beijing Baina Info - Tech,Co., Ltd
Priority date: 2012-05-22
Filing date: 2012-05-22
Publication date: 2013-11-28

Abstract

This invention provides a method for providing application data including the steps of receiving attribute information associated with a selected data object; determining one or more preferred application identifiers by comparing the attribute information with a pre-determined criteria, wherein the one or more application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more preferred applications for processing the selected data object, and providing the one or more preferred application identifiers to a user. A system for providing application data is also provided. The metadata of any data object selected by the user is automatically transferred and matched with a list of potential applications, so that the appropriate application(s) can be provided to the user for manipulation of the selected data object. Even if the user has no knowledge about the specific data object, recommendations can be made to the user without the need of any user intervention.

Description

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING APPLICATION DATA

TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a system and method for providing application data, and particularly, although not exclusively, to a system and method for providing preferred applications to a user.

BACKGROUND

With the increasing uses of computing devices amongst the general population, the amount of information which these devices collect and exchange over a period of time has greatly increased. These increases have been observed in both the actual amount of data stored in each device as well as the complexity of the data.

Whilst these increases in information has allowed many computer users to become more informed or entertained, many computer users are finding it increasingly difficult to properly process, store or manipulate the vast amount of information which are being collected on their computing device. This is because many users do not have the time and knowledge to properly consider a piece of information on their device, or, in some cases, they are not aware, or do not have access to specific computer software applications (apps) which can assist them with processing these new pieces of information. As a result of this, many users in particular those lacking in knowledge of software applications are unable to use the information stored on their devices properly. This in turn results in user frustration or annoyance with the amount of data collected by their computer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing application data comprising the steps of: receiving attribute information associated with a selected data object; determining one or more preferred application identifiers by comparing the attribute information with a pre-determined criteria, wherein the one or more application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more preferred applications for processing the selected data object, and; providing the one or more preferred application identifiers to a user.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of determining one or more preferred application identifiers includes comparing usage information associated with the usage of a computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object with the pre-determined criteria.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the attribute information includes historical records associated with a user's manipulation of the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the usage information further includes data recording a user's behaviour on the computing device. In an embodiment of the first aspect, the attribute information includes operating system data associated with the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of determining one or more preferred application identifiers includes the step of querying an application database to obtain one or more application records.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more application records are selected based on the pre-determined criteria to determine the one or more preferred application identifiers.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more preferred application identifiers include a reference of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier. In an embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more preferred application identifiers further include a location of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of providing the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user includes transmitting the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user and presenting the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the attribute information is collated by a program operating on the computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the usage information is collated by the program. In an embodiment of the first aspect, the computing device is a touch screen interfaced computing device.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the pre-determined criteria include the object type of the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the pre-determined criteria include the content of the selected data object. In an embodiment of the first aspect, the pre-determined criteria include the source of the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more preferred application identifiers are presented to the user via a menu.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for providing application data comprising: a data object selection module arranged to receive attribute information associated with a selected data object; a preferred application processor arranged to determine one or more preferred application identifiers by comparing the attribute information with a pre-determined criteria, wherein the one or more application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more preferred applications for processing the selected data object, and; an output routine arranged to provide the one or more preferred application identifiers to a user. In an embodiment of the second aspect, the preferred application processor includes a process arranged to compare usage information associated with a computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object with the pre-determined criteria.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the attribute information includes historical records associated with a user's manipulation of the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the usage information further includes data recording a user's behaviour on the computing device. In an embodiment of the second aspect, the attribute information includes operating system data associated with the selected data object. In an embodiment of the second aspect, the preferred application processor includes the a process arranged to query an application database to obtain one or more application records.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the one or more application records are selected based on the pre-determined criteria to determine the one or more preferred application identifiers.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the one or more preferred application identifiers include a reference of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the one or more preferred application identifiers further include a location of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the output routine includes a routine to transmit the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user and presenting the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user. In an embodiment of the second aspect, the attribute information is collated by a program operating on the computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the usage information is collated by the program.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the computing device is a touch screen interfaced computing device.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the pre-determined criteria includes the object type of the selected data object.

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the pre-determined criteria includes the content of the selected data object. In an embodiment of the second aspect, the pre-determined criteria includes the source of the selected data object. 12 000709

In an embodiment of the second aspect, the one or more preferred application identifiers are presented to the user via a menu.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a computing device being implemented as a system for providing application data in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram of the system for providing application data of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of one embodiment of the preferred application processor of the system for providing data of Figure 1 ;

Figures 4 A, 4B and 4C are sample screenshots of a user's computing device operating with the system for providing application data of Figure 1 ; and Figure 5 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a system for providing application data operating with a web browser application of a user's computing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to Figure 1, an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. This embodiment is arranged to provide a system for providing application data 101 comprising: a data object gateway arranged to receive attribute information associated with a selected data object; a preferred application processor arranged to determine one or more preferred application identifiers by comparing the attribute information with a pre-determined criteria, wherein the one or more application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more preferred applications for processing the selected data object, and; an output routine arranged to provide the one or more preferred application identifiers to a user.

In this example embodiment, the data object gateway, the preferred application processor and the output routine are implemented by a computer, computing system or computing device having one or more programme or predetermined logic which is appropriately programmed to implement the invention. Each of the gateway, processor or routine may be appropriately programmed, implemented or designed so as to perform specific functions, routine or processes to implement the invention.

The computer, computing system or computing device may be implemented by any computing architecture, including stand-alone PC, client/server architecture, portable computing devices, tablet computers, smart phones, "dumb" terminal/mainframe architecture, or any other appropriate architecture. Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a schematic diagram of a computing system which is arranged to be implemented as a system for providing application data 101.

In this embodiment, the system 101 comprises a server 100. The server 100 comprises suitable components necessary to receive, store and execute appropriate computer instructions. The components may include a processing unit 102, read-only memory (ROM) 104, random access memory (RAM) 106, and input/output devices such as disk drives 108, input devices 1 10 such as an Ethernet port, a USB port, etc. Display 112 such as a liquid crystal display, a light emitting display or any other suitable display and communications links 114. The server 100 includes instructions that may be included in ROM 104, RAM 106 or disk drives 108 and may be executed by the processing unit 102. There may be provided a plurality of communication links 114 which may variously connect to one or more computing devices such as a server, personal computers, terminals, wireless or handheld computing devices. At least one of a plurality of communications links may be connected to an external computing network through a telephone line or other type of communications link.

The server 100 may also include storage devices such as a disk drive 108 which may encompass solid state drives, hard disk drives, optical drives or magnetic tape drives. The server 100 may use a single disk drive or multiple disk drives. The server 100 may also have a suitable operating system 116 which resides on the disk drive or in the ROM of the server 100. In this embodiment, the system 101, which may be operating on the server 100, uses a communication link 1 14 such as an internet connection to connect with a user's computing device 120. These user's computing devices 120 may include tablet computing devices or other devices such as, but without limitation, portable PCs, tablet computers or smart phones. The communication link 1 14 connecting the user's computing devices 120 is preferably a wireless data connection such as a cellular network data connection including but not limited to GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, LTE, etc. Alternatively, the communication link 1 14 is a Wi-Fi connection. Once the user's computing device 120 is connected with the server 100, the server is arranged to receive attribute information associated with a selected data object and/or usage information from the user's computing device.

In some examples, this attribute information associated with a selected data object may include information associated with a data object which has been selected by the user on the user's computing device. As an example, this attribute information may include information associated with an image, video file or any other data object selected by the user through a user input command on the user's computing device. In examples where usage information is also sent to the server 100 for processing by the system 101, the usage information may include information which describes the usage history of the user's computing device by a user, including, for example, usage records, web history, a list of commonly used applications etc. Preferably, an application or program on the user's computing device is arranged to record and collate the attribute information and usage information which in turn is arranged to transmit the collated information to the system 101 for processing. As a person skilled in the art will appreciate, in some other embodiments, the system 101 may be completely or partially integrated within the user's computing device, in which case, the user's computing device may be appropriately programmed to record and collate attribute information and/or usage information whilst also being programmed, at least partially, to function as the system for providing application data 101. In these example embodiments, the data object gateway, the preferred application processor and the output routine may be partially or completely implemented and deployed on the user's computing device.

In this embodiment, once the attribute information associated with a data object is received by the system 101, the system 101 may then proceed to process this attribute information by comparing the attribute information with one or more predetermined criteria to determine one or more preferred application identifiers. These preferred application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more applications which would be deemed preferable to process the selected data object on the user's computing device. In some examples, these identifiers may include a name or reference of a preferred software Application (apps) and a location of this application. The identifiers may then be provided in a suitable format to a user so that the user may choose the specific applications to process the selected data object on the user's computing device.

With reference to Figure 2, there is illustrated a block diagram of one embodiment of the system for providing application data 101. In this embodiment, the system 101 may be deployed on a computer server 200 similar to the server 100 described with reference to Figure 1. The server 200 may then be connected to a communication network such as the internet and is arranged to connect with one or more user's computing devices 201 which in turn, may include a software application 203 arranged to record and collate attribute information associated with a selected data object and/or usage information describing the usage history of the user's computing device.

Once a connection 205 is established between a user's computing device 201 and the server 200, a user may select a data object which is stored, or otherwise accessible on the computing device 201 for the purposes of accessing, reading or manipulating the data object. In this embodiment, when upon the user selects the data object, the user's computing device 201 is arranged to derive and transmit attribute information associated with the data object and/or usage information to the server 200 through the connection 205 so as to retrieve a list of preferred applications for presentation and selection by the user so as to process the data object on the user's computing device 201.

In this embodiment, the attribute information 207 associated with the data object can include information which is related to any data object or objects selected or otherwise manipulated or called on by a user through his or her usage or manipulation of the user's computing device 201. In some examples, the attribute information associated with the data object may include, without limitation:

1. the filename of the data object;

2. the file extension of the data object;

3. the type of data stored within the data object;

4. the source of the data object, for example, whether it was generated from a specific camera, microphone or it was downloaded from a specific internet site;

5. the size of the data object;

6. the location of the data object;

7. the content of the data object, for example, whether the data object stores, texts, images, videos, music, or at a further level, the context of the texts, images, videos or music, such as whether the images are of human faces, inanimate items etc;

8. the generation date or access date of the data object;

9. a list of applications stored on the user's computing device which can be used to access, process or manipulate the data object; or

10. the attribute information of other data objects that were created simultaneously or close to the generation date of the data object; The above attribute information is also collectively called as "metadata" for the particular data object in the context of the description.

In other embodiments, the attribute information 207 associated with the data object may further include information relating to the user's behaviour relating to the selected data object or equivalent types of selected data objects recorded on the user's computing device. This information may include, for example the user's manipulation history of the selected data object or other data objects of similar types, including the identification of applications which has been used to access or manipulate the selected data object, the associated frequency of the application being used or the type of actions which are conducted on the selected data object or other data objects of similar types to the selected data object.

In yet another embodiment, in addition to the attribute information associated with the data object described above, usage information 209 associated with the user and the user's computing device may also be sent through the communication link 205 from the user's computing device 201 to the server 200. This information 209 may include, for example, records describing the general user's behaviour in using the computing device 201, including history of usage for the computing device 201 such as the time in which the device is used regularly, the contents of "recently opened documents", the types of software applications which are commonly used and their purpose, or web history as well as the types of files or applications which has been accessed by the user.

Preferably, to facilitate the efficient recording and collation of the attribute information 207 and the usage information 209 described above, a software application such as a daemon 203 may run in the background of the user's computing device 201 so that the attribute information 207 associated with the data object as well as usage information 209 may be recorded and collated automatically when the user's computing device 201 is used. This is advantageous in that the system 101 can receive the attribute information associated with a selected data object and usage information quickly after a user selects a data object. The attribute information associated with a selected data object and usage information are also collected automatically in the background without any user intervention, resulting in a user- friendly and uninterrupted experience to the user while he is performing other operations on the user's computing device 201 As shown in Figure 2, once the user's computing device sends the attribute information and/or the usage information to the server 200, a data gateway 202 is arranged to receive the attribute 207 and/or usage information 209. The gateway 202 is then arranged to pass the attribute and/or usage information to the preferred application processor 204 so as to generate a list of preferred software applications 206 which can be used to access, transmit, manipulate or process the selected data object on the user's computing device. The processor 204 may compare the attribute 207 and usage information 209 with one or more predetermined criteria or rules 208 so as to devise a list of one or more preferable applications from an applications database. This process is further described below with reference to Figure 3.

Once the one or more preferred software applications are identified, an identifier, such as a name or reference of a software application and/or a link to access this application may be collated and provided to the user as a list of preferred software application 206. Preferably, the identifiers and links are collated as application data which in turn is transmitted to the user's computing device by an output routine 210 for presentation to the user through an interface 212 of the user's computing device 201.

With reference to Figure 3, there is illustrated a flow diagram of one embodiment of the operation of the preferred application processor 204 in determining the identifiers of the one or more preferred software applications based on the attribute information and/or usage information received from the user's computing device. In this embodiment, once the preferred application processor 204 receives the information from the gateway 202, the processor 204 is arranged to firstly analyse (300) the type of data is found in the selected data object and based on this type of data, retrieve a list of potential applications which can be used by the user's computing device to access, transmit, manipulate or process the data object.

To execute this process, the processor 204 is arranged firstly query a software applications database 301 so as to retrieve one or more software application records. In one embodiment, the software applications database may include records of various different types of software applications along with identifiers and data descriptive of each software application. Preferably, the data of each record may also describe the software application's functionality and its suitability with any particular type of user or data object. As an example, the application database may include software application records which include:

1. Software application name;

2. Object types of data objects which the software application can process;

3. Core function of the application, e.g. video editing, photo editing, multimedia player, word processing etc;

4. Targeted generation source of the data object which needs to be processed by the application. For example, uploading software which uploads images to a social networking website may target raw images captured by a smart phone's camera. In another example, a phone book application may target electronic business card records which are received via a smart phone or tablet's Bluetooth interface, or in another example, an email application may target images downloaded off the internet for transmission; or

5. Targeted User's group, including type of user's interested in the application based on prior user's usage history of particular applications, brand loyalty or web history.

In this embodiment, the processor 204 is arranged to firstly query the applications database 301 based on the type of data object selected by the user (300). As certain software applications are suitable to only access, manipulate or process certain types of data objects, an initial list of suitable applications can be obtained by querying the applications database 301 with a limitation that only the applications suitable to process the data object is retrieved from the database 301. For example, where the object type is an image, only applications which are suitable for processing an image file is retrieved from the database 301. Once this initial application list is retrieved from the database 301, further refining steps (304) to (310) defined by criteria or rules 208 may be used to refine the retrieved software applications from the application database 301 so as to determine a preferred list of applications 312. In this embodiment, the source of the selected data object, which may be stored with the attribute information associated with the data object is matched (304) against the records in the database 301, wherein the records of each of the software application is compared with the source of the selected data object. If there is a match, then the records within the application list is further refined to those which match the source of the selected data object. In one example, where the data object is an image from an integrated camera of a smart phone, an email application or a social networking application may be preferable to process this image. In these instances, applications within the list which has an entry within its records for preferences to process images generated from the onboard smart phone camera may be selected as being preferred.

In this embodiment, the applications list is further refined by the consideration of the data within the data object (306). In these examples, as records within the applications database 301 may also include an entry for the preferred function of the application in processing certain types of content, the records which have matching entries may then be refined from the records within the database 301 and deemed to be a more preferred application for the user.

In one example, the data object may be an image wherein when it was taken, a camera application on board a user's computing device may have determined that the image contains a capture of human faces. As description of its content would have been stored in the attribute information received from the user's computing device, the preferred application processor 204 may then identify applications within the applications lists which include applications that are suitable for processing human faces. Examples of these types of applications, for example, may include photo editing applications whereby filters are used to smooth out or lighten human faces in the photographs so as to enhance their appearances. In these instances, application records which lists these advantages may then be deemed preferred according to this step (306).

In this embodiment, the preferred application processor 204 may also proceed to refine the retrieved application records from the database 301 by comparing the usage history of the user in relations to the data object or other objects of similar types in refining the application lists (308). As an example, if the historical usage record of the user's computing device indicates that the user regularly uploads all image files to a social networking website by use of a specialised software application, then the software applications which are listed as specialising in social networking websites are further deemed to be preferable.

In this embodiment, the usage data may also be considered by the processor 204 by comparing (310) the usage information of the user's computing device against the records of the application database so as to further refine the retrieved records to derive a preferred application lists. In this embodiment, the records of general usage of the user's computing device is used to refine the application list by matching application usage history, web history or other usage information against the records of the application list (310). This in turns further refines the application list queried from the applications database 301 against the predetermined criteria to generate a preferred application list 312.

In alternative embodiments, the processor 204 may also "recommend" software applications for the particular data object that the user selected based on an advertising scheme or a promotion program for the developers of the software applications. For example, the processor 204 may recommend a "most downloaded", "hot pick this week", or a "temporary free" software application among those generally suitable for the particular data object. An advertised software application for which the software application developer has paid relevant fees may also be recommended to the user as a first choice.

In alternative embodiments, the steps (300 to 310) outlined above may be modified or adapted to operate with a weighting system. In these embodiments, a score may be allocated to each applications record retrieved from the applications database 301 based on a match with each of the criteria or rules 208 relating to the attribute information 207 and usage information 209. A weighting may then be applied to each score for each criteria 208 and a summation for all the scores are then used to determine a list of preferred applications 312 suitable to access, read, process, transmit or manipulate the selected data object.

With reference to Figure 4, there are illustrated three screen shots 400A, 400B and 400C of an embodiment of the system 101 in use on a touch screen interface computer such as a tablet computer or smart phone. In other embodiments the system 101 may also be used in other types of computing devices such as desktop computers, Smart TV, game console, information kiosk, etc. In this embodiment as shown at 400A, a user of a touch screen computer is using a "gallery" application which displays a matrix of thumbnails 402 associated with various image files 404. As shown in 400B, once a user selects a particular image, a menu 406 is shown. The menu provides a list of various commands which can be used to manipulate the image 408. However, in addition to this list of commands, a list of preferred applications 410 is also displayed. This list of preferred application 410 is produced by the transmission of usage information and attribute information associated with the image 404 to a server which is implemented with a data gateway 202, preferred application processor 204 and a output routine 210 which produces the list of preferred application data and is in turn sent back by the output routine 210 to the user's touch screen computer to be displayed for selection as a list of preferred application 410. In the embodiment of Fig. 4, the application identifiers of the preferred applications are presented to the user via the form of a Menu. However, those skilled in the art would appreciate that other types of interaction method are also possible for use for the same purpose, such as the "Toast" notification in Android operation system, notification bars, task bars, pop-up list, etc.

In one implementation, the user of the touch screen computer may select more than one data objects, for example two images in the touch screen computer. As soon as the user selects the two images files, the attribution information associated with each image file, as well as intercorrelated information of these two image files, are transmitted to the server. The intercorrelated information of these two image files includes for example the time that the photos are captured, Exchangeable image file format (Exif) information like the exposure and shutter speed, etc. The preferred application processor 204 of the server based on the intercorrelated information would may then identify applications within the applications lists which include applications that are suitable for the two or more image files. For example, an application for making High Dynamic Range (HDR) images may be identified and sent back to the user for combining the selected images into a HDR image. Alternatively, an application for making panorama images may be identified and sent back to the user for combining the selected images into a 360 degree panorama image. Those skilled in the art would readily appreciate that other types of data objects such as video, audio, document, etc, can also be selected at the same time and appropriate applications be recommended for synergetic manipulation of the data objects. In this embodiment, as shown in 400C, once a user may choose one of the preferred applications listed in the menu, the application 412 is launched to process the selected image. In certain situations, the application 412 chosen by the user may already reside on the user's touch screen computer, in which case, the application is simply launched. However, in other situations where the application 412 is not found on the user's touch screen computer, a connection may be established with a remote server to download or access the application so that the application 412 chosen by the user can be used to process the selected image.

With reference to Figure 5, there is illustrated a block diagram which shows another embodiment of the system when initiated through a web browser. In this embodiment, data objects displayed or accessed through a web browser may also be selected by a user, in which case, a similar query is also made with the system 101 to return a list of preferred applications for selection by the user. However, the difference of this embodiment compared to those described above is that the data object is not stored locally in the user's computing devices, but rather in a content provider's server / database that are sometimes called a cloud environment. The user selects a data object appearing on the screen like a photo, a URL, a sound clip, a flash, etc, and the browser returns the metadata of the user's selected data object to the server 100 for determining appropriate software application for manipulation of the data object in the browser in a way similar to that described above. Once a list of preferred applications for the data object is generated, it will be sent back to the browser and presented to the user for selection by the user so as to process the data object. Depending on the particular type of the software application that the user selects, the data object in the content provider's server / database may be directly transmitted to another software application hosting server that stores the selected software application. The data object is then manipulated remotely in the software application hosting server and the resulted information or data is sent back to the user's computing devices. This is often called a "cloud computing" as the user's computing device does not require a processing power to manipulate the data object using the selected software application. Alternatively, if the user selects a local software application installed in his computing device, the data object that was stored in the content provider's server / database may then be retrieved and downloaded to the user's computing device so that the software application installed in the local environment of the user's computing device may be used to manipulate the downloaded data object. Although not required, the embodiments described with reference to the Figures can be implemented to file an application programming interface (API) or as a series of libraries for use by a developer or can be included within another software application, such as a terminal or personal computer operating system or a portable computing device operating system. Generally, as program modules include routines, programs, objects, components and data files the skilled person assisting in the performance of particular functions, will understand that the functionality of the software application may be distributed across a number of routines, objects or components to achieve the same functionality. It will also be appreciated that the methods and systems of the present invention are implemented by computing system or partly implemented by computing systems than any appropriate computing system architecture may be utilised. This will include stand alone computers, network computers and dedicated computing devices. Where the terms "computing system" and "computing device" are used, these terms are intended to cover any appropriate arrangement of computer hardware for implementing the function described.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Any reference to prior art contained herein is not to be taken as an admission that the information is common general knowledge, unless otherwise indicated.

Claims

1. A method for providing application data comprising the steps of:

- receiving attribute information associated with a selected data object;

- determining one or more preferred application identifiers by comparing the attribute information with a pre-determined criteria, wherein the one or more application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more preferred applications for processing the selected data object, and;

- providing the one or more preferred application identifiers to a user.

2. A method for providing application data in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the step of determining one or more preferred application identifiers includes comparing usage information associated with the usage of a computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object with the pre-determined criteria.

3. A method for providing application data in accordance with claim 2, wherein the attribute information includes historical records associated with a user's manipulation of the selected data object.

4. A method for providing application data in accordance with claim 2 or 3, wherein the usage information further includes data recording a user's behaviour on the computing device.

5. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the attribute information includes operating system data associated with the selected data object.

6. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of determining one or more preferred application identifiers includes the step of querying an application database to obtain one or more application records.

7. A method for providing application data in accordance with claim 6, wherein the one or more application records are selected based on the pre-determined criteria to determine the one or more preferred application identifiers.

8. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more preferred application identifiers include a reference of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier.

9. A method for providing application data in accordance with claim 8, wherein the one or more preferred application identifiers further include a location of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier.

10. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of providing the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user includes transmitting the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user and presenting the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user.

1 1. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 2 to 10, wherein the attribute information is collated by a program operating on the computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object.

12. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 1 1, wherein the usage information is collated by the program.

13. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the computing device is a touch screen interfaced computing device or a desktop computer.

14. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-determined criteria includes the object type of the selected data object.

15. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-determined criteria includes the content of the selected data object.

16. A method for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-determined criteria includes the source of the selected data object.

17. A method for providing application data in accordance with claim 10, wherein the one or more preferred application identifiers are presented to the user via a menu.

18. A system for providing application data comprising:

- a data object selection module arranged to receive attribute information associated with a selected data object;

- a preferred application processor arranged to determine one or more preferred application identifiers by comparing the attribute information with a pre-determined criteria, wherein the one or more application identifiers are arranged to identify one or more preferred applications for processing the selected data object, and; - an output routine arranged to provide the one or more preferred application identifiers to a user.

19. A system for providing application data in accordance with claim 18, wherein the 5 preferred application processor includes a process arranged to compare usage information associated with a computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object with the pre-determined criteria.

20. A system for providing application data in accordance with claim 19, wherein the attribute 0 information includes historical records associated with a user's manipulation of the selected data object.

21. A system for providing application data in accordance with claim 19 or 20, wherein the usage information further includes data recording a user's behaviour on the computing device.5

22. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 18 to 21 , wherein the attribute information includes operating system data associated with the selected data object. 0

23. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one claims 18 to 22, wherein the preferred application processor includes the a process arranged to query an application database to obtain one or more application records.

24. A system for providing application data in accordance with claim 23, wherein the one or 5 more application records are selected based on the pre-determined criteria to determine the one or more preferred application identifiers.

25. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of the claims 18 to 24, wherein the one or more preferred application identifiers include a reference of the preferred o application identified by the preferred application identifier.

26. A system for providing application data in accordance with claim 25, wherein the one or more preferred application identifiers further include a location of the preferred application identified by the preferred application identifier.

5

27. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the output routine includes a routine to transmit the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user and presenting the one or more preferred application identifiers to the user.

28. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 19 to 27, wherein the attribute information is collated by a program operating on the computing device arranged to store or access the selected data object.

29. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 28, wherein the usage information is collated by the program.

30. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 18 to 29, wherein the computing device is a touch screen interfaced computing device.

31. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 18 to 30, wherein the pre-determined criteria includes the object type of the selected data object.

32. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 18 to 31 , wherein the pre-determined criteria includes the content of the selected data object.

33. A system for providing application data in accordance with any one of claims 18 to 32, wherein the pre-determined criteria includes the source of the selected data object.

34. A system for providing application data in accordance with claim 27, wherein the one or more preferred application identifiers are presented to the user via a menu.

35. A computer readable media comprising computer readable instructions arranged to instruct a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

36. A computer readable signal generated by an electronic device performing the method steps of any one of claims 1 to 17.