Google patents method to index app content for search engines
The filing describes a system where an automated crawler uses specific robot user accounts to log into native applications. It captures the content displayed in these app environments, including text and video, to create data that search engines can index and display in results.
In the filing’s own words
Methods, systems, and apparatus for determining that a native application limits access to the native application using account credential requirements, the native application generating an application environment for display on a user device within the native application and operating independent of a browser application that can operate on the user device; obtaining a set of account credentials for indexing environment instances of the native application; instantiating the native application with the set of account credentials; and accessing environment instances of the native application, and for each of the environment instances: generating environment instance data describing content of the environment instance, the content described by the environment instance data including text that a user device displays on the environment instance when the user device displays the environment instance; and indexing the environment instance data for the native application in an index that is searchable by a search engine.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented method, the computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining, for an automated crawler, user information descriptive of a user type of a plurality of user types; for each native application of one or more native applications: instantiating, for the automated crawler, an environment instance of the native application with a set of account credentials for a robot user account, wherein the robot user account comprises information indicative of the user type; generating, using a video extractor and with a virtual machine performing one or more actions, environment instance data comprising video data describing content of the environment instance, wherein a portion of the content described by the environment instance data is obtained responsive to the information indicative of the user type; and storing the environment instance data for the native application.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- Indexing Access Limited Native Applications
- Publication number
- US20260310738A1
- Application number
- 19712561
- Filed
- Jun 18, 2026
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 16/9537 Physics & computingG06F 16/316 Physics & computingG06F 16/951 Physics & computingMore from Google in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.