AUTOMATIC UPGRADE OF SOFTWARE

• US 20010014968A1
• Filed: 07/21/1998
• Published: 08/16/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: MOHAMMED, MANNAN A.
• Granted Patent: US 6,418,555 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A computer system includes an operating, a software component, and a program executable in the system to automatically upgrade the software component if it detects that the operating system has been upgraded from a previous version. The program may include a detection module that monitors for an operating system upgrade and an upgrade module that upgrades the software component if an operating system upgrade has been detected.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

an operating system;

a software component; and

a program executable in the computer system to detect if the operating system has been upgraded from a previous version and to automatically upgrade the software component if so.

2. The computer system of

claim 1

, wherein the program includes a detection module that monitors for an operating system upgrade.

3. The computer system of

claim 2

, wherein the detection module is invoked at each system startup.

4. The computer system of

claim 1

, wherein the program includes an upgrade module that upgrades the software component if an operating system upgrade has been detected.

5. The computer system of

claim 4

, wherein the program includes a detection module to detect an operating system upgrade, the detection module invoking the upgrade module if the operating system upgrade is detected.

6. The computer system of

claim 1

, wherein the program includes a service daemon that detects an operating system upgrade.

7. The computer system of

claim 1

, wherein the program includes a dynamic link library file.

8. The computer system of

claim 1

, wherein the software component includes a device driver.

9. The computer system of

claim 1

wherein the operating system includes a Windows operating system.

10. The computer system of

claim 9

, wherein the software component includes an INF file.

11. The computer system of

claim 1

, wherein the software component includes an installation file associated with the software component.

12. The computer system of

claim 1

1, wherein the program is executable to copy an installation file associated with the upgraded operating system to a preselected directory.

13. An article comprising a storage medium containing a program executable in a computer system running an operating system, the program comprising:

a first module running in the computer system to detect if the operating system has been upgraded from a previous version; and

a second module invoked by the first module to automatically upgrade at least a software component if the first module detects an operating system upgrade.

14. The article of

claim 13

, wherein the first module runs in the background.

15. The article of

claim 13

, wherein the second module upgrades low-level software components when an operating upgrade is detected.

16. The article of

claim 15

, wherein the low-level software component includes a device driver.

17. The article of

claim 15

, wherein the low-level software component includes an INF file.

18. The article of

claim 17

, wherein the low-level software component includes an installation file associated with the software component that is copied to a preselected location.

19. The article of

claim 13

, wherein the operating system includes a Windows operating system.

20. A method of upgrading software in a computer system comprising:

running a first module to detect an operating system upgrade; and

automatically upgrading at least one predetermined software component in response to detection of the operating system upgrade.

21. The method of

claim 20

, wherein the at least one software component includes one or more files associated with one or more device drivers.

22. The method of

claim 20

, wherein the files include installation files.

23. The method of

claim 20

, wherein the installation files include INF files.

24. The method of

claim 20

, wherein the software component includes an operating system registry.

25. The method of

claim 20

, further comprising:

the first module invoking an upgrade module to upgrade the predetermined software component.

26. The method of

claim 20

, further comprising:

retrieving information already stored in the computer system to upgrade the software component.