System and method for installing a software application in a non-impactfull manner
First Claim
1. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions, comprising:
- initiating retrieval of a manifest that identifies an application and a location of the application;
downloading components associated with the application to a local data store, each component being sufficiently self-described to distinguish each component from other components; and
registering the application for subscription, wherein subscription further comprises periodically retrieving the subscription manifest to determine if the subscription manifest identifies another application, and if so, repeating the downloading and registering steps for the other application.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described is a mechanism for enabling installable software applications from a remote location without impacting already-installed software applications. The invention provides a mechanism for installing applications that include completely self-describing components. Each component of an application is then identified in an application manifest, which is stored in conjunction with the application. The application manifest also includes information describing the various dependencies of each component of the application. A remote user interested in the application may download the application, as described by the application manifest, to a local storage location. Any shared components of the application are also shared, except that any existing applications that may have depended on a previous version of the shared components continue to depend on the previous version. Different versions of an application are stored locally side-by-side.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions, comprising:
-
initiating retrieval of a manifest that identifies an application and a location of the application;
downloading components associated with the application to a local data store, each component being sufficiently self-described to distinguish each component from other components; and
registering the application for subscription, wherein subscription further comprises periodically retrieving the subscription manifest to determine if the subscription manifest identifies another application, and if so, repeating the downloading and registering steps for the other application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A computer-executable method for installing an application from a remote storage location, comprising:
-
identifying an application manifest associated with the application, the application manifest including sufficient information to uniquely identify each component of the application; and
downloading the components of the application to a local storage, each component being sufficiently self-described that existing applications that depend on components already installed continue to depend on those already-installed components, and the application depends on the components downloaded in conjunction with the application. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A computer-readable medium encoded with a data structure, comprising:
-
a first field including a unique identifier for an application;
a plurality of second fields that identify each component of the application, each component being uniquely distinguishable from other components; and
a plurality of third fields that identify components on which each of the components of the application depends for successful operation. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
Specification