Method for restoring software applications on desktop computers

• US 20070174832A1
• Filed: 01/25/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Reese, Michael, Wong, Kirk, Flenoy, Jeff, Coe, Dustin, Brehm, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,261,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

An automated method is provided for restoring software applications installed on a desktop computer. Information identifying an inventory of software applications resident on the computer is stored locally in a file on the computer. In response to a request to restore applications, the inventory is compared to a master library of known software applications, and those applications in the inventory that are found in the library are selected and downloaded onto the computer to complete the restoration process.

Claims

1. A method for restoring software applications installed on a desktop computer, comprising the steps of:

(A) storing information representing an inventory of the applications installed on the computer;

(B) providing a library of known software applications;

(C) receiving a request to restore one or more applications on the computer; and

,

(D) restoring those applications in the stored inventory that are present in the library.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of detecting the software applications stored on the desktop computer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of detecting the applications is performed using predefined scripted elements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (D) includes:

comparing the software applications in the stored inventory with the applications in the library, and

selecting those applications in the inventory that are found in the library.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting the applications includes choosing a specific version of the selected application, and step (D) is performed by restoring the specific version of the application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (D) includes checking the library for updated versions of the applications in the stored inventory, and restoring the updated versions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information stored in step (A) is stored in a file located in the desktop computer.

8. A method for restoring software applications installed on a desktop computer, comprising the steps of:

(A) providing a library of software applications;

(B) storing information identifying the software applications installed on the computer;

(C) reading the information stored in step (B);

(D) matching the applications identified by the information read in step (C) with the applications in the library provided in step (A); and

,

(E) installing software applications from the library based on matches resulting from the step (E).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein step (C) is performed remotely within a networked system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein step (C) is performed using predefined scripted elements associated with each of the applications installed on the computer.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of choosing an updated version of a software application selected as a match, and wherein step (E) includes installing the chosen updated version of the software on the computer.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein step (D) includes checking the library for updated versions of the applications previously installed on the computer, and installing the updated versions on the computer.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the information stored in step (B) is stored in a file located on the desktop computer, and the method further comprises adding an identifying script to each of the files used in the reading and matching steps.

14. A method for restoring software applications installed on a computer, comprising the steps of:

(A) generating a database representing an inventory of software applications previously installed on the computer;

(B) generating a master library of software applications that include the software applications previously installed in the computer;

(C) receiving a request to restore the previously installed applications on the computer;

(D) querying the database generated in step (A) to detect the applications previously installed in the computer;

(E) comparing the applications detected in step (D) with the applications in the master library generated in step (B); and

,

(F) restoring applications on the computer based on the results of the comparison performed in step (E).

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of storing the database on the computer.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of placing each of the software applications in a wrapper having a header containing information identifying the application, and wherein the querying performed in step (D) includes reading the contents of the headers for each of the applications in the inventory.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

step (E) includes selecting applications in the master library that match the detected applications, and

step (F) is performed using the selected applications.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting the applications includes choosing a specific version of the selected application, and step (F) is performed by restoring the specific version of the application.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein step (E) includes checking the master library for updated versions of the applications in the inventory, and step (F) includes restoring the updated versions.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein steps (D) and (E) are performed remotely within a networked system.