Public network distribution of software updates

• US 20070299940A1
• Filed: 07/26/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gbadegesin, Abolade, Showman, Kenneth A., Goertzel, Mario C., Dunn, Joshua W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Updates for an enterprise'"'"'s software product are made available to user devices on-line, even when network resources of the enterprise are unavailable. Software update sets and notifications concerning the update sets may be published by an enterprise for consumption by content distribution partners of the enterprise and parties not affiliated with the enterprise. Each abstraction relating to an update, including update notifications and update sets may include a cryptographic signature for later use in authenticating the source of the abstraction. Update notifications also may include information indicative of: available update sets; and network locations at which the update sets can be accessed. Further, an update notification may be configured with a time-to-live (TTL) value indicating a value of time after which the notification expires. TTL values give the enterprise some control over the distribution of update sets by limiting the lifespan of the update notifications corresponding to the update sets.

Claims

1. A method of disseminating to a plurality of user devices an update set for a software product produced by an enterprise, the method comprising:

(A) making the update set available on one or more first network devices; and

(B) making update notifications available to a plurality of second network devices, at least one of the second network devices not affiliated with the enterprise, each update notification including an identifier of the update set and an identifier of at least one of the one or more first network devices from which the update set can be downloaded.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the update set is not accessible to the at least one second network device on any network resources of the enterprise.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A) comprises making the update set available on at least one first network device not affiliated with the enterprise.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least first one network device on which the update set is made available is not configured to access the update set on any network resources of the enterprise.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (B) comprises including, in each of the update notifications, an expiration value indicative of a time at which the update notification expires.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the software product is produced by Microsoft Corporation and each update notification comprises a Microsoft CAB file, such that the act (B) comprises sending Microsoft CAB files to a plurality of first network devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A) comprises sending an update package to at least one of the one or more first network devices, the update package comprising the update set and one of the update notifications.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the update set includes a plurality of updates, and wherein the act (A) comprises including an update catalog in the update package, the update catalog cataloging the plurality of updates included in the update set.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more first network devices is at least one of the plurality of second network devices.

10. A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

computer-readable signals, stored on the computer-readable medium, that define instructions that, as a result of being executed by a computer, control the computer to perform a method of a user device discovering an update set including one or more updates available for download for a software product produced by an enterprise, the method comprising;

(A) the user device obtaining an update notification indicating that an update set is available for download for the software product from a network device on which the update notification is stored and that is not affiliated with the enterprise, the update notification including an identifier of the update set and an identifier of one or more network devices from which the update set can be downloaded;

(B) the user device accessing the update set by exchanging communications with at least one of the one or more network devices; and

(C) the user device evaluating the update set to determine whether it is necessary for the user device to download at least one update included in the update set.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the update set is not accessible to the user device on any network resources of the enterprise.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the update set is not accessible to the network device on any network resources of the enterprise.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the at least one of the network devices is a network device not affiliated with the enterprise, such that the act (B) comprises downloading the update set by exchanging communications with a network device not affiliated with the enterprise.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the update set includes an update catalog cataloging the one or more updates included in the update set, and

wherein the act (C) comprises the user device comparing information included in the update catalog to information corresponding to the user device.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

(D) if the user device determines that it is necessary to download at least one update included in the update set, downloading the at least one update to the user device.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, the update notification including an expiration value indicative of a time at which the update notification expires, wherein the method further comprises:

(D) prior to performance of the acts (B) and (C), the user device determining whether the update notification has expired based on the expiration value.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the update notification includes a cryptographic signature corresponding to the update set, wherein the method further comprises:

(D) prior to performance of the acts (B) and (C), the user device determining the authenticity of the update set based on the cryptographic signature.

18. A user device operative to determine whether to access an update set for a software product, the user device comprising:

a discovery module operative to obtain an update notification indicating that an update set for a software product is available, the update set including an expiration value indicative of a time at which the update notification expires; and

an evaluation module operative to determine whether to access the update set by determining whether the update notification has expired based on the expiration value.

19. The user device of claim 18, wherein the update notification includes a cryptographic signature corresponding to the update set, and

wherein the evaluation module is operative to determine the authenticity of the update set based on the cryptographic signature.

20. The user device of claim 18, wherein the update notification includes an identifier of the update set and an identifier of one or more network resources from which the update set can be downloaded,

wherein the discovery module is operative to access the update set by exchanging communications with at least one of the one or more network devices, and

wherein the evaluation module is operative to evaluate the update set to determine whether it is necessary for the user device to download at least one update included in the update set.