PEER-TO-PEER SOFTWARE UPDATES

• US 20140207844A1
• Filed: 01/18/2013
• Published: 07/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: MAYO, Peter Brian George, GARRETT, Donald Alfred
• Granted Patent: US 9,420,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/108 characterised by resources being split in blocks or fragments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1091 Interfacing with client-server systems or between P2P systems
• 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

Various aspects of the subject technology relate to systems, methods, and machine-readable media for providing a software update. A system is configured to receive, from an update server, an update patch for a computer program installed on a memory of a first computing machine, execute the update patch on a first computing machine to update the computer program, receive a request for the updated computer program from a second computing machine, and transmit the updated computer program installed on the memory of the first computing machine to the second computing machine without transmitting the update patch.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a software update, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first computing machine, an update patch from an update server, the update patch for a computer program installed on a memory of the first computing machine;

executing the update patch on the first computing machine, to update the computer program;

receiving a request for the updated computer program from a second computing machine; and

transmitting the updated computer program installed on the memory of the first computing machine to the second computing machine.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

contacting, prior to the receiving of the update patch, the update server to determine whether the computer program installed on the memory of the first computing machine is up to date.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, if the computer program is not up to date, whether at least one peer machine has at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval; and

wherein the receiving of the update patch and the executing of the update patch are performed if no peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein, if the at least one peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval, the method further comprises:

requesting the at least one portion of the updated computer program from the at least one peer machine.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the memory of the first computing machine is a hard drive partition.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the transmitting of the updated computer program to the second computing machine comprises transmitting, without transmitting the update patch, the entire content of the hard drive partition that the updated computer program is installed on.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

indicating, subsequent to the executing of the update patch on the first computing machine, to the second computing machine that the updated computer program is available for transmission.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer program is an operating system.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the update patch comprises instructions configured to change the computer program installed on the memory of the first computing machine from a first version to a second version.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the updated computer program transmitted to the second computing machine is stored on a memory of the second computing machine and used by the second computing machine without an execution of an update patch.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the update patch is received via a first network and wherein the updated computer program is transmitted to the second computing machine via a second network.

12. A system for providing a software update, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from an update server, an update patch for a computer program installed on the memory;

executing the update patch to update the computer program;

receiving a request for the updated computer program from a peer computing machine; and

transmitting the updated computer program installed on the memory to the peer computing machine, wherein the updated computer program transmitted to the peer computing machine is stored on a memory of the peer computing machine and configured to be used by the peer computing machine without an execution of the update patch.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

contacting, prior to the receiving of the update patch, the update server to determine whether the computer program installed on the memory is up to date;

determining, if the computer program is not up to date, whether at least one peer machine has at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval;

wherein the receiving of the update patch and the executing of the update patch are performed if no peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval; and

wherein, if the at least one peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval, the operations further comprise requesting the at least one portion of the updated computer program from the at least one peer machine.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory is a hard drive partition and wherein the transmitting of the updated computer program to the peer computing machine comprises transmitting the entire content of the hard drive partition that the updated computer program is installed on.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

indicating, subsequent to the executing of the update patch on the first computing machine, to the peer computing machine that the updated computer program is available for transmission.

16. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request for an updated computer program from a peer computing machine on a local area network;

determining whether at least a portion of the updated computer program is installed on a memory device; and

transmitting the updated computer program installed on the memory device to the peer computing machine, wherein the updated computer program transmitted to the peer computing machine is stored on a memory of the peer computing machine and configured to be used by the peer computing machine without an execution of the update patch.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

contacting an update server to determine whether a computer program installed on the memory device is up to date;

determining, if the computer program installed on the memory device is not up to date, whether at least one peer machine has at least one portion of an updated computer program available for retrieval;

receiving, if no peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval, an update patch for the computer program installed on the memory device from the update server; and

executing the update patch to update the computer program installed on the memory device.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

requesting, if at least one peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval, the at least one portion of the updated computer program from the at least one peer machine.

19. A computer-implemented method for updating a computer program, the method comprising:

contacting an update server to determine whether a computer program installed on the memory device is up to date;

determining, if the computer program installed on the memory device is not up to date, whether at least one peer machine has an updated computer program available for retrieval;

retrieving, if the at least one peer machine has the at least one portion of the updated computer program available for retrieval, the updated computer program from the at least one peer machine; and

storing the updated computer program on a memory device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the updated computer program is configured to be used without an execution of an update patch.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 19,

receiving, if no peer machines have the updated computer program available for retrieval, an update patch for the computer program installed on the memory device from the update server;

and

executing the update patch, wherein the update patch is configured to update the computer program installed on the memory device.