Method of software installation

• US 5,842,024 A
• Filed: 06/17/1997
• Issued: 11/24/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: AST Research, Inc. (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kung, Yau Leung, Choye, Randy J., Harding, Henry N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Oberley, Alvin E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): STECHER, PETER S
• Application Number:
  US08/876,688
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• Field of Search: 395/680, 395/712, 395/681, 395/200.51
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A method of reducing the time needed for installing a combination of software programs onto a hard disk drive by creating modules for each software program and associating a file with each software program that records all changes made to files and directories by the installation process of that software program. When downloading combinations of these modules onto a hard disk drive, a software installation program is run which implements the changes to files and directories necessitated by each of the modules thereby resulting in a disk operating system that is properly configured for the operation of the combination of software programs.

Claims

1. A method of software installation for installing software on a computer system through the use of installation modules tailored to specific hardware components of the computer system, said method comprising the steps of:

storing on at least one mass data storage device a plurality of software modules for downloading onto a hard disk drive, each software module comprising a software application program and a script file associated with said application program, said script file defining at least one change to a configuration of an operating system program previously stored on said hard disk drive, wherein said script file associated with said software application programs is created according to the following steps;

installing said operating system program onto a second data storage device;

saving data stored within one or more directories of said operating system program stored on said second data storage device to one or more temporary directories;

installing said software application onto said second data storage device, and effecting one or more requisite changes to said operating system program stored on said second data storage device;

comparing post-installation data stored within said one or more directories of said operating system program stored on said second data storage device with said data stored in said one or more temporary directories; and

recording one or more changes to said operating system program resulting from said installation of said software application program within said script file;

selecting at least one software module for downloading onto the hard disk drive of a personal computer in accordance with hardware components included in said personal computer;

downloading said at least one selected software module onto the hard disk drive of said personal computer; and

modifying said operating system according to said at least one change to a configuration defined by said script file.