System and method for passive detection and context sensitive notification of upgrade availability for computer information
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring and notifying a user of updated computer information on a remote server available for the user to upgrade computer information on the user'"'"'s computer, comprising:
- a monitoring component on the user'"'"'s computer that automatically determines, in response to a predefined event, if one or more upgrades exist for computer information currently on said user'"'"'s computer, and sets a notification flag at said user'"'"'s computer in association with each item of information on the user'"'"'s computer for which an upgrade exists;
a notification component that automatically notifies said user, in response to subsequent access by the user of an item of computer information for which a notification flag has been set, of the availability of the upgrade for the accessed computer information and of any other upgrades indicated by any other notification flags set by said monitoring component; and
a downloading component that allows a user to selectively download said upgrades from said remote server.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a system and method that monitors upgrade availability for computer information on a user'"'"'s computer and allows the user to determine which of the available upgrades will be downloaded to the user'"'"'s computer and installed. The upgrade availability for computer information on the user'"'"'s computer is monitored in the background, without user-intervention when the user connects to a network, such as the Internet. If any such upgrades are available, a flag is set to notify the user of such upgrades. The user is notified of any available upgrades when computer information is accessed for which an upgrade is available, and given a choice of whether or not to download the available upgrade(s). The downloaded upgrade(s) may then be installed by an installation means. In this manner, the present invention allows for the user to download only those upgrades desired by the user.
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Citations
68 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring and notifying a user of updated computer information on a remote server available for the user to upgrade computer information on the user'"'"'s computer, comprising:
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a monitoring component on the user'"'"'s computer that automatically determines, in response to a predefined event, if one or more upgrades exist for computer information currently on said user'"'"'s computer, and sets a notification flag at said user'"'"'s computer in association with each item of information on the user'"'"'s computer for which an upgrade exists; a notification component that automatically notifies said user, in response to subsequent access by the user of an item of computer information for which a notification flag has been set, of the availability of the upgrade for the accessed computer information and of any other upgrades indicated by any other notification flags set by said monitoring component; and a downloading component that allows a user to selectively download said upgrades from said remote server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A system for monitoring and notifying a user of updated computer information on a remote server available for the user to upgrade computer information on the user'"'"'s computer, comprising:
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a monitoring means that operates as a background process on the user'"'"'s computer to automatically determine if one or more upgrades exist for computer information currently on said user'"'"'s computer in response to a predefined event, and set a notification flag at said user'"'"'s computer in association with each item of information on the user'"'"'s computer for which an upgrade exists; a notification means that automatically notifies said user, in response to subsequent access by the user of computer information for which a notification flag has been set, of the availability of the upgrade for the accessed computer information and any other upgrades indicated by any other notification flags set by said monitoring component; and a downloading means for downloading said upgrades from said remote server. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A method for notification and download of computer information upgrades to a user'"'"'s computer from a computer network, comprising the steps of:
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automatically checking a predetermined location for availability of computer information upgrades in response to a predefined event; determining if any available computer information upgrades exist; setting a flag at the user'"'"'s computer indicating each item of computer information on the user'"'"'s computer for which upgrades exist; automatically notifying a user, in response to user access of computer information for which a flag has been set, of available computer information upgrades for the accessed computer information and for any other computer information upgrades which have a flag set; and selectively downloading said available computer information upgrade. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A computer-readable medium containing a program that performs the following steps on a local computer:
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automatically checking for availability, on a remote computer connected via a computer network, of computer information upgrades to information on the local computer; determining if any available computer information upgrades exist on said remote computer; setting a flag indicating the availability of computer information upgrades; automatically notifying a user, in response to access by a user of computer information for which an upgrade has been determined to be available, of available computer information upgrades for the accessed computer information and for any other computer information upgrades which have a flag set; and downloading said available computer information upgrades in response to user selection of said upgrades. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67)
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68. A method for providing a computer user with notification of the availability of an upgrade for a software component on the user'"'"'s computer, comprising the steps of:
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retrieving from said software component the identification of a resource on a network at which an upgrade is made available; checking said resource to determine whether an upgrade is available; setting a flag at the user'"'"'s computer to indicate that an upgrade is available for the software component; and upon detecting access of the software component by a user, determining whether said flag is set and, if so, displaying a notification that an upgrade is available for the software component, wherein a plurality of software components are resident on the user'"'"'s computer, and wherein; said checking step is performed for each of said plurality of software components; a flag is set for each software component for which an upgrade is available; and a notification is displayed that identifies each software component for which a flag is set when any one of said software components, for which a flag is set, is accessed by a user.
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Specification