System and method for passive detection and context sensitive notification of upgrade availability for computer information
First Claim
1. A system for downloading updated computer information on a 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;
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 determination has been made that an upgrade exists, of the availability of the upgrade for the accessed computer information and of any other upgrades that have been determined to exist by said monitoring component for computer information on said user'"'"'s computer; and
a downloading component that allows a user to selectively download said upgrades from a remote server.
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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
31 Claims
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1. A system for downloading updated computer information on a 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; 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 determination has been made that an upgrade exists, of the availability of the upgrade for the accessed computer information and of any other upgrades that have been determined to exist by said monitoring component for computer information on said user'"'"'s computer; and a downloading component that allows a user to selectively download said upgrades from a remote server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 22, 27, 28)
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11. A method for notification and download of computer information upgrades to a user'"'"'s computer, 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; automatically notifying a user, in response to user access of computer information for which a determination has been made that an upgrade exists, of available computer information upgrades for the accessed computer information and for any other computer information upgrades that have been determined to exist; and selectively downloading said available computer information upgrade. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23)
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20. 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; 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 that have been determined to exist; and downloading said available computer information upgrades in response to user selection of said upgrades. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. 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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monitoring a predetermined location for availability of computer information upgrades; determining is any available computer information upgrades exist; automatically notifying a user of available computer information upgrades that have been determined to exist; selectively downloading said available computer information upgrade; and setting a user-controlled wait period if the user declines downloading an upgrade of which the user has been notified, for further notifying the user of the availability of said upgrade.
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29. 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, recording an indicator 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 indicator is present and, if so, displaying a notification that an upgrade is available for the software component. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification