Method and system to regulate the electronic availability of application software updates based on information collected regarding installation, usage and support for these updates
First Claim
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1. A method executed by a processor for software distribution that does not overwhelm support infrastructure, said method comprising:
- selecting an eligible population of application instances to whom a software update is made available, from a target population of application instances;
gathering a use information from said selected application instance wherein said use information is associated with running software associated with said software update on said selected application instance and gathering an error information from said selected application instance wherein said error information is associated with running said software associated said software update on said selected application instance using a remote diagnostics module configured to monitor the use and stability of said application instance;
providing said use information and said error information to a distribution engine;
calculating a stability of said software associated with said software update according to said use information and said error information, wherein said calculation is indicative of a confidence said software update is stable;
adjusting the size of said eligible population according to said stability calculation associated with said software update; and
distributing said software update to said adjusted eligible population until said adjusted eligible population includes the total of said target population.
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Abstract
A method for providing software updates. The method comprises selecting an eligible population for a software update from a target population and distributing the software update to the initial eligible population. Thereafter, use and error information is gathered and the size of the eligible population is adjusted according to a stability calculation based on the gathered information. This process is repeated until the entire target population for the update has received the update.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method executed by a processor for software distribution that does not overwhelm support infrastructure, said method comprising:
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selecting an eligible population of application instances to whom a software update is made available, from a target population of application instances; gathering a use information from said selected application instance wherein said use information is associated with running software associated with said software update on said selected application instance and gathering an error information from said selected application instance wherein said error information is associated with running said software associated said software update on said selected application instance using a remote diagnostics module configured to monitor the use and stability of said application instance; providing said use information and said error information to a distribution engine; calculating a stability of said software associated with said software update according to said use information and said error information, wherein said calculation is indicative of a confidence said software update is stable; adjusting the size of said eligible population according to said stability calculation associated with said software update; and distributing said software update to said adjusted eligible population until said adjusted eligible population includes the total of said target population. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method executed by a processor for software distribution that does not overwhelm support infrastructure, said method comprising:
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selecting an eligible population of application instances to whom a software update is made available, from a target population of application instances; gathering a use information from said selected application instance wherein said use information is associated with running software associated with said software update on said selected application instance and gathering an error information from said application instances wherein said error information is associated with running software associated with said software update on said selected application instance using a remote diagnostics module configured to monitor the use and stability of said application instance and collecting use information and error information from an application instance provided to a customer support organization comprising an organization in charge of receiving end user calls and providing support for said software; providing said use information and said error information to a distribution engine; calculating a stability of said software associated with said software update according to said use information and said error information, wherein said calculation is indicative of a confidence said software update is stable; and adjusting the size of said eligible population and distributing said software update to said adjusted eligible population, on a set time interval, according to a stability calculation provided by a distribution engine wherein said stability calculation is based on said use information and error information, until said adjusted eligible population includes the total of said target population. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for distributing a software update that does not overwhelm support infrastructure, said system comprising:
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a hardware processor; a computer-usable medium embodying computer code, said computer-usable medium being coupled to said processor, said computer program code comprising instruction modules executable by said processor; an update manager module associated with a computer application instance that checks an update server for aft a software update for said computer application instance wherein said update is provided to said computer application instance if said computer application instance is selected as an eligible computer application instance; a remote diagnostics module associated with said computer application instance for gathering use information from said selected application instance wherein said use information is associated with running said software associated with said software update on said selected application instance and gathering stability data associated with running said software associated with said software update from said computer application instance and providing said data to a distribution engine module; and a customer support organization module for gathering use and stability data from said computer application instance and providing said data to said distribution engine module wherein said distribution engine module adjusts the size of said eligible computer application instance according to a stability calculation indicative of a confidence said software is stable, and distributes said software update to said eligible population of application instances until said eligible population includes a total target population. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification