Method and system for enabling offline detection of software updates

• US 20020078142A1
• Filed: 12/20/2000
• Published: 06/20/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Leshinsky, Yan, Moore, Brian J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,574,481 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A method and system that facilitates automatic software updates from an online source such as the Internet, wherein a connection to determine whether an update (e.g., a driver or software component) is available online is no longer necessary during detection time. Information stored for updates corresponding to driver and other software component detection is locally cached, whereby update information is available when no connection exists, eliminating potentially wasted connections and being particularly advantageous if occurring before the connection can be made. When a device is installed or software components are detected, instead of requiring a connection to enable updates, the cached information is evaluated to determine whether the update is available online. If so, the update is made when a connection is made and otherwise desired by the user. The user may defer making the connection, and the update may happen automatically and/or in the background on the next connection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a client computer, obtaining information about available updates from a server;

storing the information about available updates at a local cache on the client computer; and

in response to a request for update information that may be available at the server, accessing the local cache to retrieve the information about available updates.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein downloading information includes accessing at least one Internet website.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein obtaining information about available updates from a server includes obtaining data that changes the information about available updates in the local cache.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein storing the information about available updates includes storing data identifying whether a hardware device has a driver therefor available for download from an online site.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 wherein at least some of the data identifying whether the driver is available for download is maintained in a bitmask.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the bitmask has a bit therein that indicates whether the driver may be available for download from an online site.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein the bit is determined by hashing an identifier corresponding to the hardware device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein a setting of the bit indicates whether a file containing update information can be locally accessed.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the bit setting indicates that the file can be locally accessed, and further comprising, accessing the file, and searching for data therein corresponding to the hardware device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the data corresponding to the hardware device is present and indicates a version number of an available driver for that hardware device.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein storing the information about available updates includes storing data identifying whether at least one software component is available for download from an online site.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein at least one software component is available, and further comprising storing data identifying whether installation of at least one available software component is dependent on installation of at least one other software component.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein at least one software component is available, and further comprising storing data identifying a version for at least one available software component.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein accessing the local cache to retrieve the information about available updates indicates that an update is available, and further comprising, persisting information about the available update.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 further comprising, downloading updates at a time when a connection exists based on the information persisted about the available update.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein accessing the local cache to retrieve the information about available updates indicates that an update is available, and further comprising, downloading the available update.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the cache maintenance mechanism maintains information in the cache by downloading information into the cache from a network site.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the request for update information corresponds to a scheduled event.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the automatic update software locates information about an update to a driver in response to a request for hardware-related updates.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the information about the update to the driver is included in a bitmask in the cache.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the information about an online update to the driver is included in a file in the cache.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein the information in the cache further includes driver includes version information for at least some of the available updates.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein the automatic update software determines whether at least one software component is available for download from the network.

25. The system of claim 17 wherein the automatic update software determines that an update is available and persists information corresponding thereto.

26. The system of claim 17 wherein the automatic update software determines that an update is available and downloads the update from the network.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the online source is accessed via an Internet site.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the cache indicates that the particular update is available, and further comprising, downloading the update.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the cache indicates that the particular update is available, and further comprising, persisting information corresponding to the update for later download of the update.

17. In a computing device, a system comprising,

network access software configured to access a network;

a cache;

a cache maintenance mechanism connected to the network access software and configured to maintain information in the cache corresponding to available updates maintained on the network; and

automatic update software connected to access the cache in response to a request for update information on the network, and to determine from the information in the cache whether an update is available.

27. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions, comprising,

accessing an online source to obtain information related to available updates;

caching the information;

receiving a request directed to whether a particular update is available for download from the online source; and

accessing the cache to determine whether the particular update is available for download from the online source.

31. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first data field representative of a hardware identifier;

a second data field representative of a version of a driver corresponding to that hardware identifier; and

a third data field representative of a name of the driver.

32. The data structure of claim 31 further comprising another data structure including a plurality of data units, wherein one of the units indicates that the first data structure exists.

33. The data structure of claim 32 wherein each data unit of the other data structure is determined by performing a hash of the hardware identifier maintained in the first data field.

34. The data structure of claim 32 wherein the other data structure comprises a bitmask, each unit being represented by a bit in the bitmask.