Automatic upgrade of software

• US 6,418,555 B2
• Filed: 07/21/1998
• Issued: 07/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Mohammed, Mannan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): DAM, TUAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US09/119,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20010014968A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 710/8, 710/10, 710/62, 710/72, 713/1, 713/2, 713/100, 709/321, 709/327, 717/168-170, 717/174-175
• US Class Current: 717/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A computer system includes an operating, a software component, and a program executable in the system to automatically upgrade the software component if it detects that the operating system has been upgraded from a previous version. The program may include a detection module that monitors for an operating system upgrade and an upgrade module that upgrades the software component if an operating system upgrade has been detected.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

an operating system;

a software component;

one or more storage media containing pre-loaded information, the pre-loaded information comprising a different version of the software component; and

a program executable in the computer system to detect if the operating system has been upgraded from a previous version and to automatically upgrade the software component if so, the program executable to upgrade the software component using the pre-loaded information stored locally in the one or more storage media.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the program includes a detection module that monitors for an operating system upgrade.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the detection module is invoked at each system startup.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the program includes an upgrade module that upgrades the software component if an operating system upgrade has been detected.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the program includes a detection module to detect an operating system upgrade, the detection module invoking the upgrade module if the operating system upgrade is detected.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the program includes a service daemon that detects an operating system upgrade.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the program includes a dynamic link library file.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the software component includes a device driver.

9. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the operating system includes a WINDOWS®

operating system.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the software component includes an INF file.

11. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the software component includes an installation file associated with the software component.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the program is executable to copy an installation file associated with the upgraded operating system to a preselected directory.

13. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the information includes a self-extracting routine containing the software component.

14. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the different version of the software component in the pre-loaded information is compatible with the upgraded operating system.

15. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the pre-loaded information comprises at least another version of the software component.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the pre-loaded information comprises installation files for plural operating systems.

17. An article comprising one or more storage media containing a program executable in a computer system running an operating system, the program comprising:

a first module executable in the computer system to detect if the operating system has been upgraded from a previous version; and

a second module invocable by the first module to automatically upgrade at least a software component if the first module detects an operating system upgrade using installation information already stored in the computer system.

18. The article of claim 17, wherein the first module is executable in the background of the computer system.

19. The article of claim 17, wherein the second module is executable to upgrade a low-level software component when an operating upgrade is detected.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the low-level software component includes a device driver.

21. The article of claim 19, wherein the installation information includes an INF file.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein the installation information includes an installation file associated with the software component that is copied to a preselected location.

23. The article of claim 17, wherein the operating system includes a WINDOWS®

operating system.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the software component includes an operating system registry.

29. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

the first module invoking an upgrade module to upgrade the predetermined software component.

30. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

retrieving information already stored in the computer system to upgrade the software component.

24. A method of upgrading software in a computer system comprising:

running a first module to detect an operating system upgrade; and

automatically upgrading at least one predetermined software component in response to detection of the operating system upgrade using information pre-loaded in the computer system, the pre-loaded information comprising a different version of the software component.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the pre-loaded information further includes one or more files associated with one or more device drivers.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or more files include installation files.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more installation files include INF files.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein upgrading using the pre-loaded information comprises upgrading using the pre-loaded information comprising the different version of the software component that is compatible with the upgraded operating system.

32. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing pre-loaded information comprising the different version of the software component and at least another version of the software component.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein storing the pre-loaded information comprises storing installation files for plural operating systems.

34. An article including one or more storage media containing instructions that when executed cause a device to:

detect if an operating system running in the device has been upgraded from a previous version; and

upgrade a software component if the operating system has been upgraded, the software component being upgraded by accessing information pre-loaded in the device, the pre-loaded information comprising a different version of the software component.

35. The article of claim 34, wherein the different version of the software component is compatible with the upgraded operating system.

36. The article of claim 34, wherein the instructions when executed cause the device to store the pre-loaded information, the pre-loaded information comprising the different version of the software component and at least one other version of the software component.

37. The article of claim 36, wherein the instructions when executed cause the device to store the pre-loaded information by storing plural installation files for plural operating systems.