Patent ID: 7752616
Filing Date: 2010-07-06
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. An electronic device configured to be updated, the electronic device comprising: firmware, an operating system, and application software; a non-volatile memory wherein the firmware, the operating system, and the application software are resident; a random-access memory (RAM) wherein the firmware, the operating system, and the application software are optionally executed; a plurality of update agents resident in the non-volatile memory of the electronic device, each update agent employing a library that enables the update agent to interact with a portion of the non-volatile memory to be updated; and a handoff agent resident in the non-volatile memory unit and configured to coordinate use of the plurality of update agents to perform updates of the non-volatile memory in the electronic device; wherein the handoff agent is configured using information contained in a received update package to specify to each update agent the location of a subset of the update package to be used by the update agent to update the firmware, the operating system, or the application software; wherein the handoff agent is configured using information contained in a received update package to specify to each update agent the information needed to access and verify the update package; and wherein the handoff agent is configured using information contained in a received update package to select one of the plurality of update agents to update the firmware, another one of the plurality of update agents to update the application software and yet another one of the plurality of update agents to update the operating system.