Patent ID: 6735766
Filing Date: 2004-05-11
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A computer-implemented method for upgrading an application, comprising:(a) recognizing that an upgrade to the application has been initiated; (b) accessing a first information store including a series of functions for installing the application and a product-identifying triplet having an upgrade code, a version number and a natural language code for identifying a group of related applications, and an upgrade table for determining whether a related application can coexist with the application upgrade; (c) accessing a universal system database including information describing the installed state of the application and related applications; (d) determining if the upgrade to the application should be performed; and (e) if the application upgrade should be performed: (i) changing the application according to the action list in the upgrade package; (ii) storing information describing a new installed state of the application in the universal system database, the new installed state including an indication of whether the upgrade is installed for the application; (iii) determining if a previous version of a related application is installed and can coexist with the application upgrade, wherein determining if a previous version of a related application is installed and can coexist with the application upgrade is based on the upgrade table, the upgrade table having a plurality of entries for the applications related to the application upgrade, each entry including the product-identifying triplet for identifying the group of related applications, a property that indicates if the related application is installed, and an attribute that indicates if the related application can coexist with the application upgrade; and (iv) if a previous version of a related application is installed and cannot coexist with the application upgrade, removing the related application.