Abstract:
An apparatus and method for downloading software product fixes, updates, enhancements etc. only when absolutely needed and only for temporary use are provided. When the software product begins to execute, a feature uses a web address, embedded in the software product, to access a Web site where changes such as updates, fixes, enhancements etc. are logged in. Each fix or update has a tag or title that corresponds to a tag or title in the product. These tags or titles are downloaded. When information indexed by a tag or title is going to be used, the feature accesses the network to download the information (i.e., the update or fix). This information is used until the user stops execution of the software product.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Technical Field:  
           [0002]    The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method of fixing, updating or enhancing software products. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method of using a hybrid of fixed media data and Web-based data to provide fixes or updates to software products to the public.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art:  
           [0004]    With the ever-increasing pace of advancement in computer related technologies, software developers often compete to be the first to offer a new feature or upgrade. As a result, sometimes software products are made available to the public with unknown defects or errors. These defects are often remedied by providing fixes or updates to the software product.  
           [0005]    Fixes or updates are presently provided to the public in a variety of methods. One method is to provide the entire updated or corrected software product on a computer readable medium that a user may use to replace the defective product. Another method is to make the fixes or update available on a Web site on the Internet. A user who has access to the Internet may periodically (or when aware of a fix or update) peruse the Web site for fixes or update. If a fix or update is available, the user may download and install the fix or update.  
           [0006]    Some software developers, instead of having users (especially those who have a permanent connection to the Internet) peruse a Web site for fixes or updates, equip their software products with a feature that periodically accesses a Web site to determine whether fixes or updates have been made available. If the feature determines that a fix or update is available, the feature may prompt a user as to whether the fix or update is to be downloaded. If the user so indicates, the feature then downloads the fix or update. After having prompted the user and received an affirmative answer that the fix or update is to be installed, the feature installs the fix or update on the user&#39;s computer system.  
           [0007]    In all the methods outlined above, when a fix or update is installed, the actual original installed software product is permanently changed. There are instances, however, when a user may not want the original installed software product to be permanently changed. For example, suppose a fix or update encompasses hundreds of Megabytes of software code and suppose further that a user may rarely, if at all, have any use for the fix or update, the user may not want that much storage space to be permanently used for the potentially few occasional times the fix or update may be used.  
           [0008]    What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method of downloading software product fixes or updates only when absolutely needed and to only install them temporarily on a computer system.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    The present invention provides an apparatus and method of downloading software product fixes, updates, features etc. only when absolutely needed and for temporary use. When the software product begins to execute, a feature uses a web address, embedded in the software product, to access a Web site where changes such as updates, fixes etc. are logged in. Each fix or update has a tag or title that corresponds to a tag or title in the product. These tags or titles are downloaded. When information indexed by a tag or title is going to be used, the feature accesses the network to download the information (i.e., the update or fix). This information is used until the user stops execution of the software product.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a distributed data processing system according to the present invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a server apparatus according to the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of a client apparatus according to the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a process used by the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a representation of the manner in which the Web site is organized.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 depicts a representative Web site database of changes.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]    With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  contains a network  102 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within network data processing system  100 . Network  102  may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.  
         [0018]    In the depicted example, server  104  is connected to network  102  along with storage unit  106 . In addition, clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  are connected to network  102 . These clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server  104  provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients  108 ,  110  and  112 . Clients  108 ,  110  and  112  are clients to server  104 . Network data processing system  100  may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown. In the depicted example, network data processing system  100  is the Internet with network  102  representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system  100  also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 is intended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for the present invention.  
         [0019]    Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server, such as server  104  in FIG. 1, is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Data processing system  200  may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors  202  and  204  connected to system bus  206 . Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connected to system bus  206  is memory controller/cache  208 , which provides an interface to local memory  209 . I/O bus bridge  210  is connected to system bus  206  and provides an interface to I/O bus  212 . Memory controller/cache  208  and I/O bus bridge  210  may be integrated as depicted.  
         [0020]    Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge  214  connected to I/O bus  212  provides an interface to PCI local bus  216 . A number of modems may be connected to PCI local bus  216 . Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to network computers  108 ,  110  and  112  in FIG. 1 may be provided through modem  218  and network adapter  220  connected to PCI local bus  216  through add-in boards. Additional PCI bus bridges  222  and  224  provide interfaces for additional PCI local buses  226  and  228 , from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system  200  allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter  230  and hard disk  232  may also be connected to I/O bus  212  as depicted, either directly or indirectly.  
         [0021]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in FIG. 2 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention.  
         [0022]    The data processing system depicted in FIG. 2 may be, for example, an IBM e-Server pSeries system, a product of International Business Machines Corporation in Armonk, N.Y., running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) operating system or LINUX operating system.  
         [0023]    With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrating a data processing system is depicted in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system  300  is an example of a client computer. Data processing system  300  employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be used. Processor  302  and main memory  304  are connected to PCI local bus  306  through PCI bridge  308 . PCI bridge  308  also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor  302 . Additional connections to PCI local bus  306  may be made through direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter  310 , SCSI host bus adapter  312 , and expansion bus interface  314  are connected to PCI local bus  306  by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter  316 , graphics adapter  318 , and audio/video adapter  319  are connected to PCI local bus  306  by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface  314  provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter  320 , modem  322 , and additional memory  324 . Small computer system interface (SCSI) host bus adapter  312  provides a connection for hard disk drive  326 , tape drive  328 , and CD-ROM drive  330 . Typical PCI local bus implementations will support three or four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.  
         [0024]    An operating system runs on processor  302  and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system  300  in FIG. 3. The operating system may be a commercially available operating system, such as Windows 2000, which is available from Microsoft Corporation. An object oriented programming system such as Java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provide calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system  300 . “Java” is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented operating system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive  326 , and may be loaded into main memory  304  for execution by processor  302 .  
         [0025]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIG. 3 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash ROM (or equivalent nonvolatile memory) or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIG. 3. Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.  
         [0026]    As another example, data processing system  300  may be a stand-alone system configured to be bootable without relying on some type of network communication interface, whether or not data processing system  300  comprises some type of network communication interface. As a further example, data processing system  300  may be a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, which is configured with ROM and/or flash ROM in order to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.  
         [0027]    The depicted example in FIG. 3 and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system  300  may also be a notebook computer or hand held computer in addition to taking the form of a PDA. Data processing system  300  also may be a kiosk or a Web appliance.  
         [0028]    The present invention provides an apparatus and method of downloading a software product fix or update when needed and installing the fix or update only temporarily. The invention may be local to client systems  108 ,  110  and  112  of FIG. 1 or to the server  104  or to both the server  104  and clients  108 ,  110  and  112 . Consequently, the present invention may reside on any data storage medium (i.e., floppy disk, compact disk, hard disk, ROM, RAM, etc.) used by a computer system.  
         [0029]    To better understand the invention, an example will be provided. Suppose a software company develops and sells operating systems. Operating systems are usually sold to the public accompanied with a user&#39;s manual. Suppose that the manual is provided on a non-writable medium such as a compact disk (CD). There may be times when the information in the manual does not properly document the product.  
         [0030]    For example, it is well known in the field that information documenting software products (i.e., user&#39;s manual) is usually processed weeks or months in advance of the release of the software it documents. During the time the information is being processed (i.e., formatted and duplicated on CDs etc.), the actual product it documents may have gone through some more metamorphosis. Thus, when the software product is actually released to the public, the information in the manual may not properly document it.  
         [0031]    As mentioned before, fixes or updates may be provided to bring the user&#39;s manual up to par with the software product it documents. The present invention uses a feature that accesses a Web site to determine whether there are updates to the software product each time the product is loaded into memory. Unlike one of the present methods where whenever there is an update users are prompted to decide whether to download and install the update, the present invention does not download an update unless the update is actually needed. Furthermore, when an update is downloaded it is done totally transparent to the user and is only installed temporarily.  
         [0032]    Returning to the example, user&#39;s manuals are usually arranged in sections, sub-sections etc. Thus, fixes and updates will be in one or a few sections or sub-sections etc. of the manual. When a user is using the manual (i.e., when the software product is being executed), a background process does the following: (1) reads a hidden file in the CD file system structure that lists a contact Web address (i.e., URL), (2) accesses the Web site to determine whether there are any fixes or updates, (3) if there are fixes or updates, the process notes in what sections or sub-sections of the manuals the fixes exist.  
         [0033]    If while browsing the manual the user wants to access one of the sections or sub-sections of the manual that have been updated, the process will re-access the Web site or may access another Web site if the changes are located on another Web site. After accessing the Web site containing the changes, the process then will download only the section or sub-section that has changed and the user wants to access. Once downloaded, that section or sub-section will be loaded into memory instead of the section or sub-section of the manual that is on the CD. Thus, the present invention provides a seamless update that works in conjunction, but not in place of the fixed media (i.e., the CD in this case).  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a process used by the present invention. The process starts whenever a software product that has the feature provided by the present invention begins to execute (step  400 ). As mentioned above, as soon as the process starts, it accesses a Web site to determine whether there are any changes, updates, fixes etc. for the software product (step  405 ).  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 5 is a representation of the manner in which the Web site is organized. Obviously, a company may use the Web site for any changes to any software product that there may be. Accordingly, the process needs to have a tag by which to identify where to go to get the changed sections. In this example, the name of the software product as well as the version in use by the user may be used as the tag. Thus, if the software product in use by the user is “Operating System Manual” and its version is “1.0”, then the feature will go to area  500  of the Web site to look for changes. If on the other hand, the software product is “Operating System Manual” version “2.0”, the feature will go to area  550  to look for updates. Any entry found in these areas signifies a change to the respective software product.  
         [0036]    As mentioned earlier, the manual is organized in sections and sub-sections etc. Each entry then relates to a section or sub-section of the original software product in use by the user. In this particular example, section titles Lvm_ 128  to Lvm_ 130  and Kde_ 53  to Kde_ 55  etc. will be downloaded to the user&#39;s computer. Note that only the titles of the sections or sub-sections are downloaded and not the actual changes. Accordingly, this download process will be quite short and quick.  
         [0037]    Returning to FIG. 4, after the titles are downloaded, the corresponding titles in the software product in use will be replaced by the downloaded titles when and if they are displayed (step  410 ). If additional titles are provided (e.g., new sections are provided that don&#39;t have corresponding sections in the original software product), they will be inserted in their proper space (each downloaded title contains an instruction stating whether it is an added section and where it is to be inserted) . Thus, if the original software product did not have a section called Lvm_ 130 . The downloaded Lvm_ 130  will nonetheless be inserted in the proper place (i.e., after Lvm_ 129 ) as the software product will be so instructed.  
         [0038]    After displaying the downloaded titles, a check will continuously be made to determine whether the user wants to access one of the sections or sub-sections that have changed. When the user scrolls through one of the sections or sub-sections or double-clicks on one of the downloaded titles etc., this signals that the changed section is to be downloaded for display. If so, the process then accesses the Web site where the actual changes are located. In this case, each title may have a URL (i.e., Web address) specifying where the actual change resides on the. FIG. 6 depicts a representative Web site database of changes. Once the change is downloaded, then it is ready to be displayed (steps  415 ,  420  and  425 ). When the execution of the software product has terminated, all downloaded titles and sections will cease to exist on the user&#39;s computer system.  
         [0039]    Note that, some changes may be pre-fetched from the Web site. For example, if a section that references another section containing a change is being displayed, there is a high likelihood that the referenced section may be needed. Hence, the referenced section may be pre-fetched from the Web site. Another example regarding when a changed section is to be pre-fetched is when related sections to a changed section are being accessed. When that occurs, chances are the changed section may be accessed as well. Therefore, the changed section may be pre-fetched. Related sections, in this case, may be sections that cover the same or similar topics.  
         [0040]    The invention ensures that some users (i.e. those who have a permanent connection to the Internet) will always use the latest changes or version of a software product. As mentioned before, last minute changes or after-the-fact changes are incorporated into a software product whenever needed and without a user being aware of such changes. The actual software product does not have to be entirely replicated on CDs or on the Web site when changes exist. Only the actual changes need to be present. Consequently, only non-valid information contained in a software product needs to be downloaded from a Web site.  
         [0041]    The invention has been described in terms of user&#39;s manuals, however, those skilled in the art will readily understand that it is not restricted only to user&#39;s manuals. Any software products that are made of modules are perfectly within the scope of the invention. In that case, a module that contains a change since the release of the software product may temporarily replace the original module when needed.  
         [0042]    The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.