Patent ID: 8826259

Claim:
A method for upgrading software in a consumer product, the method comprising acts of: upon insertion of a non-volatile storage device into the consumer product, detecting a predetermined identifier on the non-volatile storage device inserted into the consumer product, the predetermined identifier indicating that the non-volatile storage device supports functionality of the consumer product; storing predetermined information regarding the consumer product on the non-volatile storage device when the predetermined identifier is detected, wherein the predetermined information comprises an identifier of a product type of the consumer product; upon insertion of the non-volatile storage device into a computer product, acquiring, by a computer program on the computer product, upgrade software for the consumer product based on the predetermined information read from the non-volatile storage device; storing the upgrade software for the consumer product on the non-volatile storage device; and upon re-insertion of the non-volatile storage device into the consumer product, upgrading the software in the consumer product using the acquired upgrade software, wherein the non-volatile storage device comprises: a first non-volatile storage area for storing predetermined information regarding the consumer product; a second non-volatile storage area for storing a computer program used to acquire upgrade software for the consumer product using the predetermined information; a third non-volatile storage area for storing the upgrade software acquired using the computer program, wherein the third non-volatile storage area is a hidden non-volatile storage area hidden from a user during normal operation; and a fourth non-volatile storage area for storing user data.