Patent ID: 7036121

Claim:
A method for maintaining software products implemented in a plurality of files in client computer systems located decentralized relative to at least one central software maintenance institution wherein the client computer systems are connectable with the at least one central software maintenance institution via a network, the method comprising the steps of: providing product information for a product in the network system for making the product information available for said plurality of client systems; and performing a software maintenance action for the product from a client site by downloading data required for said software maintenance action from a sequence of repositories, wherein said sequence of repositories includes at least a top-level repository storing a set of files for the product and a local-level repository storing a first subset of files for the product, wherein the first subset of files is specific for a given client system, and data downloaded from the top-level repository is different from data downloaded from the local-level repository and the data downloaded from both the top-level repository and the local-level repository is used by the given client system in performing the software maintenance action.