Patent ID: 7756992

Claim:
A method of delivering updates to an antivirus program over a packet network, the method comprising: disassembling an update file for an antivirus program into a plurality of source packets, the antivirus program being resident in a customer client computer; dynamically selecting an FEC algorithm from a plurality of FEC algorithms based on a size of the update file, comprising: selecting a replication algorithm when the size of the update file is small; selecting one of Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) FEC algorithms comprising Reed-Solomon Erasure (RSE) algorithm when the size of the update file is medium; and selecting one of large block FEC algorithms comprising Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) algorithm and Low Density Generator Matrix (LDGM) algorithm, when the size of the update file is large; encoding the source packets using the selected forward error correction (FEC) algorithm to generate a plurality of encoded packets, the plurality of encoded packets including redundant packets containing information allowing the customer client computer to recreate the plurality of source packets when one of the plurality of encoded packets is never received in the customer client computer; encapsulating the plurality of encoded packets with a user datagram protocol (UDP); transmitting the plurality of encoded packets from a vendor server computer to the customer client computer over a packet network.