Patent ID: 7904608

Claim:
A system to provide current operable software to a plurality of microprocessor-based digital devices, each current operable software associated with a corresponding microprocessor-based digital device and storable within the memory storage of the corresponding microprocessor-based digital device, the system comprising: one or more software update sources having current operable software; a user-controlled coordinating computer having memory storage in signal communication with the one or more software update sources, wherein the coordinating computer is separate from the plurality of microprocessor-based digital devices; a software agent installable into the coordinating computer and operably configured to: for at least some of the current operable software associated with the plurality of microprocessor-based digital devices, provide active surveillance for, or receive notification of availability of, and retrieve from the one or more software update sources an updated software version of a corresponding current operable software during time periods including at least a period when at least one of the microprocessor-based digital devices is not in communication with the coordinating computer; store the updated software versions in the memory storage of the coordinating computer; and for each of at least some of the stored updated software versions, retrieve from the coordinating computer memory storage the updated software version; determine transmission information for the microprocessor-based digital device associated with the current operable software corresponding to the retrieved updated software version, the transmission information specifying a device-specific mechanism including at least an indication of content and instructions, to be used to update the corresponding microprocessor-based digital device, wherein the device-specific mechanisms for updating at least two of the microprocessor-based digital devices are different based at least in part on different types of device hardware and/or software; and using the device-specific mechanism specified by the determined transmission information, transfer the retrieved updated software version to the corresponding microprocessor-based digital device upon communication of the corresponding microprocessor-based digital device with the coordinating computer.