Patent ID: 7509636

Claim:
In a computer system including at least one client computing device in communication with a software update service, a method for updating data on the client computing device, the method comprising: automatically, without user control, obtaining at any time software update information, wherein the software update information comprises a selection of one or more available software updates for updating one or more files installed on the client computing device and wherein the software update information further comprises at least one of a group of information consisting of software information to replace an installed file, a set of rules to determine the applicability of the software updates, and display information for describing the software update; automatically, without user control, obtaining an index identifying a plurality of delta patches, wherein each delta patch corresponds to at least one version of an installed file; automatically, without user control, obtaining an inventory of the one or more files installed on the client computing device; automatically selecting one or more applicable delta patches to implement the selected software updates, wherein selecting the one or more applicable patches corresponds to a mapping of the index identifying the plurality of delta patches to the inventory of the one or more files installed on the client computing device; and automatically requesting the one or more selected delta patches without requiring a separate action by a user.