Patent ID: 7420923

Claim:
A method in a communication network including a set of nodes to which software is to be distributed from a distribution node, comprising: receiving a distribution list of nodes including at least said set of nodes, generating, on the basis of knowledge of a structure and a current load in the communication network, a distribution graph including the nodes of the distribution list together with the distribution node with logical communication links between adjacent nodes, wherein each of said communication links is assigned a cost value corresponding to the cost associated with data transmission over the respective logical communication link, calculating and storing the shortest path in the distribution graph from the distribution node to each node of the distribution list, respectively, identifying overlapping paths among the stored shortest paths, wherein overlapping paths are paths having a common path from the distribution node up to a certain node of the distribution list, and then grouping together overlapping paths, ordering the paths of each group according to the number of nodes included in each path, respectively, wherein the path having a lowest number of nodes in a group is placed first in that group, and the path having a highest number of nodes in a group is placed last in that group, for each group, executing distribution of the software from the distribution node to each node in the respective group by the following software distributing steps: loading the software from the first to the second node of each path in the group, starting with the first path and successively proceeding to the last node, wherein the loading between the same two nodes does not take place more than once, removing the first node of each path in the group so that the second node (if any) becomes the first node, the third node (if any) becomes the second node, and so on, removing the paths having only one node left, and if no paths are left in the group, stopping the distribution of the software for this group, otherwise repeating the software distributing steps.