Patent ID: 7017144

Claim:
A computer implemented method executing on a computer comprising: creating a first image from a first software, said first image including first descriptive data corresponding to descriptive data of the first software and including first file data corresponding to file data of the first software; creating a second image from a second software, said second image including second descriptive data corresponding to descriptive data of the second software and including second file data corresponding to file data of the second software; combining the first image and the second image into a combined image; creating a list of identifiers of the file data in the combined image; wherein, for each of the file data of the first image, said creating a first image comprises reading a file data of the first image, and associating each read file with an identifier based on contents of the file data; wherein, for each of the file data of the second image, said creating a second image comprises reading a file data of the second image, and associating each read file with an identifier based on the contents of the file data; and wherein said combining comprises copying the read file data to the combined image when the identifier of the read file is not in the list of the identifiers of the combined image.