Patent ID: 7620948

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for updating software in a client environment, the client environment including an updater application, the method comprising: receiving update information from a stateless update server as part of an update process performed by the updater application in the client environment, the update information identifying one or more available software products, the update information including update instructions, wherein: the update server does not receive or evaluate information about the client environment, does not make decisions regarding the update process on the client environment, and does not control or monitor the update process on the client environment, and the update instructions consist entirely of platform-independent instructions for the updater application, the update instructions comprising scheduling instructions that the updater application executes to schedule one or more requests for update information from one or more update servers, user interface instructions that the updater application executes to communicate with a user of the updater application, and manager instructions that the updater application executes to manage the update process; storing the received update instructions to supersede any previously received update instructions; and executing the received update instructions in the updater application to manage a software update process to schedule a first request for update information, to interact with the user to identify a first software product, and to retrieve and install the first software product in the client environment.