Patent ID: 8893108

Claim:
A method for updating a tax preparation software program (TPSP), comprising: determining, by an update module of the TPSP, that a user of the TPSP is completing a tax form; identifying, by the update module of the TPSP, a software component of the TPSP associated with the tax form, wherein the update service is subscribed to the first time the user accesses the tax form; subscribing, by the update module of the TPSP, to an update service associated with the software component; identifying, by the update module of the TPSP and after subscribing to the update service, a feature of the TPSP required during completion of the tax form by the user; identifying, by the update module of the TPSP and after subscribing to the update service, a first update to the software component provided by the update service, wherein the first update comprises a functional modification to the feature of the TPSP; identifying, by the update module of the TPSP and after subscribing to the update service, a second update to the software component provided by the update service, wherein the second update does not modify the feature of the TPSP required during completion of the tax form by the user; obtaining, by the update module of the TPSP and in response to the first update comprising the functional modification and the second update not modifying the feature of the TPSP, the first update from the update service but not the second update; and updating, by the update module of the TPSP, the software component of the TPSP using the first update while the TPSP is executing.