Updating software components through online stores

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9645809-B2
Application number	US-201313968452-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2013
Priority date	May 29, 2013
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for updating software components through online stores. A computing device interacts with an online store to download applications and frameworks that are distributed from the online store. The computer system includes an operating system configured to keep distributed applications and frameworks updated. The operating system can, automatically and without user intervention, intelligently schedule and attempt application and framework updates in a manner that minimizes user disruptions. The operating system can manage application and framework updating for any and/or all user accounts on a computing device. The operating system can manage updates even when each application and/or framework is to be separately installed for different user accounts that have the application and/or framework installed.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. At a computer system, the computer system including a processor and system memory, the computer system communicatively coupled to an online store that distributes software components, the software components including applications and frameworks, a plurality of applications from the online store and one or more frameworks from the online store installed at the computer system, a method for receiving updates to software components stored at the computer system, the method comprising:
automatically, and without user intervention, sending an application update query to the online store, the application update query querying the online store for updates to any of a plurality of applications purchased from the online store and installed at the computer system, each of the plurality of applications having a version of at least one framework that was used to develop the application and was installed along with the application, at least two of the plurality of applications developed with and installed along with different frameworks;
automatically, and without user intervention, sending a separate framework update query to the online store in parallel with the application update query, the framework update query querying the online store for updates to any frameworks used to develop and installed along with any of the plurality of applications;
receiving a framework update in response to the framework update query, the framework update including a new version of a framework, the new version of the framework being updated relative to a version of the framework used to develop and installed along with a sub-plurality of applications at the computer system, the sub-plurality of applications selected from among the plurality of applications;
automatically, and without user intervention, scheduling the framework update for installation at the computer system during an operating system maintenance window at the computer system, even though the sub-plurality of applications were not developed with nor installed along with the new version of the framework; and
installing the framework update during the operating system maintenance window to replace use of the version of the framework by the sub-plurality of applications with use of the new version of the framework by the sub-plurality of applications.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an application update, the application update including an update to a application installed at the computer system, the application selected from among the sub-plurality of applications;
automatically, and without user intervention, scheduling the application update for installation at the computer system during the operating system maintenance window; and
installing the application update at the available time to update the application; and
wherein installing the framework update during the operating system maintenance window comprises installing the framework update to replace use of the version of the framework with use of the new version of the framework for at least one application, even though an application update for the at least one application was not received in response to the application update query, the at least one application selected from among the sub-plurality of applications.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein installing the framework update comprises installing the framework update at the computer system a plurality of times, each installation of the framework update installed for a different account from among a plurality of different accounts at the computer system.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
tracking update telemetry for the application update; and
tracking separate update telemetry for the framework update; and
wherein the update telemetry and the separate update telemetry are used for monitoring the quality of managed releases of applications and frameworks.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling the framework update for installation at the computer system during an operating system maintenance window at the computer system comprises determining that the framework update is to be separately installed for each of a plurality of user accounts at the computer system.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein installing the framework update comprises:
detecting that a first user account, from among the plurality of user accounts, is logged into the computer system; and
while the first user account is logged into the computer system:
installing the framework update for the first user account; and
installing the framework update for a second user account, from among the plurality of user accounts, during system idle time.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that a network connection between the computer system and the online store is not a metered connection.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the online store sells software applications configured for use with the operating system, the operating system selected from among: Microsoft® Windows®, Apple® iOS®, and Google® Android™.

9. The method claim 1 , wherein installing the framework update comprises installing the framework update to replace use of the version of the framework by two or more applications with use of the new version of the framework by the two or more applications.

10. At a computer system, the computer system including a processor and system memory, the computer system communicatively coupled to an online store that distributes software components, the software components including applications and frameworks, a plurality of applications from the online store and one or more frameworks from the online store installed at the computer system, a method for receiving updates to software components stored at the computer system, the method comprising:
receiving a framework update from the online store, the framework update including a new version of a framework, the new version of the framework being updated relative to a version of the framework used to develop and installed along with one or more applications, the one or more applications selected from among the plurality of applications from the online store;
determining that the framework update is to be installed for a plurality of user accounts at the computer system by determining that each user account in the plurality of user accounts is associated with at least one of the one or more applications;
automatically, and without user intervention, scheduling the framework update for a separate installation for each user account in the plurality of user accounts even though the at least one of the one or more applications was not developed with nor installed along with the new version of the framework for each user account; and
for each of the plurality of user accounts, installing the framework update at an available time to replace use of the version of the framework by the at least one of the one or more applications with use of the new version of the framework by the at least one of the one or more applications, including:
detecting that a first user account, from among the plurality of user accounts, is logged into the computer system; and
while the first user account is logged into the computer system:
installing the framework update for the first user account; and
installing the framework update for a second user account, from among the plurality of user accounts, during system idle time.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining that the framework update is to be installed for a plurality of user accounts at the computer system comprises determining that the framework is utilized by each of the one or more applications for

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Cohen Jordan Frederick
• Barry Nikki Josephine
• Ramlan Shiaf
• Pokluda David
• Rangarajan Rajasekaran
• Shaji Ullattil

Classifications

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title