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 Title: |
US5940074:
Remote upgrade of software over a network
[ Derwent Title ]
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| Country: |
US United States of America
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| Inventor: |
Britt, Jr., Joe F.; Saratoga, CA
McFadden, Andrew T.; Cupertino, CA
Goldman, Phillip Y.; Los Altos, CA
Leak, Bruce A.; Palo Alto, CA
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| Assignee: |
WebTV Networks, Inc., Mountain View, CA
other patents from WEBTV NETWORKS, INC. (740227) (approx. 96)
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| Published / Filed: |
1999-08-17
/ 1996-11-22
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| Application Number: |
US1996000755238
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| IPC Code: |
Advanced:
G06F 3/023;
G06F 3/048;
G06F 9/445;
G06F 11/14;
G06F 13/00;
G06F 17/30;
H04L 29/08;
H04N 5/00;
H04N 5/445;
H04N 7/24;
H04N 7/26;
H01H 9/02;
H04L 29/06;
H04N 7/16;
Core:
more...
IPC-7:
G06F 15/163;
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| ECLA Code: |
G06F17/30W9C; G06F3/048K1; G06F3/048K4; G06F9/445N; G06F11/14A8E; G06F17/30W9V; H04L29/08A7; H04L29/08N13; H04L29/08N33; H04N5/00M; H04N5/445M; H04N7/24T4; H04N7/26A10S; H04N7/26T; T04N7/16S40; T04N7/16S80N; T04N7/16T10C; T01H9/02C4; T04L29/06C8; T04L29/08A7; T04M242/22; T04N5/445F3; T04N5/445M6B;
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| U.S. Class: |
Current:
715/749;
348/E05.002;
348/E05.105;
375/E07.024;
375/E07.129;
375/E07.198;
707/E17.121;
714/E11.135;
715/760;
Original:
345/333;
345/352;
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| Field of Search: |
345/326,327,328,329,330,331,332,333,334,335,336,337,338,339,340,341,342,343,344,345,346,347,348,349,350,351,352,353,354,156
395/200.48,200.36
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| Priority Number: |
| 1996-11-22 |
US1996000755238 |
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| Abstract: |
A World Wide Web browser software is implemented in a processing system housed in a set-top box connected to a television and communicating over a wide-area network with one or more servers. The browser software allows a user to navigate using a remote control through World-Wide Web pages in which a number of hypertext anchors are displayed on the television. User inputs are entered from a remote input device using an infrared (IR) link. The processing system includes a read-only memory (ROM) and a flash memory. The mask ROM and the flash memory are assigned adjacent memory spaces in the memory map of the processing system. Browser software and configuration data are stored in the flash memory. Other software and configuration data are stored in a mask ROM. The browser is upgraded or reconfigured by downloading to the box replacement software or data transmitted from a server over the network and then writing the replacement software or data into the flash memory. A mechanism is provided to temporarily maintain power to the processing system in the event power to the box is lost during downloading. The mechanism allows the writing of a current block to be completed. An indication of the current block is maintained while power is absent so that downloading can be resumed once power is restored from the last block that was written.
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| Attorney, Agent or Firm: |
Workman Nydegger & Seeley ;
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| Primary / Asst. Examiners: |
Sax, Steven P.;
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| Maintenance Status: |
CC Certificate of Correction issued
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| INPADOC Legal Status: |
Show legal status actions
Family Legal Status Report
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| Parent Case: |
The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application having application Ser. No. 08/660,088, filed on Jun. 3, 1996 pending, and U.S. patent application having application Ser. No. 08/656,924, filed on Jun. 3, 1996 pending.
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| Designated Country: |
AL AM AP AT AZ BA BB BG BR BY CA CH CN CU CZ DK EE ES FI GE GH HU ID IL IS KE KG KP KZ LC LK BE DE FR GB IT
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| Family: |
Show 116 known family members
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First Claim:
Show all 18 claims |
What is claimed is:
1. In a networked computer system which includes a plurality of server systems each of which is connected to a network infrastructure which provides access through said servers to a plurality of sites, and the networked computer system including at least one client system which is connected either directly or logically to one or more of said servers, and each client system comprising a conventional television monitor on which to display information retrieved from of an accessed site, and an electronic unit including program instructions stored in any combination of a mask ROM, RAM, flash memory, mass storage device or CPU memory, and wherein the electronic unit includes a CPU for executing said program instructions so as to control said television monitor in order to provide a user of the client system with a graphical user interface by which the user can access the network infrastructure to browse said sites or otherwise access said network infrastructure, a method for automatically downloading to said CPU of the electronic unit software or data in order to replace or upgrade said program instructions used by the CPU to access the network infrastructure, without the need for user intervention, the method comprising the steps of:
- initializing the client system by powering on the electronic unit and automatically connecting the client system to at least one of said servers;
- automatically and without the need for user intervention, checking the validity of the stored program instructions to ascertain the existence of a corrupted state in the stored program instructions of the electronic unit of the client system, and if the validity of the stored program instructions is not verified, then automatically and without the need for user intervention, replacing the stored program instructions by downloading to said electronic unit a replacement for the program instructions from said at least one of said servers;
- automatically and without the need for user intervention, checking said at least one sever for the existence of an upgraded version of the program instructions, and if the program instructions of the electronic unit are out of date, then automatically and without the need for user intervention, either (1) replacing the stored program instructions of the electronic unit with the upgraded program instructions downloaded from said at least one of said servers if the upgrade is designated as mandatory at said at least one server, or (2) if the upgrade is not mandatory, prompting the user to decide whether to accept the upgrade from said at least one server; and
- using the upgraded or replaced program instructions to control said television monitor in order to provide a user of the client system with a graphical user interface by which the user can access the network infrastructure to browse said sites or otherwise access said network infrastructure through one or more of said servers.
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| Background / Summary: |
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| Drawing Descriptions: |
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| Description: |
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| Forward References: |
Show 83 U.S. patent(s) that reference this one
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