In-field device migration between operating systems

Abstract

The technology involves migration of computing devices from one operating system to a different operating system, e.g., via an over-the-air (OTA) process. The migration at the device can be done autonomously without human input, while managing resource issues such as limited memory size or different memory types. A sequence of builds may be employed depending on the type of device that undergoes migration. A backend migration service can provide an airlock feature to migrate devices in batches, for instance should fractional migration be employed for many devices in a product line. The airlock approach provides a handshake between devices and an update service irrespective of which batch a given computing device is in. This enables the OTA process to support batch OS migration for thousands of computing devices or more, while ensuring that changes to each computing device are accounted for.