The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 05, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 15, 1998
Srivatsan Parthesarathy, Issaquah, WA (US);
Reiner Fink, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Sean L. Flynn, North Bend, WA (US);
Ray Sun, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A method for allowing a software vendor to notify a user of a software update is disclosed. At the time of installing an application, the user is prompted to subscribe to a software update channel. A shortcut (.lnk file) that the application installs is created with special information that identifies the application by a unique name. The channel is updated periodically based on the schedule suggested by the channel. When a new update is detected, the software channel delivers the software update to the user's computer and sends notifications such as email or gleaming the icon to indicate that a new software update is now available. Also, the next time the user launches the application through the shortcut (.lnk file), the shell automatically displays the update notification information to the user.