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US 5,940,074 AGranted
Remote upgrade of software over a network
AssigneeWebTV Networks, Inc.
InventorsJoe F. Britt, Jr., Andrew T. McFadden, Phillip Y. Goldman, Bruce A. Leak
Life of this patent
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AssigneeWebTV Networks, Inc.
InventorsJoe F. Britt, Jr., Andrew T. McFadden, Phillip Y. Goldman, Bruce A. Leak
Estimating the term…
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.
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:
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 computer program product for use by said electronic unit to implement 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 computer program product comprising:
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 computer program product for use by at least one of said servers to implement 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 computer program product comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.