Patent Application
20070104039
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-107132 filed on Nov. 9, 2005 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to the installation of software and, more particularly, to a method, apparatus, and system for installing software, which acquire only software titles licensed to a user from a storage medium in which a plurality of software titles has been stored, and install the licensed software titles in the user's computing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a purchaser of a computer purchases both hardware and software that is installed and operated in the hardware. For example, the software includes an Operating System (OS), device drivers, and application programs.
A computer manufacturing company forecasts the demands of computers and determines the specifications of hardware and software included in a computer through various analyses. Thereafter, the company manufactures or purchases hardware and software according to the determined specifications and assembles and installs the hardware and software. In this case, the computer manufacturing company stores application programs to be installed in a computer on a separate storage medium, such as a Compact Disk (CD), and then provides the storage medium to a consumer together with the computer.
Examples of computers and corresponding software storage mediums, which are provided in the above-described way, are shown in
However, in the conventional technology, it is difficult to manufacture and manage storage media storing software titles corresponding to the users' desires or computer models because the users' desires and the computer models are diverse. For example, as the users' desires or the computer models change, storage media on which only specific software titles corresponding to the users' desires or computer models are stored become unnecessary. Accordingly, software storage media that are already manufactured may become unusable. Furthermore, since processes of manufacturing software storage media corresponding to respective computer models must be performed, the manufacturing efficiency of the software storage media is harmed in direct proportion to the increase in the number of different computer models.
Aspects of the present invention provide a method, apparatus, and system for installing software, which distribute storage media in each of which pieces of software are integrally stored regardless of computer model, and provide identifiers appropriate to respective computer models, thereby increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing and management of the storage media.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of installing software, the method including acquiring one or more predetermined software identifiers from an identifier storage medium connected to a computing device; and installing software titles that belong to a plurality of software titles stored in a software storage medium and correspond to the acquired software identifiers, in the computing device.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for installing software, the system including a software storage medium storing a plurality of software titles; and a computing device searching for software titles that belong to the plurality of software titles and correspond to one or more predetermined software identifiers, and installing the found software titles.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for installing software, the apparatus including an information identification module acquiring one or more predetermined software identifiers from an identifier storage medium connected to a computing device; and an installation module installing software titles that belong to a plurality of software titles stored in a software storage medium and correspond to the one or more acquired software identifiers, in the computing device.
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
The software storage medium 100 stores a plurality of software titles, and is a mobile storage medium that can be easily connected to and disconnected from the computing device 200. For example, the software storage medium 100 may be, but not limited to, a CD, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage device, flash memory, or the like. The software titles can be versions of a same title, software modules, or other like pieces of software.
When the software storage medium 100 is connected to the computing device 200, the computing device 200 installs software titles included in the plurality of software titles stored in the software storage medium 100 and for which installation authorization is respectively granted. In this case, and while not required in all aspects, the installation authorization is software identifiers and may be stored in the computing device 200 and/or a separate storage medium (not shown). Each of the software identifiers may, although not necessarily, have the form of a predetermined code or key value.
The storage software medium 100 can connect to and have data stored therein read by the computing device 200. Although not necessarily required in all aspects, the computing device 200 can be a desktop computer or a notebook computer, and is connected to the medium 100 through a physical electrical or wired connection or through a wireless medium. Detailed descriptions of the software storage medium 100 and the computing device 200 are made below.
The software titles 120 may be installed in the computing device 200 and may operate as various applications. For example, the pieces of software 120 may operate as applications for Office Automation (OA), Numeric Calculation, and games in the computing device 200. In more detail, the computing device 200 may provide a word processor, an image editor, and/or a moving image player by executing the software titles 120 stored on the medium 100 after installation.
The software installation program 140 is executed in the computing device 200 and functions to install software titles selected from among the plurality of software titles 120 in the computing device 200. When the software installation program 140 is executed in the computing device 200, one or more modules which install the software titles 120 may be executed, which will be described later. Meanwhile, although in
In another embodiment of the present invention, the software installation program 140 may be stored in the computing device 200. For example, the software installation program 140 may be provided to a user in the state of having been stored on the hard disk of the computing device 200.
The MCH 210 controls devices having fast data transmission speed, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 240, main memory 260, and an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) 250. The MCH 210 chiefly performs a memory access function, and enables the CPU 240 and the AGP 250 to access the main memory 260. Furthermore, the MCH 210 functions as a bridge or an interface to realize communication and transmit signals between one or more Input/Output (I/O) devices and the CPU 240, which can be connected to the ICH 220.
In an aspect of the invention, an AGP graphics card (not shown) is connected to the AGP 250. A video signal may be output to a display device, such as a monitor, through the AGP graphics card. Depending on the embodiment, a Graphic/Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) including the function of the AGP 250 may be used instead of the MCH 210 and the AGP 230.
The ICH 220 is connected to a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot 270, an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) port 280, a USB port 290, or the like, and manages various I/O devices. In this example, boards (such as an LAN card, a modem, a video card, and a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)), for which high-speed data transmission is required are connected to the PCI slot 270. Secondary memory units, such as a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, and a Compact Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) drive, are connected through the IDE port 280. Furthermore, the secondary memory units may be connected through the USB port 290. A representative example of a secondary memory unit is a USB storage device. It is understood that other connections are possible, such as through an IEEE 1394 port, a USB 2.0 port, and other like ports.
Peripheral devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a memory device (for example, a USB storage device), may be connected to the USB port 290. The USB port 290 is used as a Plug and Play (PnP) interface between peripheral devices, such as a keyboard and a mouse, and the computing device 200. When a new peripheral device is connected while the computing device 200 is being used, the USB port 290 can automatically recognize the new peripheral device without a rebooting or set-up process and supply a power of 500 mA to each port. Therefore, the USB port 290 has a feature such that separate power is not necessary for devices, such as a mouse and a keyboard, that use low power. Thus, data transmission thereof is faster than that of a serial port even though the same principle as the serial port is applied thereto.
The FWH 230 is connected to the ICH 220, and provides firmware for controlling additional systems. In particular, the FWH 230 controls a boot sequence and stores commands and codes for inspecting the validity thereof. Meanwhile, the FWH 230 includes a BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The BIOS is an aggregation of routines for driving various I/O devices or peripheral devices, and includes a start-up routine and a hardware interrupt handling routine. The BIOS performs tasks, such as the booting of the computing device 200 and the loading of an OS, that are basically necessary to operate the computing device 200.
Where the software storage medium 100 is a CD or a DVD, the software storage medium 100 may be connected to the computing device 200 through the CD-ROM drive of the IDE port 280. Where the software storage medium 100 is a USB storage device, the software storage medium 100 may be connected to the computing device 200 through the USB port 290.
When the software storage medium 100 is connected to the computing device 200, the software installation program 140 is executed. The CPU 240 and the main memory 260 operate to execute the software installation program 140. The software installation program 140 may be automatically executed when the software storage medium 100 is connected to the computing device 200, or may be executed at a request from a user. As the software installation program 140 is executed, a task of installing predetermined software selected from among the plurality of software titles 120 stored in the software storage medium 100 is performed, which will be described with reference to
The software installation apparatus 300, as shown in
The information identification module 310 searches an identifier storage medium, and acquires software identifiers from the identifier storage medium. The identifier storage medium may, although not necessarily, be included in the computing device 200. For example, the identifier storage medium may be a specific region on the hard disk of the computing device 200 in which the change and addition of data are physically or logically prevented. Furthermore, the identifier storage medium may be Read-Only Memory (ROM). The ROM may be included in the FWH 230 shown
In another embodiment of the present invention, the identifier storage medium may be provided in a device separate from the computing device 200. For example, the identifier storage medium may be implemented using a floppy disk, flash memory, a USB storage device, or the like.
It is preferred, but not required, that the software identifiers stored in the identifier storage medium be logically or physically protected from data processing tasks, such as deletion, change, copy, and movement.
The software identifiers are used to identify software titles, the use of which is permitted to the user of the computing device 200. Such software identifiers may be provided to the user by a computing device provider who stores them in the identifier storage medium. Furthermore, the information identification module 310 may identify the language of an OS which is operating in the computing device 200 and software titles which are already installed in the computing device 200.
The installation module 320 selects one or more software titles that correspond to the software identifiers acquired by the information identification module 310. The installation module 320 selects the software titles from among the plurality of software titles 120 stored in the software storage medium 100. A list of selected software titles may be displayed on the monitor (not shown) of the computing device 200 for the user. Furthermore if, of the selected software titles, there are software titles that are already installed in the computing device 200 and identified by the information identification module 310, the user can be informed of this fact.
The installation module 320 may install the selected software titles in the computing device 200. The installation of the software titles may be automatically performed or may be performed at the user's request. Depending on the embodiment, when there is a plurality of software titles corresponding to respective countries, the installation module 320 may install software that conforms to the language of the OS in the computing device 200.
The checking module 330 restricts arbitrary access to the plurality of software titles 120 stored in the software storage medium 100. For example, if the user installs or copies a specific software title selected from among the plurality of software titles 120 stored in the software storage medium 100, the checking module 330 determines whether the selected software title is software corresponding to the software identifier. If, as a result of the determination, the selected software title is not the software title corresponding to the software identifier, the checking module 330 can prevent the selected software from being installed or copied.
As an embodiment for preventing access to the plurality of software titles 120 stored in the software storage medium 100, the software title may be packaged using the software identifiers (which is a kind of encryption task). In this case, only the use of software identifiers corresponding to respective software titles enables packaged original software to be acquired. In contrast, when there are no software identifiers, the packaged original software cannot be acquired.
When the software installation apparatus 300 is implemented, the information identification module 310 searches the identifier storage medium at step S430. In this example, the information identification module 310 may identify the language of the OS that is operating in the computing device 200 and the software titles already installed in the computing device 200. However, it is understood that the identification can be otherwise, such as the language of a user, or other information used to distinguish one software title from another.
Meanwhile, the type of the storage medium to be used as the identifier storage medium may be set in advance. For example, if a CD or DVD is set as the identifier storage medium, the information identification module 310 may examine whether the CD or DVD has been inserted into the CD-ROM drive connected through the IDE port 280 of the computing device 200. Furthermore, if a USB storage device is set as the identifier storage medium, the information identification module 310 may examine whether the USB storage device has been connected through the USB port 290.
After the identifier storage medium has been ascertained, the information identification module 310 searches the identifier storage medium for software identifiers and acquires the found software identifiers at step S440. The software identifiers may be stored in the identifier storage medium in advance by a provider providing the computing device 200, according to the model of the computing device 200 or to the user's request.
After the software identifier has been acquired, the installation module 320 selects software titles included in the plurality of software titles 120 in the software storage medium 100 corresponding to the software identifiers at step S450. The installation module 320 displays a list of selected software titles on the monitor (not shown) at step S460. For example, if, as shown in
Thereafter, the installation module 320 installs the selected software titles in the computing device 200 at step S470. The installed software may be a software title included in the selected software titles and is selected by the user or may be automatically installed without the user's intervention.
While not required in all aspects, a plurality of software titles and/or modules corresponding to a single identifier may be stored in the software storage medium 100. As shown in
According to an aspect of the present invention described above and in
As described above, in accordance with the method, apparatus, and system for installing software of the present invention, a storage medium that completely stores a plurality of desired software titles is manufactured, so that the manufacture and management of the software storage media can be facilitated.
Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-107132 | Nov 2005 | KR | national |
