초록 ▼

Disclosed is a software distribution system using both differencing and compression techniques to distribute source files over a network while minimizing the network bandwidth needed to maintain and update a set of source files. In an embodiment, a sending computer maintains sets of source files in

Disclosed is a software distribution system using both differencing and compression techniques to distribute source files over a network while minimizing the network bandwidth needed to maintain and update a set of source files. In an embodiment, a sending computer maintains sets of source files in base and delta form. The delta source files contain difference information allowing a new version of a source file to be constructed, or reconstituted, from a previously reconstituted version. Prior to transmitting a source file in either base or delta form to a receiving computer, the sending computer compresses the source file using a dictionary-based compression scheme. The resulting tokenized source file is stored and then transmitted to the receiving computer along with versioning control information. The receiving computer stores the tokenized source file along with the versioning control information. Upon request, the receiving computer decompresses the tokenized source file(s) and then reconstitutes an updated version of the source using the versioning control information and received decompressed source file(s). In another embodiment, the sending computer provides provides source updates for multiple software vendors. In this case, the versioning control information also identifies the base/delta source files using a universally unique identifier (UUID) that distinguishes between the base/delta source files of the different vendors.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In a vendor computer system, a computer implemented source file distribution method comprising:transforming a plurality of source files into a tokenized form, at least some the source files being in a base and delta form having associated versioning control information fo

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In a vendor computer system, a computer implemented source file distribution method comprising:transforming a plurality of source files into a tokenized form, at least some the source files being in a base and delta form having associated versioning control information for reconstitution, and the source files are to be distributed to a plurality of user computer systems including the associated versioning control information for reconstitution, and the transformation including substituting language elements present in the source files with corresponding tokens to reduce transmission bandwidth required to distribute the source files along with the version control information for reconstitution to the plurality of user computer systems; anddistributing the source files along with the versioning control information for reconstitution to each of the plurality of user computer systems by transmitting the transformed source files to each of the user computer systems in said tokenized form.