US5870611A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Install plan object for network installation of application programs
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1997-11-21
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Granted: 1999-02-09
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Expires: 2017-11-21
Abstract
Abstract An installation plan object is built for installing an application in a network. The empty installation plan object is first created from a template of a prototypical installation plan object. Next, from a workspace container object containing potential child objects of the installation plan object, objects are selected for inclusion in the installation plan object. The selected objects are transformed into child objects of the installation plan object. The objects which are selected to populate an install plan object include an application object and a group object which respectively represent an application to be installed over the network and a group of workstations upon which the application is to be installed. After transformation, these objects are converted into an application-in-plan object and a group-in-plan object respectively. Other potential child objects include a category object having a plurality of response file objects each for installing a respective one of a plurality of applications over the network.
Inventors
- 👤 Theodore Jack London Shrader
- 👤 John Lawrence Bunce
- 👤 Juan Manuel Nuncio
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 11:47
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F8/00; G06F8/60; G06F8/61
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
107 words
A method for building an installation plan object for installing an application in a network of computers comprising the steps of: creating an installation plan object from a template of a prototypical installation plan object; from a workspace container object containing potential child objects of the installation plan object, selecting objects for inclusion in the installation plan object, wherein the selected object include an application object and a group object which respectively represent an application to be installed over the network and a group of workstations upon which the application is to be installed; and transforming the selected objects into child objects of the installation plan object.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
107 words
A method for building an installation plan object for installing an application in a network of computers comprising the steps of: creating an installation plan object from a template of a prototypical installation plan object; from a workspace container object containing potential child objects of the installation plan object, selecting objects for inclusion in the installation plan object, wherein the selected object include an application object and a group object which respectively represent an application to be installed over the network and a group of workstations upon which the application is to be installed; and transforming the selected objects into child objects of the installation plan object.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the selecting step comprises a drag and drop of an icon representing the selected object from a display area allocated to the workspace container object to a display area allocated to the installation plan object.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the potential child objects further include a category object having a plurality of response file objects each for installing a respective one of a plurality of applications over the network.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the potential child objects include a plurality of response file objects for the application object, each response file object for performing a different action on the application in the network.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
81 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the application object is transformed to an application-in plan object and the group object is transformed to to a group-in-plan object and the transforming step further comprises the steps of: determining that the application-in-plan object is unique to the installation plan object; determining an action type for the application-in-plan object; inheriting attributes from the application object; and adding a response file object to the installation plan object which corresponds to the action type.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
89 words
The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the group and group-in-plan objects respectively comprise a plurality of workstation objects and workstation-in-plan objects and the transforming step further comprises the steps of: determining whether the group-in-plan object is unique to the installation plan object; inheriting attributes from the group object; transforming the plurality of workstation objects into the plurality of workstation-in-plan objects; and creating a plurality of workstation application-in-plan objects each of which is a child object of a respective workstation-in-plan object by copying attributes from the application-in-plan object.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
113 words
A system including memory and processor for building an installation plan object for installing an application in a network of computers comprising: a template of a prototypical installation plan object stored in the memory for creating an empty installation plan object; a workspace container object containing potential child objects for selection for inclusion in the installation plan object, wherein the potential child objects include application objects which represent applications to be installed over the network and group objects which represent a group of workstations upon which application may be installed; and means for transforming the selected objects into child objects of the empty installation plan object to create a valid installation plan object.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
113 words
A system including memory and processor for building an installation plan object for installing an application in a network of computers comprising: a template of a prototypical installation plan object stored in the memory for creating an empty installation plan object; a workspace container object containing potential child objects for selection for inclusion in the installation plan object, wherein the potential child objects include application objects which represent applications to be installed over the network and group objects which represent a group of workstations upon which application may be installed; and means for transforming the selected objects into child objects of the empty installation plan object to create a valid installation plan object.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system as recited in claim 7 wherein the transforming means converts a selected application object and a selected group object into an application-in-plan object and a group-in-plan object respectively.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system as recited in claim 8 wherein at least one application object includes a category object including a response file object for installing the at least one application over the network.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
38 words
The system as recited in claim 8 wherein at least one application object includes a plurality of response file objects, each response file object for performing a different action on the at least one application in the network.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system as recited in claim 10 wherein the workspace container further comprises a custom file container for containing custom file objects which customize response file objects for particular workstations.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
50 words
The system as recited in claim 8 further comprising a code server container object for containing code server object which represent code server workstations in the network on which copies of the applications reside prior to installation of the application on a group of workstations represented by a group-in-plan object.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
34 words
The system as recited in claim 8 further comprising a network information tool for viewing the status of the installation of applications on a group of workstations according to a valid installation plan object.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system as recited in claim 7 further comprising a plans container for containing a plurality of installation plan objects.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
132 words
A computer program product in a computer readable memory for building an installation plan object, the installation plan object for installing an application in a network of computers comprising: a template of a prototypical installation plan object; means for creating an empty installation plan object from the template of a prototypical installation plan object; a workspace container object containing potential child objects of the installation plan object, wherein the potential child objects include application objects which represent application to be installed over the network; means for creating a group object which represents a group of computers in the network upon which the application may be installed; means for selecting objects for inclusion in the installation plan object; and means for transforming the selected objects into child objects of the installation plan object.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
132 words
A computer program product in a computer readable memory for building an installation plan object, the installation plan object for installing an application in a network of computers comprising: a template of a prototypical installation plan object; means for creating an empty installation plan object from the template of a prototypical installation plan object; a workspace container object containing potential child objects of the installation plan object, wherein the potential child objects include application objects which represent application to be installed over the network; means for creating a group object which represents a group of computers in the network upon which the application may be installed; means for selecting objects for inclusion in the installation plan object; and means for transforming the selected objects into child objects of the installation plan object.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
15 words
The product as recited in claim 15 further comprising means of creating new application objects.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
The product as recited in claim 15 wherein at least one application requires a response file to be installed over the network and the memory further comprises a response file object containing data necessary for the creation of the response file.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-02-08 | 2002-08-10 | 2003-02-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-02-08 | 2006-08-10 | 2007-02-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-02-08 | 2010-08-10 | 2011-02-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |