Symantec announced that it was granted two patents on technology for updating software via the Internet, which could allow the company to collect royalties from companies -- including game developers and publishers -- that employ similar techniques.
Strangely, the patents were granted in April of last year, but Symantec waited until this week to announce them. The company says, however, says that it will not enforce these patents. The patents cover Symantec's "microdefinition" technology, which lets someone download just the latest software patch. Similar patching schemes are commonly used throughout the game industry by game publishers. According to a statement issued by Symantec, the technology "may be also be used to update general computer readable files, which may include data files, program files, database files, graphics files, or audio files. As the patent holder, Symantec is the only company authorized to incorporate this sophisticated technology into its best-of-breed products." In an interview with Reuters, Carey Nachenberg, a researcher at Symantec and the patent holder, said "We have no desire to proactively pursue litigation in regards to these patents." The text of the patent's abstract describes it this way:
A software application is updated to a newer version by means of incremental update patches. The incremental update patches each contain that information necessary to transform one version of an application to another version. Any version of an application may be upgraded to any other version of the application, through the use of a series of incremental update patches. The appropriate incremental update patches are distributed in a multi-tiered manner, such that some update patches update the application by only one version, and others update the application by several versions.
Information about this patent is available at http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US06052531__.
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