Method of identifying a source of a software distribution between portable computer systems

Abstract

A system and method of identifying a source of a software distribution between portable computer systems. A user of a first hand held computer may transfer software, for example operating system extensions, application programs and data sets etc. to a second hand held computer. This transfer may occur wirelessly. An identification token which may identify the source of the software distribution may also be transferred, and further transferred from the second hand held computer to an “e commerce” web site in an automatic manner. In this novel manner, the sources of software distribution of respective files among many hand held computer users, may be identified to the website. This may result in wider distribution of both information about available software and the software itself, and a multi-order multiplication of economic effects in the hand held industry, while overcoming many deficiencies in the prior art of software distribution for hand held computers.

1 . A method of software distribution comprising: a) transferring a computer file from a first hand held computer system to a second hand held computer system via a communication protocol; and b) transferring an identification token from said first hand held computer system to said second hand held computer system via said communication protocol, wherein said identification token is stored in said second hand held computer system and identifies said first hand held computer as the source of said computer file, and wherein said identification token is independent of said communication protocol, and wherein said identification token is associated with a software referral program to download data to said second hand held computer system, wherein said data is software selected from the group consisting of operating system extension, application program, and data sets.