A method is disclosed for upgrading software in a consumer product in an
automatic manner, such that a user is not required to possess detailed
information about the consumer product, such as consumer product type or
model number or installed software version. A non-volatile storage device
and consumer product are provided which co-operate to upgrade the
software in the consumer product according to the method. The consumer
product stores (510) predetermined information regarding the consumer
product on the storage device. The storage device is transferred (520) to
a computer product connected to the Internet. The predetermined
information is used to acquire (535) upgrade software from a remote
server automatically without the user requiring detailed knowledge of the
consumer product. The upgrade software is stored (540) on the storage
device, which is then transferred back (550) to the consumer product. The
consumer product upgrades (560) the software using the upgrade software.