Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Keisuke Tsuchida

Vladimir Sadovsky

Franc Camara

Lyman Cooper Partin

Oren Rosenbloom

A computer system uses simplified device drivers for operating hardware devices. A simplified device driver for a hardware device of a given device type, such as a flatbed scanner, works with a system-supplied common driver for that given device type. The common driver and the simplified driver together function like a regular device driver. The simplified device driver implements a small number of entry point functions corresponding to a pre-selected set of operation commands 'generic' to hardware devices of that given device type. When an application makes a request for an operation by the device, the request is passed through a device driver interface (DDI) to the common driver. The common driver then calls the entry point functions in the simplified device driver to carry out the requested operation.

Simplified device drivers for hardware devices of a computer system

A method and system are provided for facilitating communication between a computing device and a network scanner upon discovery of the network scanner. The system includes a driver having an operating system communication layer and a scanning profile communication layer, the scanning profile communication layer implementing a zero configuration device network architecture. The driver includes a translation mechanism for translating information between a scanning communication protocol of the scanning profile communication layer and an operating system communication mode of the operating system communication layer. The driver may further include a scanning command module for transferring scanning commands from the driver to the network scanning device and a data handler for opening a communication channel between the driver and the scanner and transmitting scan data over the communication channel.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Keisuke Tsuchida