Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Paul Sliwowicz

Peter W Wieland

Ivan Dimitrov Pashov

Jonathan A Silvera

George Evangelos Roussos

Matthew R Cox

Benjamin Scott McGregor

Dylan David Miller

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are provided for brokering access to peripheral devices and/or device models associated with a computing system. An access broker evaluates requests for access to peripheral devices/models on behalf of a plurality of applications. The access broker evaluates requests for access to peripheral devices including scanners, point-of-sale devices, and devices using ubiquitous device protocols (e.g., USB, HID, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth LE) utilizing application declarations and user consents based upon device model identifiers and/or device-specific identifiers associated with the various devices. Applications may be notified of consent changes at runtime and/or application firmware updates for peripheral devices may be conducted upon receipt of user consent, for instance, to ensure adequate battery power before performing a peripheral device firmware update.

Brokering application access for peripheral devices

Various embodiments initialize a communication link associated with data transfer to a connected state between participants in the communication link. In some cases, the communication link is paired with a first Input/Output (I/O) completion port effective to enable the data transfer. Some embodiments disassociate the communication link with the first I/O completion port and re-initialize the communication link while retaining the connected state. Alternately or additionally, the communication link is paired with at least a second I/O completion port. In some cases, the second I/O completion port utilizes an I/O model that differs from an I/O model associated with the first I/O completion port. Alternately or additionally, the communication link can be reconfigured to follow a IO model that does not utilize an IO completion port at all.

Reliable socket transfer based on initializing and re-initializing a communication link and retaining a connected state

Various embodiments provide a mechanism by which a driver writer can describe the operation set of a particular driver using an intermediary representation, such as an XML. A generation tool can then process the intermediary representation and generate client code and device driver code to support these operations. In one or more embodiments, driver operation and associated elements that support the driver operation can be described according to a customized schema that is specific to the operation of the particular device driver.

Automated generation of client/driver communication interfaces

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Paul Sliwowicz