The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 27, 1997
Filed:
Jul. 03, 1995
Glen C Shipley, Portland, OR (US);
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The version negotiation of the present invention insures that there will always be an expected data and control interface between a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) and an application program that relies on the DLL. The application program makes an initial call to the DLL that specifies the DLL version with which it prefers to operate. The DLL compares this preferred version number to the version numbers that it supports, which are in a supported DLL version table within the DLL. If the preferred version matches one of the table entries, then the DLL returns an 'OK' flag to the application program. In this case, the application program goes on with its normal execution. However, if the preferred version is not supported, then the DLL returns to the application program a 'not OK' flag and a list of versions that it does support from its table of supported versions. In response, the application program looks up the versions on this list in a table of compatible versions contained within the application program. If none are found, then the application performs an error trap. If one is found, then the application program calls the DLL to establish that version as the one which will be used. The present invention advantageously utilizes a header file in order to designate DLL versions.