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:
Oct. 06, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Moshe Lichtman, Bellevue, WA (US);
Mark R Enstrom, Redmond, WA (US);
Thomas E Lennon, Seattle, WA (US);
Ralph A Lipe, Woodinville, WA (US);
Pierre-Yves Santerre, Bellevue, WA (US);
Robert T Short, Kirkland, WA (US);
David W Voth, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A system for managing the assignment of device drivers to devices of a computer system. The computer system can maintain device-related information for a primary device and for devices that are 'compatible' with the primary device. This device information supplies an indication of whether a device driver intended for primary use with a device is maintained by the computer system. Moreover, the device information provides an indication of whether one or more device drivers compatible with the primary device are maintained by the computer system. During assignment of device drivers to devices of the computer system, the device information is examined to determine whether the intended device driver for the primary device is available to support the operations of that device. If not, the device information is examined to determine whether a device driver for a device that is compatible with the primary device is available for supporting computer operations of the primary device. In this event, if the device information lists more than one device that is compatible with the primary device, then the compatible device having the highest priority or ranking can be selected and the device driver for the selected device is used to support the operations of the primary device.