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:
Feb. 16, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 24, 1997
Peter Daniel Beal, Apex, NC (US);
James Steele Gaillard, Apex, NC (US);
Steven Howard Johnson, Cary, NC (US);
Gregory Francis Paussa, Cary, NC (US);
Alejandro Emilio Vasquez, Raleigh, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An alterable device driver development system for supporting various operating systems, network protocols, and adapter hardware interfaces. Each device driver comprises a System, Network and Adapter software component, each component providing services to the other through its associated programming interfaces and being alterable or replaceable according to the requirements of an associated adapter hardware product. The System component supports a set of services defined by the device driver and which can be used by the Network and Adapter components. The Network component manages all interactions of the Adapter component with a network operating system or protocol stack and ensures its applicability and correctness in the context of the device driver operation. The Adapter component provides the functions for operating and managing all interactions with the adapter hardware. A Transformation Path in the Adapter component improves device driver performance by mapping network packet descriptors against adapter packet descriptors in data transferring processes.