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:
Nov. 23, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 17, 1997
Bruce Gerard Mealey, Austin, TX (US);
Randal Craig Swanberg, Round Rock, TX (US);
Michael Stephen Williams, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of changing the functionality of a statically bound device driver, by dynamically extending the static device driver using a registered driver extension. The static device driver has a plurality of handlers or functions (such as input/output functions) used to control a device that is connected to or part of the computer system, and the driver extension modifies at least one of these functions, although it can be used to change several, or even all, of the functions. In the embodiment wherein the computer system is a UNIX-type workstation having a kernel residing in the memory, the static device driver is loaded in the kernel and is dynamically extended by providing at least one entry point for the driver extension.