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:
Apr. 23, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 12, 1998
Jameel Hyder, Redmond, WA (US);
Arvind Madhav Murching, Issaguah, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
In an I/O subsystem comprising device drivers for controlling connection-oriented hardware adapters, a method, computer program product, and system is presented that allows the connection functionality for a particular media to be separated from a connection-oriented device driver. An integrating component allows data transport drivers and hardware device drivers to be “bound” together to form data communication channels in an arbitrary fashion without knowledge beforehand as to configuration; each are programmed to the integrating component. A connection interface in an enhanced integrating component allows the connection-oriented device driver development to be simplified and result in smaller, less complex device drivers because the driver is no longer required to provide a connection interface. By adding a connection manager interface to the integrating component, a connection manager component may be added to the system that handles connection management for a media type, such as ATM, ISDN, etc. A single connection manager component may support the hardware adapters provided by multiple manufacturers. This allows the manufacturers to develop connection-oriented device drivers more quickly since they will not have the connection management functionality, a sizable piece of work, nor will they be providing a connection interface.