Patent · US Expired

Method and system for providing device driver configurations on demand

US5815731A · kind A · utility

36Cited by
12References
6Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 31, 1996
Grant dateSep 29, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 31, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F3/1296
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and system for providing device driver configurations on demand during runtime within a computer system is disclosed. In accordance with a method of the present invention, a Hardware Namespace is constructed by a Hardware Resource Manager and a Logical Device Namespace is constructed by a Logical Device Manager within the computer system. A determination is made as to whether or not the peripheral device is contained within the Hardware Namespace and whether or not a device driver for the peripheral device is also contained within the Logical Device Namespace, in response to a first attempt to access a peripheral device after system boot-up by an application software. In response to a determination that the peripheral device is not contained within the Hardware Namespace, a user is prompted to install the peripheral device within the computer system. On the other hand, in response to a determination that the device driver for the peripheral device is not contained within the Logical Device Namespace, the user is prompted to install the device driver for the peripheral device within the computer system. After loading the device driver to a system memory, the peripheral devi…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.