System and process for controlling input and output devices by file system devices
US6167456A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 24, 1998 |
| Grant date | Dec 26, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 24, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N2201/0074
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention describes a system and process for controlling input and output devices, in particular scanners or cameras, through application programs, where each input or output device can communicate with every application without modification of or addition to the application program and/or the input or output device software. For this, the input or output device is announced to the operating system by way of the application program as a file. The input or output device is started by means of the application program's "Open file" function. The input or output device is announced to the operating system as a drive. A data management function takes over the communication with the driver software for the input and output as well as for the preparation of the required image formats. In this way the data access functions of the application for enabling the reading of data from files are eliminated and, in addition, its own functions for accessing input or output devices through a special interface.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.