Method and apparatus for abstraction of physical hardware implementation to logical software drivers
US7069206B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 24, 2003 |
| Grant date | Jun 27, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 2, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/102
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for abstraction of a physical hardware implementation to logical software drivers. An operating system kernel includes a device driver layer, an enhanced I/O abstraction layer and physical hardware implementation details layer. The physical hardware implementation details layer encapsulates hardware details for the physical hardware implementation. The enhanced I/O abstraction layer abstracts the hardware details for the device driver layer and creates unique logical I/O device structures for each embedded function in the physical hardware implementation. By using the enhanced I/O abstraction layer, device drivers maintain their independence from the physical hardware implementation. Using the enhanced I/O abstraction layer also enables a single driver with one binary image to support embedded functions spread out across multiple chip implementations, and multiple instances of an embedded function on one or multiple chips.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.