Patent · US Expired

Protocol for communication with a user-mode device driver

US7603484B2 · kind B2 · utility

27Cited by
0References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 21, 2005
Grant dateOct 13, 2009
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 2, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/4413
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A user-mode device driver architecture is provided by the subject invention. The architecture includes a reflector, a driver manager and a host process which hosts and isolates one or more user-mode device driver(s). The user-mode device driver runs in the user-mode (UM) environment and has access to various UM services. The reflector resides in “kernel memory” (e.g., memory/resource(s) available to operating system) while the driver manager, host process and user mode device driver(s) are located in user space (e.g., memory/resource(s) available to user application(s)). The reflector provides a secure, stable communication path for application(s), the host process and/or user-mode device driver(s) to communicate with the operating system.

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