Patent · US Active

Split user-mode/kernel-mode device driver architecture

US8185783B2 · kind B2 · utility

13Cited by

9References

18Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Microsoft Corporation · US

Inventors

Mingtzong Lee · Redmond, US
Peter Wieland · Bellevue, US
Nar Ganapathy · Redmond, US
Ulfar Erlingsson · Palo Alto, US
Martin Abadi · Palo Alto, US
John Richardson · Sammamish, US

Key dates

Filing date	Nov 22, 2007
Grant date	May 22, 2012
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Apr 5, 2030

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG06F9/545
WIPO fieldComputer technology
WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A device driver includes a kernel stub and a user-mode module. The device driver may access device registers while operating in user-mode to promote system stability while providing a low-latency software response from the system upon interrupts. Upon receipt of an interrupt, the kernel stub may run an interrupt service routine and write information to shared memory. Control is passed to the user-mode module by a reflector. The user-mode module may then read the information from the shared memory to continue servicing the interrupt.

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