초록 ▼

An object-oriented framework is introduced for coupling device drivers to an application program. Two class trees are introduced: the first class tree comprises the device drivers. The device drivers actually exchange messages with the IO devices. They depend on the protocol used, on the IO interfac

An object-oriented framework is introduced for coupling device drivers to an application program. Two class trees are introduced: the first class tree comprises the device drivers. The device drivers actually exchange messages with the IO devices. They depend on the protocol used, on the IO interface, and on the operating system. The second class tree comprises the so-called physical objects. Their task is to define parameters that are necessary to describe what an IO device is supposed to do. The parameters only depend on the device's functionality, but not on the protocol, the IO interface or the operating system. In order to couple a physical object with a device driver, the physical object holds a pointer to its device driver. The connection is an "object reference," and therefore, the active device driver may be changed at runtime.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An object-oriented framework in memory of a computer system, said framework providing a communication path between an application program and IO devices attached to said computer system, each IO device being connected to a certain IO interface and utilizing a certain IO protocol for exchanging me

1. An object-oriented framework in memory of a computer system, said framework providing a communication path between an application program and IO devices attached to said computer system, each IO device being connected to a certain IO interface and utilizing a certain IO protocol for exchanging messages with said computer system, said framework comprising:a first class tree comprising a set of physical objects, said physical objects defining parameters for data exchange with the application program, said parameters being independent of the IO device's IO protocol and of the IO interface the IO device is attached to, a second class tree comprising a set of IO device drivers, said IO device drivers being designed for a certain IO interface and a certain IO protocol, and said IO device drivers being capable of exchanging messages in said IO protocol via said IO interface with the IO device attached to said IO interface, and means for establishing and changing an object reference between any of said physical objects and any of said device drivers at runtime, whereby said physical object maintains a pointer to its corresponding device driver.