Patent ID: 6473824
Filing Date: 2002-10-29
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
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.