Patent ID: 8145810

Claim:
A method for managing serial communication (COM) ports on a computer device having a system file structure, the method comprising the steps of: scanning the system file structure of the computer device, the system file structure including information on active devices connected to the computer device using COM port interfaces and information on dynamic devices that may be connected to the computer device using the COM port interfaces; determining COM port assignments for the active devices connected to the computer device from the information of the active devices stored in a known location in the system file structure; scanning additional locations in the system file structure for the information on the dynamic devices that may be connected; determining possible COM port assignments for the dynamic devices that may be connected to the computer device from the information on the dynamic devices stored in the additional locations in the system file structure; and determining COM port requirements for a set of applications that may interact with the active and dynamic devices; matching the determined COM port requirements for the set of applications with the determined possible COM port assignments to provide a COM port assignment for each of the active and dynamic devices while the dynamic devices are not connected to the COM port interfaces; displaying the active devices, the dynamic devices and the corresponding determined COM port assignments for the active devices and the determined possible COM port assignments for the dynamic devices.