Patent ID: 7069561

Claim:
Method for communication between an application program and a network device driver program through intermediate structure software, comprising the steps of: a. supplying of application data units from the application program to a first program object being part of the intermediate structure software; b. performing of first functions of the first program object on the application data units; c. supplying of resulting first data units from the first program object to a second program object being part of the intermediate structure software; d. performing of second functions of the second program object on the first data units; e. supplying of the resulting second data units to the network device driver program; wherein supplying data units between program objects is accomplished by passing references pointing to memory locations storing data of the data units such that the references are passed between program objects and the data of the data units is not passed directly between program objects, and wherein for at least one application data unit, the referenced memory location storing data of the application data unit is the same memory location as the referenced memory location storing at least some of the data of the corresponding first data unit and as the referenced memory location for storing at least some of the data of the corresponding second data unit.