Patent ID: 7793279

Claim:
A computer program embodied in a tangible medium, the computer program controlling access to a device in a computer system, which includes an operating system (OS) and in which access to the device takes place through a current driver, the computer program performing the following steps: while the computer system is continuously powered on, the OS is continuously operational, and while maintaining a physical electrical connection state of the device, by executing a module of computer-executable code that is loaded in the computer system and is external to the device: intercepting a request by the OS for a source identifier that is associated with the device and a source driver, which is initially the current driver; and dynamically causing a change of the current driver from the source driver to a substitute driver for the device by responding to the request by the OS by returning to the OS a substitute identifier that is different from the source identifier and is associated with the substitute driver, whereby the OS is caused to associate the substitute driver with the device.