Patent ID: 6961631

Claim:
A system comprising: a first module implemented in kernel-mode and coupled to receive audio data from hardware, wherein the first module is to process the audio data by obtaining a data packet structure into which the audio data can be placed, wherein the data packet structure includes: a data portion that can include one of: the audio data, a pointer to a chain of additional data packet structures that include the audio data, and a pointer to a data buffer, and an event byte count portion that identifies, if the data portion does not include the pointer to the chain of additional data packet structures, whether the data portion includes the audio data or a pointer to the data buffer, a second module implemented in kernel mode and coupled to communicate processed audio data to an application executing in user-mode; and a third module, implemented in kernel-mode, to receive the audio data from the first module, process the audio data, and communicate the processed audio data to the second module.