Patent ID: 8346981

Claim:
A driver system for communication between a user application and a peripheral device, the driver system comprising: (A) a master driver for (1) receiving availability notifications relating to the peripheral device, and (2) installing a two-part function driver for the peripheral device, (B) the two-part function driver having an application interface part and a peripheral interface part, that communicate with each other to pass communications between the user application and the peripheral device, the application interface part communicating with the user application and providing a communication port interface for the user application; and the peripheral interface part communicating between the application interface part and the peripheral device, (C) the two-part function driver receiving notification of a removal of the peripheral device, and, in response, the application interface part disconnects from the peripheral interface part, the peripheral interface part discontinues communicating between the application interface part and the peripheral device, and the application interface continues to communicate with the user application to provide the user application with the communication port interface that responds to the communications from the user application without reaching the peripheral interface part of the two-part function driver to allow the user application to operate as if the removed peripheral device was still connected and malfunctioning since the user application cannot communicate with the peripheral device through the two-part function driver.