Process-mode independent driver model

• US 20040003137A1
• Filed: 06/26/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Callender, Robin L., Ganapathy, Narayanan
• Granted Patent: US 7,024,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products that, by defining a common interface, allow for a single implementation of operations common to both kernel mode and user mode processing, relative to a hardware adapter. Corresponding kernel mode and user mode implementations of the operations are provided. For a given process, a call to the common interface is mapped to the kernel mode implementation for kernel mode processes and to the user mode implementation for user mode processes. The mapping may be performed at runtime or may be static. The common operation may provide a user mode process direct access to a hardware adapter, such as for sending and receiving information, without switching to kernel mode. A kernel mode implementation for operations unique to kernel mode processing, such as specifying security parameters for the hardware adapter to enforce, or initiating and terminating communication through the hardware adapter, also may be provided.

Claims

1. For a computer system comprising one or more processes capable of operating in at least one of (i) a relatively less restricted kernel mode, and (ii) a relatively more restricted user mode, and a hardware adaptor that allows the one or more processes to communicate with at least one hardware device over a communication link, a method of allowing for a single implementation of one or more operations that are common to both kernel mode processing and user mode processing relative to the hardware adapter, the method comprising acts of:

defining a common interface name for at least one operation that is common to kernel mode processing and user mode processing;

providing a kernel mode implementation of the at least one operation that corresponds to the name;

providing a user mode implementation of the at least one operation that corresponds to the name; and

for a given process, mapping one or more common interface calls (i) to the kernel mode implementation if the given process is a kernel mode process, and (ii) to the user mode implementation if the given process is a user mode process.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one operation corresponds to a communication operation that provides a user mode process direct access to the hardware adapter, without switching to kernel mode.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, further comprising an act of providing a kernel mode implementation of one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing correspond to one or more communication operations for initiating and terminating communication through the hardware adapter, and wherein the common interface for the at least one operation that is common to kernel mode processing and user mode processing corresponds to a communication operation for sending and receiving information through the hardware adapter.

5. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein at least one of the one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing specify security parameters for the hardware adapter to enforce.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the mapping occurs at runtime.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the mapping is static.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the hardware adaptor is an InfiniBand host channel adapter.

9. For a computer system comprising one or more processes capable of operating in at least one of (i) a relatively less restricted kernel mode, and (ii) a relatively more restricted user mode, and a hardware adaptor that allows the one or more processes to communicate with at least one hardware device over a communication link, a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instructions that implement a method of allowing for a single implementation of one or more operations that are common to both kernel mode processing and user mode processing relative to the hardware adapter, the method comprising acts of:

defining a common interface name for at least one operation that is common to kernel mode processing and user mode processing;

providing a kernel mode implementation of the at least one operation that corresponds to the name;

providing a user mode implementation of the at least one operation that corresponds to the name; and

for a given process, mapping one or more common interface calls (i) to the kernel mode implementation if the given process is a kernel mode process, and (ii) to the user mode implementation if the given process is a user mode process.

10. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the at least one operation corresponds to a communication operation that provides a user mode process direct access to the hardware adapter, without switching to kernel mode.

11. A computer program product as recited in claim 10, the method further comprising an act of providing a kernel mode implementation of one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing.

12. A computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein the one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing correspond to one or more communication operations for initiating and terminating communication through the hardware adapter, and wherein the common interface for the at least one operation that is common to kernel mode processing and user mode processing corresponds to a communication operation for sending and receiving information through the hardware adapter.

13. A computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein at least one of the one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing specify security parameters for the hardware adapter to enforce.

14. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the mapping occurs at runtime.

15. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the mapping is static.

16. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the hardware adaptor is an InfiniBand host channel adapter.

17. A computer program product allowing for a single implementation of one or more operations which are common to both kernel mode processing and user mode processing relative to a hardware communication adapter, the computer program product comprising a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instructions, wherein the computer program product comprises:

an interface module that identifies a common name and parameter list for one or more operations that are common to kernel mode processing and user mode processing;

a kernel mode implementation module that implements the one or more operations for execution in kernel mode;

a user mode implementation module that implements the one or more operations for execution in user mode; and

a dispatch module that invokes the kernel mode implementation module if a calling process is a kernel mode process and invoke the user mode implementation module if the calling process is a user mode process.

18. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the user mode implementation module provides direct access to the hardware communication adapter, without switching to kernel mode.

19. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising a kernel-mode-only implementation module that implements one or more operations unique to kernel mode processing.

20. A computer program product as recited in claim 19, wherein at least one of the one or more operations unique to kernel mode processing provide security parameters for the hardware communication adapter to enforce.

21. A computer program product as recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more operations that are unique to kernel mode processing comprise one or more privileged operations and wherein the one or more operations that are common to kernel mode processing and user mode processing correspond to one or more non-privileged operations.

22. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the one or more privileged operations are used in initiating and terminating communication through the hardware communication adapter and wherein the one or more non-privileged operations are used in sending and receiving information through the hardware communication adapter.

23. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the dispatch module is statically linked into the kernel mode implementation module and the user mode implementation module.

24. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the dispatch module dynamically invokes either the kernel mode implementation module or the user mode implementation module at runtime.

25. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising an abstract hardware communication adapter module implementing generic functionality for the hardware communication adapter.

26. A computer program product as recited in claim 25, wherein the kernel mode implementation module is part of a miniport module that implements hardware communication adapter specific operations for the generic functionality of the abstract hardware communication adapter module.

27. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the hardware communication adapter is an InfiniBand host channel adapter.