| NComm
Device Drivers NComm
device drivers provide the perfect interface needed to properly design
WAN framer devices into your product. Written the way drivers are supposed
to be written, they provide a clean partition between the device and the
application. Well-defined, consistent Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs) are used that are identical for similar devices. Thus, all T1 driver
APIs will be the same, T3, etc. They are written from a developer's perspective,
not a chip vendor's perspective.
LSI
Drivers Currently Available
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Major
Features
- NComm standard
API
- Function oriented
interface
- Feedback for function
failures
- Multiple instances
of devices
- Handles chattering
- Includes work arounds
for device iissues
- No OS required
- Processor independent
NComm Driver Architecture
All NComm drivers
follow a three-function architecture. Utilizing these functions, you can
control, monitor and manage all activity within the device. These functions
include Control, Poll and Call-Back functions. The Control function is
used to actually change some attribute of the device such as setting line
format, setting spans, etc. The Poll function allows you to ask for status
information without affecting the behavior of the device. The Call-Back
function is used in situations where the device needs to inform you of
some important event that has occurred. All capabilities are truly function
oriented, not register oriented. Thus, a single function call may perform
the setting or reading of several bits.
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Benefits
- “Thin” driver
partitioned to be independent of application
- Checks for configuration
integrity
- Increases application
portability
- Pre-validated on
actual hardware
- Less costly than
internal development
Following a standardized, consistent API, the driver accommodates all
device nuances and reduces them to hardware independent functions.
Thus, should you want to move from one framer to another, you just
need to replace the driver and the rest of your code stays the same.
Being functionally oriented, the driver also assures configuration
integrity and provides error feedback in the case of function call
failures. NComm drivers implement work arounds for device issues if
possible. They handle multiple instances of devices, are non-algorithmic,
handles chattering and run in interrupt mode if possible. Special
device functions are addressed through #defines.
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