Extensible device driver

A driver plug-in module for use by a device driver module of a device driver, the device driver for supporting the use of an external device by a computing device executing an operating system, the driver plug-in module comprising:

• a functional portion having executable code that supports a functional application;
• and
• a resource portion which includes resource information corresponding to the functionality supported by driver plug-in module, and an information pointer to an information function call,
• whereby the information pointer is accessed by the device driver module to initiate the information function call which returns to the device driver module a resource pointer corresponding to the resource information of the resource portion, and a functional pointer corresponding to the executable code of the functional portion.

A driver plug-in module for use by a user interface module of a printer driver which supports the use of a printer by a computing device executing an operating system, the driver plug-in module comprising:

• a functional portion having executable code that supports at least one dialog property sheet corresponding to a functional application;
• and
• a resource portion which includes resource information that includes a number of dialog property sheets supported by the driver plug-in module, a type of each dialog property sheet supported by the driver plug-in module, attributes of each dialog property sheet supported by the driver plug-in module, an information pointer to an information function call, and an event pointer to an event handler,
• whereby the information pointer is accessed by the user interface module to initiate the information function call which returns to the user interface module a resource pointer corresponding to the resource information of the resource portion, and a functional pointer corresponding to the executable code of the functional portion, and
• whereby the event pointer is used by the user interface module to initiate the event handler which passes the event notification received by the user interface module from the operating system to the driver plug-in module, the event notification corresponding to a status of a print job being performed by the printer.

A method for registering a driver plug-in module for use by a device driver module of a device driver which supports the use of an external device by a computing device, the method comprising the steps of:

• identifying at least one available driver plug-in module located on an external source;
• selecting at least one of the available driver plug-in modules for installation on the computing device;
• and
• installing each selected driver plug-in module on the computing device by storing each selected driver plug-in module in a memory on the computing device, and entering an identifier corresponding to each selected driver plug-in module into a system registry of an operating system which is executing on the computing device.

A method for performing a print job on a printer, the print job being sent to the printer by a computing device, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, by an operating system executing in the computing device, a first user input request to display a main printer dialog property sheet on a display of the computing device;
• initiating, by the operating system, execution of a user interface module of a printer driver corresponding to the printer;
• detecting, by the user interface module, an identifier in a system registry corresponding to a driver plug-in module;
• obtaining, by the user interface module, tabbed dialog property sheet information and a functional pointer from the driver plug-in module, and passing the tabbed dialog property sheet information and main dialog property sheet information from the user interface module to the operating system;
• displaying, by the operating system, the main printer dialog property sheet on the display, the main dialog property sheet including a tab to access a tabbed dialog property sheet corresponding to the tabbed dialog property sheet information obtained from the driver plug-in module;
• receiving, by the operating system, a second user input request to display the tabbed dialog property sheet;
• displaying, by the operating system, the tabbed dialog property sheet in response to the second user input request;
• receiving, by the operating system, a third user input request to use a function supported by the tabbed dialog property sheet;
• sending, by the operating system, the third user input request to the user interface module;
• initiating, upon utilization of the functional pointer by the user interface module, execution of executable code in the driver plug-in module which implements the function corresponding to the third user input request;
• receiving, by the operating system, a print request to initiate printing of image data by the printer;
• rendering, by the printer driver upon receiving the print request from the operating system, the image data into a print job and sending the print job to the printer which executes the print job;
• and
• sending print an event notification related to the print job from the user interface module to the driver plug-in module, the print event notification being utilized by the executable code in the driver plug-in module.

A method for supporting the use of an external device by a computing device which executes an operating system, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving an initialization call from the operating system;
• detecting the presence of a driver plug-in module;
• obtaining information from a resource portion of the detected driver plug-in module;
• passing the information from the detected driver plug-in module to the operating system;
• initiating execution of a functional portion of the detected plug-in module;
• receiving from the operating system an event notification corresponding to the external device;
• and
• passing, in the case that the detected driver plug-in module accepts the event notification, the event notification to the detected driver plug-in module.

A method for supporting the use of a printer by a computing device which executes an operating system, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving an initialization call from the operating system;
• detecting a driver plug-in identifier in a system registry of the operating system;
• loading into a memory of the computing device a driver plug-in module corresponding to the driver plug-in identifier;
• obtaining a pointer from the driver plug-in module to an information function call within the driver plug-in module;
• executing the information function call to receive information from the driver plug-in module;
• storing the received information in a local data structure;
• passing a portion of the received information to the operating system by using an operating system function call;
• executing a functional portion of the driver plug-in module by using a functional pointer provided in the received information;
• receiving from the operating system an event notification corresponding to a print job being performed by the printer;
• and
• passing, in the case that an event-request indicator provided in the received information indicates that the driver plug-in module accepts the event notification, the event notification to the driver plug-in module.