Processing received data

A computer system comprising:

• hardware including a data interface for interfacing between the computer system and a data source;
• a memory;
• a first operating system capable of communicating with the hardware;
• and
• a second operating system capable of supporting a user-level application;
• wherein at least one of the first and second operating systems is arranged to detect that data of a first data message received by the data interface from the data source has been directed to a destination via the first operating system, and in response to detecting that to configure the data interface to direct data of subsequent data messages having a data format in common with the first data message to that destination without it passing via the first operating system.

A method for operating a computer system comprising hardware including a data interface for interfacing between the computer system and a data source, a memory, a first operating system capable of communicating with the hardware;

• and a second operating system capable of supporting a user-level application and being configured to communicate with the hardware via the first operating system, the second operating system being capable of allocating a region of the memory for use as a buffer by such a user-level application;
• the method comprising:
• configuring the data interface to associate a predetermined data format with a region of the memory that has been allocated for use as a buffer by a user-level application supported by the second operating system;
• and
• the data interface on subsequently receiving from the data source a data message of that format, automatically storing data of that message in that region of the memory without it passing via the first or second operating systems.

A method for operating a computer system comprising:

• hardware including a data interface for interfacing between the computer system and a data source;
• a memory;
• a first operating system capable of communicating with the hardware;
• and a second operating system capable of supporting a user-level application;
• the method comprising:
• detecting by means of at least one of the first and second operating systems that data of a first data message received by the data interface from the data source has been directed to a destination via the first operating system;
• and
• in response to detecting that configuring the data interface by means of that operating system to direct data of subsequent data messages having a data format in common with the first data message to that destination without it passing via the first operating system.