Patents by Inventor John Steven Lacombe

John Steven Lacombe has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Method and apparatus for providing dynamic entry points into a software layer
    Patent number: 5887169
    Abstract: A technique for enhancing a software layer while ensuring backwards compatibility is disclosed. In one implementation, the software layer is a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) that interfaces between hardware and an operating system of a computer system. The HAL can be enhanced with additional functionality without having to worry about crashing the operating system when the particular HAL in use with the computer system lacks the additional functionality. Hence, the inventive technique allows enhancements to the HAL to be made without causing any backwards compatible problems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1999
    Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation
    Inventor: John Steven Lacombe