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One of the key features of Windows CE-based devices is the ability to communicate with other devices. Windows CE supports two basic types of communication: serial communication and communication over a network. Most devices feature built-in communications hardware, such as a serial port or an IR transceiver. The NDIS implementation on Windows CE supports the following communications media: Ethernet (802.3), Token Ring (802.5), IrDA, and WAN. The following diagram outlines the communications architecture of the Windows CE operating system.
In the Windows CE communications architecture, the NDIS interface is located below the IrDA, TCP/IP, and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) protocol drivers. The NDIS Wrapper presents an interface to the upper and lower edges of a miniport driver. To an upper-level driver, such as the TCP/IP protocol driver, the NDIS interface looks like a miniport driver. To the miniport, the NDIS interface looks like an upper-level protocol driver. On the bottom of the communications architecture, the NDIS interface functions as a network adapter driver that interfaces directly with the network adapter at the lower edge. At the upper edge, the network adapter driver presents an interface to allow upper layers to send packets on the network, handle interrupts, reset or halt the network adapter, and query or set the operational characteristics of the driver.
Last updated on Tuesday, July 13, 2004