Hardware Support

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Windows 2000 Professional supports still image (STI) devices under the WDM architecture. WDM supports SCSI, IEEE 1394, USB digital still image, and serial devices. Support for infrared and serial still image devices, which are connected to standard COM ports, comes from the existing infrared and serial interfaces. Image scanners and digital cameras are examples of STI devices.

Figure C.3 illustrates the STI architecture.

Cc939110.prdi_08(en-us,TechNet.10).gif

Figure C.3 STI architecture

The following describes the components shown in Figure C.3:

Application    Two primary types of applications use still images. One type is for the editing of image data. Examples of this type are Adobe PhotoShop and Microsoft PictureIt! The other type is for authoring documents that include image data, but that do not focus on editing that image data. Examples of this type are word processing and page layout applications, such as Microsoft Word, or a presentation application, such as Microsoft PowerPoint.

Still Image APIs    TWAIN, ISIS, and Adobe Acquire are the common API interfaces in use today. Currently, a hardware vendor must supply a device-specific component that implements a driver for each supported API.

Color Management    This interface and implementation maintains device color profiles and provides for color-space conversion. All color output from scanners must be defined. To accomplish this, a scanner must either create Red, Green, Blue (RGB) output or embed the International Color Consortium (ICC) profile for the scanned image into the image file to identify the color-space information for that image.

Still Image Control Panel    In Windows 2000 Professional, Scanners and Cameras in Control Panel gives you access to the following options for installed STI devices:

  • List of the installed STI devices

  • Addition and removal of STI devices that are not Plug and Play

  • Test of the validation of a selected device

  • Optional device-specific configuration

  • Control of the association between specific device events and the applications to be notified of these events.

The Scanners and Cameras icon appears in Control Panel when Windows 2000 Professional detects a Plug and Play STI device, or when you install a non Plug and Play STI device through the Add New Hardware Wizard.

For more information about the Add New Hardware Wizard, see Device Management in this book.

Still Image Event Monitor    This application (provided by Microsoft) supports push-model behavior by detecting events coming from installed STI devices, and dispatching a set of those events to an application. From Control Panel, you can configure which Still Image-compliant applications are invoked.

Still Image Device Driver Interface (DDI)    You use the Still Image Device Driver Interface (DDI) to communicate with a particular device. The Still Image APIs, Control Panel, and the Event Monitor use the Still Image DDI. This DDI uses the color management system as a repository for the color profile supplied for a specific device. The DDI provides interfaces for the following:

  • Enumeration

  • Device information (primitive capabilities and status)

  • Test activation

  • Data and command I/O

  • Notification for device events, including polling for device activity

  • Retrieval of an Image Color Management (ICM) color profile and other auxiliary information associated with a device

User-Mode Minidrivers    These vendor-written modules are small components used to implement device-specific DDI functionality (test, status, and data I/O).

Still Image Kernel-Mode Drivers    These modules, provided by Microsoft, package a command or data for delivery on a specific bus type. All new kernel-mode drivers provided by Microsoft are WDM-based, although kernel-mode drivers generally need not be. Vendors must supply their own kernel-mode drivers for devices that are not designed to use the standard Microsoft kernel-mode drivers for a specific bus. Currently, kernel mode drivers for SCSI and USB are provided specific to still image devices.

Bus drivers    These modules, provided by Microsoft, are used to communicate with the STI device. Examples are the USB driver stack and drivers for the serial and parallel ports.