Windows CE Communications Architecture (Windows CE 5.0)
Windows CE provides communications services that enable devices to securely interact using serial I/O connections, telephone connections, and a wide variety of network connections. Using Windows CE-based networking and communications APIs and standards-based protocols, OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs) can build solid network-enabled applications.
NDIS is a key element of Windows CE-based communications architecture. NDIS supports additional network media and provides a common network driver architecture that introduces more management options using Simple Networking Management Protocol (SNMP).
Additional configurable options allow connected devices or applications to be tailored for a specific type of network.
The NDIS implementation in Windows CE supports the following communications media:
- Local area network (LAN): Zero configuration (802.11), Ethernet (802.3), Token Ring (802.5), IrDA
- Wide area network (WAN) and wireless wide area network (WWAN)
- Personal area network (PAN)
The following illustration shows the communications architecture of the Windows CE operating system.
.gif "ms894751.netconfg(en-us,MSDN.10).gif")
In the Windows CE-based 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.
See Also
NDIS Support in Windows CE | Communication Services and Networking | Bluetooth | 802.1x Authentication | WAN Miniport Drivers | Network Bridging | Infrared Communications
Send Feedback on this topic to the authors