WO2013189388A2

WO2013189388A2 - Usb network card access method, usb network card and pc

Info

Publication number: WO2013189388A2
Application number: PCT/CN2013/081897
Authority: WO
Inventors: 卢翠玲; 邓庆田; 马少峰; 张楠
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2013-06-03
Filing date: 2013-08-20
Publication date: 2013-12-27
Also published as: CN104216728A; WO2013189388A3

Abstract

A USB network card access method, a USB network card and a PC. The method comprises: after accessing a PC to conduct a power-on operation, a USB network card reporting a device descriptor and a configuration descriptor according to a request of the PC; and the PC receiving same, selecting configuration information which supports the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loading a device drive corresponding to the configuration information. The embodiments of the present invention can solve the problem of accessing a wireless network but needing to conduct file installation and mode switching in the abovementioned drive-free solution, thereby improving the user experience.

Description

Method for accessing USB network card, USB network card and PC

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of embedded technologies, and in particular, to a method for accessing a universal serial BUS (USB) network card, a USB network card, and a PC.

Background technique

As USB technology continues to mature, USB virtual NICs are plug-and-play and hot-swappable as a common way to connect to the network. At the beginning of the development of USB NICs, there is also a CD-ROM that is sold to users along with USB products. This CD provides CM (Connection Manager) software and drivers. Drivers are used to drive USB NICs. CM software provides users with networking. And access interfaces for text messages, phone books, etc.

The above method will undoubtedly generate hardware costs, and each USB network card must be accompanied by a CD. Therefore, in order to solve this drawback, the USB virtual disc mechanism was used later. The USB network card is first connected to the computer, and the user is presented with a virtual CD. The CD media stores the CM installation program and driver installation program. After the user installs, the USB network card will perform a mode switch and switch to the normal working mode. Communicate with the USB network card through the installed CM software. The above method is currently the most widely used method of USB network card, but there are still some problems in this way, the most significant being compatibility issues and user experience.

Compatibility problem performance: The system used by the user has a MAC system and all windows systems, and may be Linux. For Windows alone, there are many yellow exclamation marks, which may cause the port to be unusable. Of course, there are many ports that cannot be connected and cannot be connected. Failure issues are related to a particular system. User experience performance: Because of the CM software and drivers installed, the user must wait a certain amount of time (a few minutes) to use the data card.

In response to the above deficiencies, the development of a free drive USB network card. The drive-free USB NIC actually borrows the advantages of the Windows system and the MAC system and the Ethernet card driver that comes with the Linux system. The NIC is the RNDIS (Remote Network Driver Interface Specification) and ECM (Ethernet Control). Model, Ethernet control model) device, the operating system comes with such device drivers, thus achieving drive-free. But for windows system In fact, the RNDIS driver needs a boot file to help the device install the driver, so it still needs an additional installation step, involving the installation, and therefore the virtual CD-ROM and mode switching, so the above-mentioned free drive is not really a drive-free. For MAC and Linux systems, the first SCSI is received

(Small Computer System Interface, Small Computer System Interface) When determining whether to receive the OS (Operating System) descriptor and not receiving the OS descriptor, switch to ECM mode, but this switching time is later. , must be loaded to complete the MS

(Microsoft) driver and CD-ROM drive, and the CD-ROM device will appear and then disappear, the user can perceive this change, the user experience is not very convenient, and because there are phone book and SMS service, the user must be given some access interface, so The drive-free device was also installed with the CM software. Summary of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for accessing a USB network card, a USB network card and a PC, so as to realize a drive-free access to the wireless network.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a method for accessing a USB network card, including: after the USB network card accesses the PC to perform a power-on operation, the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor are reported according to the request of the PC;

The PC receives and selects configuration information supporting the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

Preferably, the foregoing method further has the following features: the PC selects configuration information supporting the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads the device driver corresponding to the configuration information, including:

If the current operating system of the PC is a windows system, the PC sends a configuration request to the USB network card to support the Windows system;

The USB network card reports to the PC to support configuration information of the windows system;

After obtaining the string descriptor from the configuration information, the PC sends a request for obtaining the extended attribute descriptor of the Microsoft to the USB network card;

After receiving the request, the USB network card reports the Microsoft extended attribute feature description to the PC; After receiving the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor, the PC loads the corresponding device driver according to the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor.

Preferably, the above method further has the following features: The configuration information supporting the windows system includes any one of the following:

Remote network drive interface specification configuration information, read-only disc configuration information, and human interface device configuration information.

Preferably, the above method further has the following feature: the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor includes: an extended compatible ID feature descriptor and an extended attribute feature descriptor.

Preferably, the foregoing method further has the following features: the PC selects and supports the configuration of the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads the device driver corresponding to the configuration, including:

If the current operating system of the PC is a non-windows system, the PC sends a request for supporting the configuration of the non-windows system to the USB network card;

The USB network card reports configuration information of the non-windows system to the PC; the PC loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

Preferably, the foregoing method further has the following features: The configuration information of the non-windows system includes:

Ethernet control model device configuration information.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention further provides a USB network card, comprising: a data storage module, configured to: store hardware manufacturer device information, including multiple sets of configuration information and descriptor information;

The information reporting module is configured to: after the PC is powered on, report the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor according to the request of the PC.

Preferably, the above USB network card further has the following features:

The information reporting module is further configured to: after receiving the configuration request sent by the PC to support the windows system, report the configuration information of the support windows system to the PC; and receive the extended extended attribute feature of the PC by receiving the PC After the request of the descriptor, report the Microsoft extension to the PC Exhibition attribute feature descriptor.

Preferably, the above USB network card further has the following features:

The configuration information supporting the windows system includes any one of the following:

Remote network drive interface specification configuration information, CD-ROM configuration information, and human interface device configuration information,

The Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor includes:

Extended compatible ID feature descriptors and extended attribute feature descriptors.

Preferably, the above USB network card further has the following features:

The information reporting module is further configured to: after receiving the configuration request sent by the PC to support the non-windows system, report the configuration information supporting the non-windows system to the PC.

Preferably, the above USB network card further has the following features: The configuration information of the non-windows system includes:

Ethernet control model device configuration information.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention further provides a personal computer, comprising: a data receiving module, configured to: receive and select configuration information supporting a current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor;

Load the module, set to: Load the device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

In a preferred embodiment, the data receiving module is configured to: when the operating system is a windows system, send a configuration request to the USB network card to support the windows system, and receive configuration information of the windows system supported by the USB network card, After obtaining the string descriptor from the configuration information, sending a request for acquiring the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor to the USB network card, and receiving the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor reported by the USB network card;

The loading module is configured to: load a corresponding device driver according to the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor.

In a preferred embodiment, the data receiving module is configured to: when the operating system is a non-windows system, send a configuration request to the USB network card to support the non-windows system, Receiving configuration information supported by the USB network card to support a non-windows system;

The loading module is configured to: load a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

In summary, the embodiment of the present invention provides a method for accessing a USB network card, a USB network card, and a PC, which can solve the problem that the file installation and mode switching are required to access the wireless network in the above-mentioned drive-free solution, thereby improving the user experience.

BRIEF abstract

1 is a schematic diagram of a system for accessing a USB network card according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a USB network card according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flow chart of a method for accessing a USB network card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Preferred embodiment of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the features in the embodiments and the embodiments in the present application may be arbitrarily combined with each other.

1 is a schematic diagram of a system for accessing a USB network card according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system of this embodiment includes: a USB device side (ie, a USB network card) and a PC, where

The USB NIC includes two modules: an information reporting module and a data storage module, wherein the data storage module is responsible for storing device information of the hardware manufacturer, including device hardware manufacturer information, multiple sets of configuration information, and feature descriptor information;

The information reporting module is responsible for dealing with the PC. When the PC side sends a USB control request to the USB device side, the information reporting module reads the corresponding data from the data storage module and returns it to the PC.

Specifically, the information reporting module may be configured to: after accessing the PC to perform a power-on operation, report the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor according to the request of the PC.

The information reporting module may be further configured to: after receiving the configuration request sent by the PC to support the windows system, report the configuration information of the support windows system to the PC; and receive the extended extended attribute feature of the PC by receiving the PC After the request of the descriptor, the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor is reported to the PC. The information reporting module may be further configured to: after receiving the configuration request sent by the PC to support the non-windows system, report the configuration information of the non-windows system to the PC.

The PC side may include two functional modules: a data receiving module and a loading module, wherein the data receiving module is responsible for communicating with the information reporting module on the USB device side, and the information reported by the USB side is stored in the data receiving module;

The load module provides a special mechanism for placing received data to a specified location by modifying the key values in the registry.

In a preferred embodiment, the data receiving module may be specifically configured to: when the operating system is a windows system, send a configuration request to the USB network card to support the windows system, and receive configuration information of the windows system supported by the USB network card. After obtaining the string descriptor from the configuration information, the request for obtaining the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor is sent to the USB network card, and the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor reported by the USB network card is received;

The loading module may be specifically configured to load a corresponding device driver according to the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor.

In a preferred embodiment, the data receiving module is specifically configured to: when the operating system is a non-windows system, send a support request to the USB network card to support the non-windows system, and receive the non-windows system reported by the USB network card. Configuration information;

The loading module is specifically configured to load a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a USB network card according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the method in this embodiment may include:

Sl l, USB network card access PC after power-on operation, according to the request of the PC, report device descriptor and configuration descriptor;

S12. The PC receives and selects configuration information supporting the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

In this way, the method of the embodiment of the present invention can implement the drive-free access to the wireless network. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a USB network card according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the following steps may be included:

Step 101: First, the USB network card is connected to the PC, and the power-on operation is performed.

Step 102: The USB network card receives the request for acquiring the descriptor sent by the PC, and performs reporting of the device descriptor, where the last digit of the device descriptor is set as the number of configuration descriptors.

The device descriptor is used to describe the overall information of the USB device, such as the device class, subclass information, vendor information, and the number of configurations supported by the device. The configuration descriptor describes the number of interfaces supported by the configuration and the configuration values. .

Step 103: The PC sends a USB request for obtaining a configuration descriptor, and the USB network card performs reporting of multiple sets of configuration descriptors.

For Windows systems, the Microsoft OS Descriptor provides a way for IHVs (Independent Hardware Vendors) to store various vendor-specific information in the device firmware called OS Feature Descriptors. For devices that implement new feature types, often without proper class and subclass code, IHV can circumvent this problem by storing information in the firmware as an extended compatible ID (Identifier) OS feature descriptor. Microsoft can then get this information when the USB device is plugged in and use it to help determine which default driver to load. Additional information or attributes that the vendor needs to provide to the OS can be stored in the extended attribute OS feature descriptor.

Therefore, for Windows systems, the USB NIC must first choose which device type it needs to implement. It can report itself as an RNDIS device or a CDROM or HID (Human Interface Device) device type, provided that the Microsoft system comes with these devices. drive.

The USB NIC of this embodiment needs to support Microsoft OS descriptors (OS string descriptors and OS feature descriptors). The OS string descriptor is stored in the string index OxEE location. The USB NIC reports the non-zero bMS- VendorCode when the OS obtains the string descriptor (this is a field in the descriptor, which is the code defined by each vendor, which is provided for identification by the Microsoft operating system) and satisfies Microsoft's OS word. The definition of the string descriptor, then the operating system will further issue the OS feature descriptor.

This embodiment supports two feature descriptors, an extended compatible ID feature descriptor and an extended attribute feature descriptor. The OS feature descriptor can carry data up to 16Mb in size. This size is sufficient. To place any data information that the hardware vendor wants to provide. The extended compatible ID feature descriptor is used to help the OS find a compatible system driver, and the extended attribute descriptor is used to store some special information, such as UI (user interface) files, shortcuts, and the like.

If the device is to provide a data length greater than the maximum length of a USB request that can be obtained by 64K, the operating system will automatically read the remaining portion.

For windows systems, the following steps are included:

Step 104.1, Windows system does not support multiple sets of configuration, so only ask for the first set of configuration, that is, RNDIS configuration information, or other device types that the operating system can provide.

The PC sends a request to obtain a configuration descriptor to request, and the USB network card returns the RNDIS configuration information to the PC.

For Windows systems above XP, the RNDIS driver is a system driver. As long as the correct feature descriptor is provided, the driver can be automatically loaded, which is in line with the purpose of this embodiment. Due to some vulnerabilities in the XP system, the RNDIS driver cannot be automatically loaded. The device side of this embodiment provides a special extended attribute descriptor, which can copy the inf file (the driven index file) and other information to the specified directory, so it can also be done. To drive free.

Step 104.2: The driver layer of the USB network card performs RNDIS configuration information or CDROM (read-only disc) configuration information or HID (Human Interface Device) configuration information, and the configuration information includes a communication interface and a device interface, and further includes necessary Function descriptor.

Step 104.3, the PC obtains the string descriptor of the OxEE location, writes the bMS_VendorCode value to the registry, and the operating system issues GET_MS_DESCRIPTOR (obtains the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor).

The driver layer of the USB NIC reports the feature descriptor. If the data length stored in the USB NIC device side buffer is greater than the maximum hexadecimal number OxFF of one byte, the operating system will continue to read the remaining data until the end. The data length is less than 0xFF.

Step 104.4: For the feature descriptor reported by the USB NIC, the extended compatible ID is used to instruct the operating system to load the corresponding device driver, and each attribute section of the extended attribute feature descriptor may guide the operating system to perform a series of actions, such as , storing information to a defined location, creating shortcuts, modifying the registry, etc. This series of actions can complete the installation of the web UI and PC UI. After the operating system and the USB device of the PC complete the remaining information interaction, go to step 106.

The operating system transfers the UI and other information that needs to be installed to the location specified on the PC (Personal Computer) side through the mechanism of the Microsoft OS Descriptor, thus realizing the automatic installation of the UI and other installation information during the USB device reporting process, without unnecessary The reporting and mode switching process of the virtual optical disk device greatly improves the user experience and reduces the occurrence of compatibility problems.

For non-windows systems, such as MAC systems and Linux systems, Microsoft descriptors are not supported, but multiple configurations are supported. The so-called multi-configuration is that USB NIC devices can be configured in two working modes, specifically embodied in device descriptors and configuration descriptors. First, the value of bNumConfigurations (the number of configuration descriptors, which is a field of the descriptor) in the device descriptor needs to be set to the number of devices that the device can support. The device stores the first configuration and the second configuration on the USB. In the protocol stack, the first set is configured to support the RNDIS port mode of the Windows system, and the second set is configured to support the ECM mode of the non-windows system.

After the operating system obtains two sets of configurations, the first set of configuration information is identified. If there is no matching system driver, then the second set of configurations is checked. If there is a matching system driver, the second set of configurations is used.

This avoids the drawback of port switching from the optical device to the ECM device or after judging the operating system with the Microsoft Descriptor. The port can be loaded in the shortest time >3⁄4 and the driver is loaded.

For non-windows systems, it is simpler than windows. It can include the following steps: Step 105.1, non-windows systems will ask for the number of configuration descriptors reported by the device descriptor.

Then, pattern matching is performed on multiple configuration descriptors provided by the USB network card device. If there is a corresponding driver, the corresponding system driver is loaded, and if not, the installation is not performed.

This embodiment provides two sets of configurations, one for the Windows system, one for the RNDIS device, one for the non-windows system, and the composite device for the ECM+ disc.

Non-windows systems will automatically select the second set of configurations.

Step 105.2, the USB device performs the reporting of the ECM and the optical disc composite device again.

Non-windows systems will ask for multiple sets of configurations one by one, and USB devices are configured according to the system. The descriptor index is reported.

ECM+ discs are mainly used to place some software on the disc device, which makes it easier for users to use some functions of the data card, such as phone book, text message and so on. Of course, if you only use the Internet, the ECM device can also be used for reporting. The device side can be set up to connect to the PC and then automatically connect to the network.

After receiving the report, the PC selects which configuration to use based on whether there are several sets of configured drive information in the system. Since the non-windows system does not support the RNDIS driver, the PC automatically loads the ECM and the CD device driver. After that, the user can complete the installation of the software in the CD and perform the networking operation according to his own needs.

Step 106: Complete the entire enumeration process, and the USB network card is ready to enter the normal working mode. For the RNDIS device and the ECM device mentioned in the above embodiments, it is possible to convert to other device types that other systems provide for driving.

This specific implementation method, including but not limited to the use of RNDIS, ECM devices, Microsoft Extended Attribute Feature Descriptors, and similar techniques are all within the scope of the present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the above steps may be accomplished by a program instructing the associated hardware, such as a read-only memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. Alternatively, all or part of the steps of the above embodiments may also be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. Correspondingly, each module/unit in the above embodiment may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function module. The invention is not limited to any specific form of combination of hardware and software. The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and of course, the present invention may be embodied in various other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Corresponding changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Industrial applicability

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for accessing a USB network card, a USB network card and a PC, which can solve the problem that the file installation and mode switching need to be performed in the above-mentioned drive-free solution to access the wireless network, thereby improving the user experience.

Claims

claims

1. A method of accessing a USB network card, including:

After the USB network card is connected to the PC for power-on operation, it reports the device descriptor and configuration descriptor according to the request of the PC;

The PC receives and selects configuration information that supports the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PC selects configuration information that supports the current operating system based on the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration information, including:

If the current operating system of the PC is a windows system, the PC sends a configuration request to support the windows system to the USB network card;

The USB network card reports configuration information supporting the windows system to the PC;

After obtaining the string descriptor from the configuration information, the PC sends a request to obtain the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor to the USB network card;

After receiving the request, the USB network card reports the Microsoft extended attribute feature description to the PC;

After receiving the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor, the PC loads the corresponding device driver according to the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the configuration information supporting windows systems includes any of the following:

Remote network driver interface specification configuration information, read-only CD configuration information and human-machine interface device configuration information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor includes: an extended compatible ID feature descriptor and an extended attribute feature descriptor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the PC selects a configuration that supports the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor, and loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration, including: If the current operating system of the PC is a non-windows system, the PC sends a request to the USB network card to support the configuration of the non-windows system;

The USB network card reports configuration information supporting non-windows systems to the PC; and the PC loads a device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration information of the non-windows system includes:

Ethernet control model device configuration information.

7. A USB network card, including:

The data storage module is set to: store hardware manufacturer device information, including multiple sets of configuration information and descriptor information;

The information reporting module is set to: after accessing the PC for power-on operation, report the device descriptor and configuration descriptor according to the request of the PC.

8. The USB network card as claimed in claim 7, wherein,

The information reporting module is also configured to: after receiving the configuration request sent by the PC to support the Windows system, report the configuration information supporting the Windows system to the PC; receive the Microsoft extended attribute features issued by the PC After requesting the descriptor, the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor is reported to the PC.

9. The USB network card as claimed in claim 8, wherein,

The configuration information supporting Windows systems includes any of the following:

Remote network driver interface specification configuration information, read-only CD configuration information and human-machine interface device configuration information,

The Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptors include:

Extended compatibility with ID feature descriptors and extended attribute feature descriptors.

10. The USB network card as claimed in claim 7, wherein,

The information reporting module is further configured to: after receiving the configuration request sent by the PC to support non-windows systems, report the configuration information to support non-windows systems to the PC.

11. The USB network card according to claim 10, wherein the configuration information of the non-windows system includes:

Ethernet control model device configuration information.

12. A personal computer, including:

A data receiving module, configured to: receive and select configuration information that supports the current operating system according to the device descriptor and the configuration descriptor;

Load module, set to: Load the device driver corresponding to the configuration information.

13. The personal computer of claim 12, wherein,

The data receiving module is set to: when the operating system is a windows system, send a configuration request to support the windows system to the USB network card, receive the configuration information supporting the windows system reported by the USB network card, and obtain from the configuration information After reading the string descriptor, send a request to obtain the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor to the USB network card, and receive the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor reported by the USB network card;

The loading module is configured to: load the corresponding device driver according to the Microsoft extended attribute feature descriptor.

14. The personal computer of claim 12, wherein,

The data receiving module is set to: when the operating system is a non-windows system, after sending a configuration request to support the non-windows system to the USB network card, receive the configuration information reported by the USB network card to support the non-windows system;

The loading module is set to: load the device driver corresponding to the configuration information.