## Virtual Device Driver Reference for OS/2

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### Inter-Device-Driver Communication

A virtual device driver can communicate with a physical device driver by using the Inter-device-Driver Communication (IDC) mechanism provided by the OS/2 operating system. A virtual device driver communicates with a physical device driver directly though a callable 16:16 interface, or by using the virtual DevHlp services that map to file system APIs. Virtual device drivers communicate directly with other virtual device drivers by using a set of the virtual DevHlp services.

The type and form of communication is defined by the physical or virtual device driver that provides the IDC entry point to be called. These device drivers must be aware of addressability and be sensitive to interrupt-time performance. For example, a virtual device driver that is not reflecting hardware interrupts to applications, and is in communication with a physical device driver, should use the virtual DevHlp services that map to File System APIs to communicate. However, if the virtual device driver must reflect hardware interrupts, the physical device driver should use the 16: 32 callable interface because it provides a more sensitive interface in which to communicate.