Rockwell Automation 1784-PCD DeviceNet Communication Card - Manual (Page 17)

About the PCD Card 1-3
Publication 1784-IN029C-EN-P - June 2001
Software interfaces defined by PCMCIA enable communications between an
installed PC card and the computer. We call these software interfaces Card and
Socket Services. Windows 95/98, Me, NT and 2000 have built-in card and Socket
Services capabilities. Once you establish communication, the PC card identifies
itself through its Card Information Structure.
Socket Services identifies how many sockets are present in your computer and
detects if a PC card is inserted into one of these sockets. The PCMCIA adapter
handles communication between the PC card and the sockets in your computer.
Socket Services controls this adapter.
Card Services provides access to system resources (such as memory and interrupt
requests) and automatically releases the system resources when you remove the PC
card from a socket. Card Services also provides an interface to higher-level software
if you need to load any hardware drivers.
After the PC card establishes communication with the computer, the card
Information Structure provides configuration information about the PC card, such
as available storage, device type, and data format to the computer.