Device Flags

Abstract

Device flag techniques are described. In one or more implementations, responsive to detection by a computing device that a device has been communicatively coupled to bus of the computing device, a database is queried by the computing device to determine whether one or more flags have been set for the device. Responsive to a determination made as a result of the querying that the one or more flags have been set for the device identifier, information associated with the one or more flags is communicated to software that is associated with the device to configure the software.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A computing device comprising:
 a bus configured to communicatively couple devices to the computing device; and   a database configured to maintain flags for one or more of the devices, the flags set to flag behaviors of the one or more devices that affect compatibility with the computing device, the set flags identifying information that enables software of the one or more devices to be configured to support the compatibility with the computing device.   
     
     
         3 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein the information is configured for use in code path selection of the software. 
     
     
         4 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein the information is to configure the software for device-specific capabilities of the one or more devices. 
     
     
         5 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein the software is an application. 
     
     
         6 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein the software is a bus driver, class driver, or filter driver. 
     
     
         7 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein the software is configured to handle capabilities of the one or more devices in accordance with standardized behaviors and the information is to configure the software for capabilities of the device that do not involve the standardized behaviors. 
     
     
         8 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein the software is configured to handle capabilities of the one or more devices in accordance with a particular version of an operating system and the information is to configure the software for a previous version of the operating system. 
     
     
         9 . A computing device as described in  claim 1 , wherein usage of the information by the software results in generation of telemetry data by the computing device that describes the usage, the telemetry data generated for communication via a network to a network service. 
     
     
         10 . A computing device as described in  claim 9 , wherein the telemetry data is usable to determine compatibility test requirements for introducing an update. 
     
     
         11 . A computing device as described in  claim 9 , wherein the telemetry data is usable to identify particular said devices in a market that are to involve a firmware update to enable functionality of the device that otherwise would not be enabled. 
     
     
         12 . A computing device as described in  claim 9 , wherein the telemetry data is usable to identify particular said devices in a market that have updated firmware and thus no longer involve usage of the one or more flags. 
     
     
         13 . A computing device comprising:
 a bus driver configured to enable communication between a device that is coupled to a bus of the computing device and an operating system of the computing device, the bus driver further configured to provide a device identifier to a flag engine of the computing device in response to detecting a communicative coupling of the device to the bus; and   the flag engine configured to:
 receive the device identifier and use the device identifier to query a database to determine whether one or more flags, maintained in the database, have been set for the device; and 
 responsive to a determination that the one or more flags have been set for the device, communicating information associated with the one or more flags to the bus driver to support the communication between the device and the operating system. 
   
     
     
         14 . A computing device as described in  claim 13 , wherein the database is local to the computing device. 
     
     
         15 . A computing device as described in  claim 13 , wherein the database is remote from the computing device. 
     
     
         16 . A computing device as described in  claim 13 , wherein the bus driver is configured for USB or PCI. 
     
     
         17 . A computing device as described in  claim 13 , wherein the information is to configure the bus driver for device-specific capabilities of the device. 
     
     
         18 . A computing device as described in  claim 13 , wherein the bus driver is configured to handle capabilities of the device in accordance with a standard and the information is to configure the bus driver for capabilities of the device that do not involve the standard. 
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a memory having stored thereon computer-readable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to implement a network service to perform operations comprising:
 receiving telemetry data via a network; 
 identifying firmware configurations employed by devices described in the telemetry data; and 
 determining which of the devices described in the telemetry data include firmware that involves an update to enable functionality of the devices in conjunction with a respective computing device that otherwise would not be enabled. 
   
     
     
         20 . A system as described in  claim 19 , wherein the telemetry data is transmitted by respective computing devices responsive to configuration of corresponding drivers via which the devices communicate, the drivers configured using information that corresponds to one or more flags located through execution of an engine by the respective computing devices, the one or more flags usable for code path selection of the driver or to enable device-specific capabilities. 
     
     
         21 . A system as described in  claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise processing the telemetry data to determine compatibility tests to be applied for a subsequent version of an operating system that is to be executed by the respective computing devices.