Architecture of the Multimedia Extensions

Although the Multimedia extensions are made up of a number of files, the architecture can be viewed as consisting of just a few software modules. Any one of these modules can be represented by a single file, or by a collection of files. The following illustration shows the relationship between Windows and modules of the Multimedia extensions.

This illustration is a simplified view of the relationship between Windows 3.0 and the Multimedia extensions. The connections between modules indicate control flow. The dependencies on Windows 3.0 are not shown—almost every module of the Multimedia extensions uses Windows system software.

The following software modules make up the Multimedia extensions:

The MMSYSTEM library providing the Media Control Interface services and low-level multimedia support functions.

Multimedia device drivers providing communication between the low-level MMSYSTEM functions and multimedia devices such as waveform, MIDI, joystick, and timer hardware.

Drivers for the Media Control Interface providing high-level control of media devices.