/* Returns: current owner of the port. */
char *getserialowner();



/* Checks whether the port is owned. 
 *
 * Returns: 
 *   boolean true if the port is owned by some application, false if the port is not owned. */
boolean iscurrentlyowned();



/* Parameters: 
 *    appname - Name of application making this call. 
 *              This name will become the owner of the port. Useful when resolving ownership contention. 
 *    timeout - time in milliseconds to block waiting for port open. 
 *  Returns: 
 *     boolean true if the port is succesfully opened, false if the port is not opened. */
boolean openserial(String appname, int timeout);



/* Closes the serial port. The application must call close when it is done with the port. */
void closeserial();

/* This is the only way to receive data from the communications port.
 * Parameters: 
 *    threshold - This is the maximum number of bytes read
 *    timeout - time in milliseconds to block waiting for data
 *    *data - the bytes read
 * Returns: 
 *    the number of bytes read. 
 * 
 * The read behaviour of getsserial depends on combination of the threshold and timeout values. 
 * If either threshold or timeout are 0 then the other parameter is the only value used
 * If threshold is 0 then after timeout ms getsserial returns
 * If timeout is 0 then after threshold bytes are read getsserial returns
 * If both threshold and timeout are 0 return when any data is available */
int getsserial(int threshold, int timeout, char *data);



/* Outputs data to the serial port
 * Paramters:
 *    data - the data to write
 * Returns: 
 *   The number of bytes written to the serial port. */
int putsserial(char *data)