under v the ipc system appears to be conceptually modeled on remote procedure calls (rpc) from the client application's perspective. the client application imported an interface definition file containing information about the calls supported by the kernel, or other applications, and then used this definition to package up requests. when called, the kernel would immediately take over, examine the results, and pass the information off to the right handler, potentially within the kernel itself. any results were then handed back through the kernel to the client.