Port indicator

• US 20050264987A1
• Filed: 05/25/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Krancher, Robert E., Saunders, Scott P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,532,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/679.410
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations

Abstract

A docking station includes a port with a corresponding status indicator.

Claims

1. A docking station comprising:

a docking station base having a port with a corresponding status indicator.

2. The docking station of claim 1 wherein the indicator includes a light emitting diode.

3. The docking station of claim 2 wherein the light emitting diode emits a green light when indicating an active port status, and emits a red light when indicating an inactive port status.

4. The docking station of claim 1 wherein the indicator is located adjacent to the port.

5. The docking station of claim 1 further comprising a first docking interface electrically coupled to said port, wherein said first docking interface is capable of interfacing to a second docking interface on a mobile computing device, wherein the indicator is able to respond to a status change in at least one of the port and the mobile computing device.

6. A port replicator comprising:

a first docking interface capable of interfacing with a second docking interface on a mobile computing device;

an external port electrically coupled with said first docking interface via a bus;

sense circuitry electrically coupled with the bus; and

an indicator of a status of the external port, wherein the indicator is electrically coupled with the sense circuitry.

7. The port replicator of claim 6 further comprising a light emitting diode (LED) drive signal electrically coupled to the indicator.

8. The port replicator of claim 7 wherein the LED emits a green light when indicating an active external port status, and emits a red light when indicating an inactive external port status.

9. The port replicator of claim 6 wherein the indicator is located adjacent to the external port.

10. The port replicator of claim 6 further comprising a plurality of external ports and a corresponding plurality of status indicators of the plurality of external ports.

11. The port replicator of claim 6 wherein the external port includes a digital visual interface (DVI).

12. The port replicator of claim 6 wherein the external port includes a 1394 serial bus jack.

13. The port replicator of claim 6 wherein the external port includes a gigabit Ethernet local area network port.

14. The port replicator of claim 6 wherein the external port includes a universal serial bus (USB) port.

15. The port replicator of claim 6 wherein the indicator is able to respond to a status change in the external port.

16. A method comprising:

sensing whether a replicating port is active; and

indicating a status of the replicating port.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising electrically coupling a mobile computer docking interface and the replicating port with a bus, wherein sensing whether the replicating port is active includes sensing a signal of the bus with sense circuitry.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein indicating a status of the replicating port includes emitting a green light when indicating an active replicating port status, and emitting a red light when indicating an inactive replicating port status.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising responding to a status change in the replicating port.

20. A port replicator comprising:

means for sensing whether a replicating port is active; and

means for indicating a status of the replicating port.

21. The port replicator of claim 20 further comprising a bus to electrically couple a mobile computer docking interface and the replicating port,

wherein the means for sensing includes a sense circuitry coupled to the bus to sense a bus signal.

22. The port replicator of claim 20 wherein the means for indicating includes a light emitting diode to emit a green light for an active replicating port status, and to emit a red light for an inactive replicating port status.

23. The port replicator of claim 20 further comprising means for responding to a change in the status of the replicating port.

24. The port replicator of claim 23 wherein the means for responding includes a light emitting diode to emit light indicating the status of the replicating port.

25. A system comprising:

a mobile computing device having a first docking interface;

a docking station having;

a second docking interface capable of interfacing with the first docking interface;

a bus with a bus signal;

an external port electrically coupled with said second docking interface via said bus; and

sense circuitry electrically coupled with the bus; and

a status indicator, wherein the indicator is electrically coupled with the sense circuitry to indicate a status of the external port.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the mobile computing device supports a feature that corresponds to the external port, wherein the status indicator indicates that the external port is active.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the mobile computing device does not support a feature that corresponds to the external port, wherein the status indicator indicates that the external port is inactive.

28. The system of claim 25 wherein the status indicator is adjacent the external port.

29. The system of claim 25 wherein the status indicator is able to respond to a status change in the external port.

30. The system of claim 25 wherein the status indicator is able to respond to a change in support status of a feature of the mobile computing device.

31. The system of claim 25 wherein the sense circuitry includes at least one of an I²C I/O Expander, a hardware detection circuit, a keyboard controller, a I²C controller, and a GPIOS.