Wireless Docking Station

• US 20080195788A1
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Wilocity, Ltd. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tamir, Tal, Rettig, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 8,374,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/303
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881

Abstract

A wireless docking station that allows a wireless connection between a computing device, for example a hand-held computing device, and a plurality of peripheral devices. This is achieved by providing the computing device with a wireless connectivity bus. The computing device may be, but is not limited to, a personal computer, a laptop, a notebook, a media player, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and the likes.

Claims

1. A wireless docking station for enabling a wireless connection between a computing device and a plurality of peripheral devices, the wireless docking system comprising:

a wireless transceiver for communicating with the computing device over a wireless medium;

a switch coupled to the wireless transceiver and to a plurality of input/output (I/O) controllers; and

a plurality of I/O controllers for communicating with one or more of the plurality of the peripheral devices.

2. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the switch supports a communication protocol including at least one of:

a universal serial bus (USB) three protocol, a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) protocol, a PCIe second generation protocol, a Hypertransport protocol, and an Infiniband protocol.

3. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein a connection between a peripheral device and an I/O controller comprises at least one of:

a PCIe connection, a USB connection, a parallel connection, a RS232 serial connection, a PS/2-style mouse connection, a keyboard connection, an audio like connection, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) connection, a video graphics array (VGA) connection, a digital visual interface (DVI) connection, and a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) like connection.

4. The wireless docking station of claim 3, wherein the wireless transceiver controls and manages access to a wireless link between the computing device and the switch in a full-duplex mode of operation.

5. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver operates in a full duplex mode.

6. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver operates in a half-full duplex mode.

7. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver is further capable of:

establishing a link between the wireless docking station and the computing device.

8. The wireless docking station of claim 7, wherein the wireless transceiver is a wireless data modem.

9. The wireless docking station of claim 8, wherein the wireless data modem is at least one of:

an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modem, a single-carrier modem, and a multi-carrier modem.

10. The wireless docking station of claim 8, wherein data between the wireless transceiver and the computing device is transferred over a wireless interconnect bus.

11. The wireless docking station of claim 10, wherein the wireless interconnect bus is at least a wireless PCI express bus.

12. The wireless docking station of claim 11, wherein the wireless transceiver implements at least a layered protocol of the wireless interconnect bus.

13. A method for synchronizing between a wireless docking station and a computing device, wherein the method enables a wireless connection between the computing device and the wireless docking station, comprising:

sending an association key by the computing device to the wireless docking station, wherein the association key includes a unique identification (ID) number;

sending a challenge connection key by the wireless docking station to the computing device;

sending a challenge connection key by the computing device in response to a received challenge connection key; and

sending a session key by the wireless docking station, thereby establishing a connection between the wireless docking station and the computing device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

periodically transmitting beacons by the wireless docking station, wherein the computing device sending the association key in response to receiving a beacon.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the computing device comprises at least one of:

a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a media player, a mobile phone, and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

establishing a connection between the wireless docking station and a peripheral device.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the peripheral device comprises at least one of:

a monitor, a keyboard, a pointing device, a mouse, a storage device, a speaker, a microphone, a modem, a CD player, and a DVD player.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the wireless docking station enables the computing device to wireless connect to a plurality of peripheral devices.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the challenge connection key, the association key and session key are pre-determined using a paring process.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the challenge connection key, the association key and session key are pre-determined and encrypted.

21. A computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more machine executable instructions that, when executed by a machine, implement a method for synchronizing between a computing device and a wireless docking station, wherein the method enables a wireless connection between the computing device and the wireless docking station, the method comprising:

sending an association key by the computing device to the wireless docking station, wherein the association key includes a unique identification (ID) number;

receiving a challenge connection key in response to the sending of the association key;

sending a challenge connection key by the computing device in response to a received challenge connection key; and

receiving a session key in response to the sending of the challenge connection key, thereby establishing a connection between the wireless docking station and the computing device.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

enabling the computing device to connect to peripherals through the wireless docking station.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions for:

periodically transmitting beacons by the wireless docking station, wherein the computing device sending the association key in response to receiving a beacon.