Hand-held portable computer having an electroluminescent flat-panel display with pixel elements at right angles to the plane of the display and an excitation direction parallel to the plane of the display
First Claim
1. A digital assistant, comprising:
- an enclosure for enclosing and supporting internal elements;
a local CPU within the enclosure for managing functions of the digital assistant;
a local memory connected to the local CPU by a bus the local memory for storing data and executable routines;
a power supply within the enclosure for supplying power to power-using elements of the digital assistant;
a flat-panel display operable by the local CPU and implemented on a surface of the enclosure;
input apparatus connected to the local CPU for providing commands and data to the digital assistant; and
a host interface comprising a host interface bus connected to the local CPU and to a first portion of a host interface connector at a surface of the enclosure, the host interface configured to directly connect the local CPU to a compatible bus structure of a host computer having a host CPU and a host memory, the host interface bus including address lines, data lines, and control signal lines, the control signal lines including read/write control signals and at least one memory control signal;
wherein the flat-panel display comprises a matrix of elongated electroluminescent cells substantially orthogonal to the plane of the flat-panel display, with individual cells having excitation electrodes along opposite elongated edges of the cells providing excitation voltage parallel to the plane of the flat-panel display.
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Abstract
A personal digital assistant module with a local CPU, memory, and I/O interface has a host interface comprising a bus connected to the local CPU and a connector at a surface of the personal digital assistant for interfacing to a bus connector of a host general-purpose computer, providing direct bus communication between the personal digital assistant and the host general-purpose computer. In an embodiment, the personal digital assistant also stores a security code. The personal digital assistant according to the invention forms a host/satellite combination with a host computer having a docking bay, wherein upon docking a docking protocol controls access by the host to memory of the personal digital assistant based on one or more passwords provided by a user to the host. In another embodiment the personal digital assistant also has an expansion port connected to the local CPU, and expansion peripheral devices may be connected and operated through the expansion port.
169 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A digital assistant, comprising:
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an enclosure for enclosing and supporting internal elements; a local CPU within the enclosure for managing functions of the digital assistant; a local memory connected to the local CPU by a bus the local memory for storing data and executable routines; a power supply within the enclosure for supplying power to power-using elements of the digital assistant; a flat-panel display operable by the local CPU and implemented on a surface of the enclosure; input apparatus connected to the local CPU for providing commands and data to the digital assistant; and a host interface comprising a host interface bus connected to the local CPU and to a first portion of a host interface connector at a surface of the enclosure, the host interface configured to directly connect the local CPU to a compatible bus structure of a host computer having a host CPU and a host memory, the host interface bus including address lines, data lines, and control signal lines, the control signal lines including read/write control signals and at least one memory control signal; wherein the flat-panel display comprises a matrix of elongated electroluminescent cells substantially orthogonal to the plane of the flat-panel display, with individual cells having excitation electrodes along opposite elongated edges of the cells providing excitation voltage parallel to the plane of the flat-panel display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification