Handheld computing unit of a computing device with an extended computing unit

• US 8,359,373 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2009
• Issued: 01/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rofougaran, Ahmadreza (Reza)
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, WEN TAI
• Application Number:
  US12/431,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20090209288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,365 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60

Abstract

A handheld computing unit includes a hardware section and memory. The memory includes an application section and an operating system section. The operating system section includes operational instructions that cause the hardware section to: detect a mode change request to a non-standalone mode; determine whether an extended computing unit is engaged with another handheld computing unit; when the extended computing unit is engaged with another handheld unit, initiate a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode; and when the initiation is successful, retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader.

Claims

1. A handheld computing unit comprises:

a hardware section; and

memory that includes an application section and an operating system section, wherein the operating system section includes operational instructions that cause the hardware section to;

retrieve a boot loader to install operating system software to support operations in a standalone mode;

operate in a standalone mode;

detect a mode change request to a non-standalone mode;

determine whether an extended computing unit is engaged with another handheld computing unit;

when the extended computing unit is engaged with another handheld unit, initiate a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode; and

when the initiation is successful, retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader to support operations in the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode.

2. The handheld computing unit of claim 1, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to initiate the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode by:

generating a message requesting re-configuration into a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode; and

transmitting the message to at least one of;

the other handheld computing unit and the extended computing unit.

3. The handheld computing unit of claim 2, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

interpret a response to the message; and

when the response is an affirmative acknowledgement of the message, generate an indication that the initiation was successful.

4. The handheld computing unit of claim 1, wherein, when the initiations was unsuccessful, the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

detect a second mode change request to a second non-standalone mode;

initiate another type of single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode in accordance with the second non-standalone mode; and

when the initiation of the another type of single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode is successful, retrieve a second single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader.

5. The handheld computing unit of claim 1, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

execute the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader to retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program; and

execute the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program in concert with the other handheld computing unit and the extended computing unit executing corresponding single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system programs.

6. The handheld computing unit of claim 1, wherein the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode comprises:

separate computing units mode;

integrated computing unit mode; and

semi-separate computing units mode.

7. The handheld computing unit of claim 1, wherein the hardware section comprises:

a memory control module;

a processing module coupled to the memory control module;

a peripheral component interface module coupled to the memory control module;

a radio frequency transceiver coupled to the peripheral component interface module;

a host controller coupled to the peripheral component interface and to a hard disk/flash memory unit;

an input/output (TO) controller coupled to the memory control module; and

an IO interface coupled to the IO controller.

8. A handheld computing unit comprises:

a hardware section; and

memory that includes an application section and an operating system section, wherein the operating system section includes operational instructions that cause the hardware section to;

retrieve a boot loader to install operating system software to support operations in a standalone mode;

operate in a standalone mode;

receive a message requesting to re-configure into a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode;

process the message to determine whether to grant the request to re-configure;

when the request to re-configure is granted, transmit a message indicating the granting of the request;

receive a reboot request message m response to the message indicating the granting of the request; and

in response to the reboot request message, retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader.

9. The handheld computing unit of claim 8, wherein the processing of the message comprises:

determining whether the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode is an enabled feature; and

when the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode is enabled, granting the request to re-configure.

10. The handheld computing unit of claim 9 further comprises:

the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode includes a separate computing units mode, an integrated computing unit mode, and a semi-separate computing units mode, wherein the determining whether the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit is an enabled feature is based on a type of the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode.

11. The handheld computing unit of claim 9 further comprises:

when the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit is not an enabled feature due to a temporary condition, generate a wait message; and

transmit the wait message to a requesting handheld computing unit.

12. The handheld computing unit of claim 8, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

execute the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader to retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program; and

execute the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program in concert with another handheld computing unit and an extended computing unit executing corresponding single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system programs.

13. The handheld computing unit of claim 12, wherein the executing the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program comprises:

functioning as a dominate handheld computing unit to initiate the execution of the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program and to initiate the execution of the corresponding single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program by the other handheld computing unit.

14. The handheld computing unit of claim 12, wherein the executing the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program comprises:

receiving instructions from the other handheld computing unit regarding execution of the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program.

15. The handheld computing unit of claim 8, wherein the hardware section comprises:

a memory control module;

a processing module coupled to the memory control module;

a peripheral component interface module coupled to the memory control module;

a radio frequency transceiver coupled to the peripheral component interface module;

a host controller coupled to the peripheral component interface and to a hard disk/flash memory unit;

an input/output (TO) controller coupled to the memory control module; and

an IO interface coupled to the IO controller.

16. A handheld computing unit comprises:

a hardware section; and

memory coupled to the hardware section, wherein the memory includes an application section and an operating system section, wherein the operating system section includes operational instructions that cause the hardware section to;

detect a mode change request from a current single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode to a standalone mode or to another single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode;

when the mode change request is to change to the other single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode, initiate a mode change to change to the other single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit; and

when the initiation of the mode change is successful, retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader for the other single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode.

17. The handheld computing unit of claim 16, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

when the mode change request is to change to the standalone mode, retrieve a standalone operating system boot loader; and

execute the standalone operating system boot loader to reboot in the standalone mode.

18. The handheld computing unit of claim 16, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to initiate the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode by:

generating a message requesting re-configuration into the other single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode; and

transmitting the message to at least one of;

the other handheld computing unit and the extended computing unit.

19. The handheld computing unit of claim 18, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

interpret a response to the message; and

when the response is an affirmative acknowledgement of the message, generate an indication that the initiation of the mode change was successful.

20. The handheld computing unit of claim 16, wherein the operating system section further comprises operational instructions that cause the hardware section to:

execute the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader to retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program; and

execute the single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system program in concert with the other handheld computing unit and the extended computing unit executing corresponding single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system programs.