Wireless docking station

• US 8,374,157 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Wilocity, Ltd. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tamir, Tal, Rettig, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jianye
• Application Number:
  US11/964,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195788A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,874 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• 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 wirelessly communicating with the computing device over a wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus;

a peripheral component interconnect express switch coupled to the wireless transceiver and to a plurality of input/output (I/O) controllers for sharing a connection point to the computing device with the plurality of peripheral devices, wherein each of the plurality of I/O controllers is connected separately and independently to the peripheral component interconnect express switch; and

a plurality of I/O controllers for communicating with the plurality of the peripheral devices, wherein each of the plurality of I/O controllers communicates with a respective peripheral device using a standard peripheral connection respective of the peripheral device, wherein the wireless docking station wirelessly communicates with the computing device over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, wherein a host bridge of the computing device identifies the plurality of I/O controllers connected to the switch as standard peripheral component interconnect express endpoints.

2. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the switch supports a interconnect communication protocol including at least a peripheral component interconnect express (PCle) protocol.

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

a PCle 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 the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus 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 configured to:

establish a data link between the wireless docking station and the computing device over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus for wireless transferring data between the plurality of peripheral devices 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 any 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 1, wherein the wireless transceiver implements at least a layered protocol of the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus.

11. The wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication between the docketing station and the computing device is over a frequency band of 60 Ghz.

12. A dock-in method for wirelessly connecting between a wireless docking station and a computing device over a wireless link, comprising:

receiving, over a wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, an association key from the computing device to the wireless docking station, wherein the association key includes a unique identification (ID) number;

sending, over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, a first challenge connection key by the wireless docking station to the computing device;

receiving, over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, a second challenge connection key from the computing device in response to the first challenge connection key; and

sending, over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, a session key, by the wireless docking station, in response to the second challenge, thereby establishing a wireless connection between the wireless docking station and the computing device over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, wherein the wireless docking station includes a plurality of I/O controllers connected separately and independently to a peripheral component interconnect express switch, wherein a host bridge of the computing device identifies the plurality of I/O controllers as standard peripheral component interconnect express endpoints.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

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

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the computing device is at least any one of:

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

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

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

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the peripheral device is at least any 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.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the wireless docking station enables the computing device to wirelessly connect to a plurality of peripheral devices.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the challenge connection key, the association key and session key are pre-determined using a pairing process.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the challenge connection key, the association key and session key are pre-determined and encrypted.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more machine executable instructions that, when executed by a machine, implement a dock-in method wirelessly connect between a computing device and a wireless docking station, wherein the dock-in method enables a wireless connection between the computing device and the wireless docking station, comprising:

receiving, over a wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, an association from the computing device to the wireless docking station, wherein the association key includes a unique identification (ID) number;

sending, over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, a first challenge connection key in response to the sending of the association key;

receiving, over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, a second challenge connection key from the computing device in response to the first challenge connection key; and

sending, over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express bus, a session key, by the wireless docking station, in response to the second challenge connection key, thereby establishing a wireless connection between the wireless docking station and the computing device over the wireless peripheral component interconnect express, wherein the wireless docking station includes a plurality of I/O controllers connected separately and independently to a peripheral component interconnect express switch, wherein a host bridge of the computing device identifies the plurality of I/O controllers as standard peripheral component interconnect express endpoints.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, further comprising instructions for:

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

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, 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.