Modular wireless docking station

• US 8,472,436 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2009
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Wilocity, Ltd. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meiri, Dror, Tamir, Tal, Myszne, Jorge
• Primary Examiner(s): Chung, Hoon J
• Application Number:
  US12/611,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310.2, 370328-339, 370/349, 370386-388, 370/395.5, 370419-426, 370/463, 455/422.1, 710/303, 710/304
• US Class Current: 370/386
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/00 Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices

Abstract

A modular wireless docking station for enabling a wireless connection between a computing device and a plurality of peripheral devices. The modular wireless docking station includes a radio plane having at least a wireless transceiver and at least one antenna for communicating with the computing device over a wireless medium; and a plurality of peripheral interface planes for communicating with one or more of the plurality of peripheral devices.

Claims

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

a radio plane including at least a wireless transceiver and at least one antenna for communicating a wireless Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe) bus with a host bridge coupled to a central processing unit (CPU) of the computing device over a wireless medium, wherein the radio plane includes at least one bridge for transforming data compliant with a first protocol type to data compliant with a second protocol type, wherein the wireless transceiver emulates the wireless PCIe bus; and

a plurality of peripheral interface planes for communicating with the plurality of peripheral devices, wherein each of the plurality of peripheral interface planes includes at least one input/output (I/O) controller compliant with the respective peripheral device with which the peripheral interface plane interfaces.

2. The modular wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the plurality of peripheral interface planes are stackable.

3. The modular wireless docking station of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of peripheral interface planes is either connected to the bottom of the radio plane or to another peripheral interface plane of the plurality of peripheral interface planes.

4. The modular wireless docking station of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of peripheral interface planes can be removed or inserted to the modular wireless docking station to achieve a desired functionality.

5. The modular wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the communication between the plurality of peripheral interface planes or the communication between the plurality of peripheral interface planes and the radio plane is achieved by means of a data bus.

6. The modular wireless docking station of claim 5, wherein the data bus is any one of:

a PCIe, a USB, a General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO).

7. The modular wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the radio plane further comprising:

a plane connector for allowing connection to a peripheral interface plane of the plurality of peripheral interface planes; and

a universal serial bus (USB) hub.

8. The modular wireless docking station of claim 7, wherein the wireless transceiver implements a wireless modem and is configured for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over a frequency band.

9. The modular wireless docking station of claim 8, wherein the frequency band is at least one of:

57 GHz-66 GHz and 5 GHz-6 GHz.

10. The modular wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of peripheral interface planes comprising:

a plane connector; and

at least one peripheral output to allow a connection between at least one peripheral device and the peripheral interface plane.

11. The modular wireless docking station of claim 10, wherein the connection between the at least one peripheral device and each of the plurality of peripheral interface planes is configured as any one of:

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

12. The modular wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the radio plane and the plurality of peripheral interface planes have the same physical dimensions.

13. The modular wireless docking station of claim 1, wherein the computing device is at least a hand-held computing device.

14. The modular wireless docking station of claim 13, wherein the modular wireless docking station is wirelessly connected to the computing device using a dock-in process.

15. The modular wireless docking station of claim 13, wherein the modular wireless docking station is wirelessly disconnected from the computing device using a dock-out process.

16. A radio plane mounted in a modular wireless docking station configured to enable a wireless connection between a computing device and a plurality of peripheral devices, comprising:

a wireless transceiver for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over a frequency band and to allow a communication, over a wireless Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe) bus, between the modular docking station and a host bridge coupled to a central processing unit (CPU) of the computing device over a wireless medium, wherein the wireless transceiver emulates the wireless PCIe bus;

a plane connector for allowing a connection to a peripheral interface plane;

at least one antenna;

at least one bridge for transforming data compliant with a first protocol type to data compliant with a second protocol type; and

a data bus for exchanging data with the peripheral interface plane and the computing device.

17. The radio plane of claim 16, further comprising:

a switch coupled between the wireless transceiver and the plane connector; and

a universal serial bus (USB) hub.

18. The radio plane of claim 16, wherein the wireless transceiver implements a wireless modem.

19. The radio plane of claim 18, wherein the frequency band is at least one of:

57 GHz-66 GHz and 5 GHz-6 GHz.