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.

Abstract: An integrated CPU has an on-board switching voltage regulator with an electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory electronically accessible for storing a feedback reference coefficient for control. In further embodiments, output voltage is tuned via a second EEPROM storing an electronically accessible value in concert with a solid-state resistor ladder. In other embodiments, signals on interrupt lines to the CPU are monitored to provide a prewarning of impending activity by the CPU requiring dramatically increased current flow. In yet other embodiments, solid state circuitry is provided to reduce or eliminate capacitors used for dealing with input current surges to the CPU.

Abstract: A system for managing power levels for a general purpose computer having a standby and a full-power mode of operation provides apparatus and a method for monitoring times of user input and control routines for using the times of user input to calculate optimum times for initiating full power operation and standby mode. The control routines are configured to provide the optimum times to a real time clock that remains powered in the standby mode, which triggers switching elements to initiate full power and standby mode. In one embodiment of the system, startup and standby may be initiated either by user input or automatically by the power management system. Startup and standby initiation times may be different for different days and time periods based on both preprogrammed and calculated values.

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.

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 has a means for storing 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.

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.

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.

Abstract: A computer system has dual-color LEDs for the LEDs conventionally indicating power on and hard disk drive activity, and a control circuit drives the LEDs in on-off and color combinations to indicate diagnostic information. In a preferred embodiment, a control circuit for controlling the LEDs is addressable as a port, and state combinations of the LEDs are set according to data sent to the port address of the control circuit. Also in a preferred embodiment, a POST routine for the computer system is divided into specific tests and groups of tests by commands configured to write a specific data string to a port address depending upon the position of the control command in the POST routine.

Abstract: A business telephone system employs digital signal processing in a digital telephone having a serial link for connection to a general-purpose computer. The Smart Phone is thus the central intelligence for the system, which may utilize a PBX connected in a LAN network to multiple computers, including file servers, and each computer may have one or more Smart Phones connected. In one embodiment, docking bays in the phone provide an ability to interchange functional modules, including DSP modules. The docking bays and functional modules may be configured to PCMCIA standards. In another embodiment, a docking bay, which may also be PCMCIA, has a physical window allowing access to an input area on a docked module, wherein the docked module is an intelligent module with a CPU, memory, and a bus structure, affording control of the smart phone and the entire system through the input interface of the docked module.

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.

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.

Abstract: A bus interface system for expanding the I/O capability of a portable computer utilizes a parallel port connector with master interface circuitry connected to the internal ISA I/O bus of the portable computer and driving a 25-conductor Centronics-type cable as an intermediate bus. The master interlace circuitry is device-driver-transparent, and multiplexes address data, and control information over a byte-wide avenue of the intermediate bus according to premapped state translation tables. In a preferred embodiment a single peripheral I/O device comprising a slave circuitry may be connected to the 25-pin port, and the slave circuitry demultiplexes the intermediate bus states, providing a synthesized sub-set of ISA states to drive the peripheral device. In another embodiment a docking box comprises a bus with multiple I/O ports, such as a network port, a COM serial port, and additional floppy and hard disk drives.

Abstract: A computer system has a cordless keyboard having an on-board power supply and a magnetic field generator with the keyboard adapted for coding keystrokes made on the keyboard in a dynamic magnetic field broadcast by the magnetic field generator. There is also an electronic card module having an induction coil for receiving the coded keystrokes in the dynamic magnetic field and having decoding circuitry connected to the induction coil for converting the coded keystrokes in the dynamic magnetic field into standard serial bus data. A computer as part of the system has a docking bay adapted for receiving and engaging the electronic card module and connecting the decoding circuitry in the electronic card module by means of multi-pin connectors to an internal bus of the computer.

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.

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.

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.

Abstract: A system for adjusting signals to a CRT in a video monitor utilizes an interactive display having shapes that appear rectangular on a properly adjusted monitor and dragging handles associated with the shapes. Control routines executed on a host computer associate pointer position and movement in dragging the handles with creation of signals to be sent to the monitor to correct signals to the CRT to produce a properly sized, positioned, and shaped display. In one embodiment, digital values are placed in serial packets on a VSYNC line from the host to the video monitor, and a microcontroller in the monitor receives the digital values and drives circuitry in the monitor according to the received commands and data to adjust the signals to the CRT to correct the display.

Abstract: A compressed I/O bus system for a general-purpose computer multiplexes 32 bit data and addresses on 32 of 42 dedicated parallel signal paths, and optimizes the bus structure by mapping bus requests made by peripheral devices to "high" memory portions of system RAM not dedicated to other purposes. In one aspect a bus controller is programmable to select translation routines stored in system RAM, allowing various models and types of CPUs to be supported. In this aspect, supported CPUs are interchangeable in the system. In another aspect a default interface attaches to the compressed I/O bus of the invention, and translates bus states between the optimized compressed bus and one of an ISA bus or an EISA bus.

Abstract: A system for managing power levels for a general purpose computer having a standby and a full-power mode of operation provides apparatus and a method for monitoring times of user input and control routines for using the times of user input to calculate optimum times for initiating full power operation and standby mode. The control routines are configured to provide the optimum times to a real time clock that remains powered in the standby mode, which triggers switching elements to initiate full power and standby mode. In one embodiment of the system, startup and standby may be initiated either by user input or automatically by the power management system. Startup and standby initiation times may be different for different days and time periods based on both preprogrammed and calculated values.

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 has a means for storing 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.