The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 28, 2000
Filed:
May. 07, 1999
Huyen B Tran, Houston, TX (US);
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A laptop computer contains a built-in modem and has a phone jack for connection to a telephone line while the computer is being operated in a stand-alone mode. A docking station into which the laptop computer may be docked allows the combined unit to be operated in a desk-top mode. The docking station may have a full-sized keyboard and display so that the laptop functions as the main computer a user may employ in the office or home. A telephone connection is already in place at the docking station so that the user need not make a phone line connection to invoke the docked mode, but instead merely nests the laptop in the docking station. In one embodiment, the only components of the modem that are duplicated in the docking station are the phone jack itself and an isolation and 2-to-4 wire converter, so the plug-in connector ordinarily employed between a laptop and a docking station may be of a low-voltage, spike voltage protected form, whereby the coupling used for computer logic and control levels is compatible. The possibility of damage to computer circuits due to the proximity of high-voltage telephone line connections is thus avoided.