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:
Sep. 05, 2006
Filed:
Sep. 29, 2004
Tim L. Zhang, Shanghai, CN;
Robert C. Hurbanis, Jr., Tomball, TX (US);
Dan Forlenza, Cypress, TX (US);
Jeffrey Kevin Jeansonne, Houston, TX (US);
Tim L. Zhang, Shanghai, CN;
Robert C. Hurbanis, Jr., Tomball, TX (US);
Dan Forlenza, Cypress, TX (US);
Jeffrey Kevin Jeansonne, Houston, TX (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A docking station for an electronic device senses the position of the electronic device and provides an electronically-generated feedback signal to a user indicating whether the device and the docking station are in proper alignment for docking. The sensing may optionally be accomplished by electrical contacts or may optionally be accomplished by sensing a magnetic field using a Hall effect sensor. The feedback signal may be visible or may be audible. The feedback signal may provide instructions to the user indicating which direction one of the components should be moved to achieve proper alignment. A simple backstop arrangement may provide proper alignment in one axis, while the feedback signal provides information about the alignment in a second axis, preferably generally orthogonal to the first. The electronic device may be a laptop portable computer.