Home | Links | Contact Us | More About Intellectual Property | Bookmark

Search patents:

Home

Multiplexer-related

Modem-for-connection-to-a-telephone-line-through-a-either-portable-computer-connector-or-a-docking-station

Phase detection circuit for stepwise measurement of a phase relation

It is an object of the invention to provide an accurate phase detection circuit comprising few ...

Clock generator circuit and a synchronizing signal detection method in a sampled format system and a phase comparator circuit suited for generation of the clock

The present invention is made in view of the aforementioned problems and accordingly an object of ...

Multiple clock synthesizer

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a multiple clock synthesizer having ...

Phase and frequency adjustable digital phase lock logic system

According to the present invention, a phase lock logic system is provided for determining (i) the ...

Digital phase alignment and integrated multichannel transceiver employing same

We claim: 1. A synchronizer for phase aligning an input signal, having a data transition, with a ...

Spread spectrum communication apparatus

It is an object of the invention to rapidly and properly set a transmission power. Another object ...

Station of a TDMA communication network capable of quickly changing communication traffic without causing an overlap between transmission bursts

What is claimed is: 1. In a terrestrial station of a time division multiple access communication ...

Advanced technology anti-G suit

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown a simplified perspective view of an anti-G ...

Multiple satellite repeater capacity loading with multiple spread spectrum gateway antennas

This invention is directed to a communication system, and to a method executed by same, for ...

Partial-response-channel precoding

In the HDTV system shown in FIG. 1, binary input data in the form of an HDTV signal is generated ...

Modem for connection to a telephone line through a either portable computer connector or a docking station

Details

Inventors: Tran, Huyen B.; Castell, Robin T.;
Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (Houston, TX)
Primary Examiner: Lee; Thomas C.
Assistant Examiner: Perveen; Rehana
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Sharp, Comfort & Merrett, P.C.

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.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved telephone connection via a modem in a portable (laptop) computer which has a docking station.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved construction of portable computers with docking stations in which a permanent telephone line connection is in place at the docking station.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of making a telephone line connection in a portable computer which has a docking station, in a way which avoids high-voltage coupling within the laptop or docking station.
The above as well as additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a laptop computer contains a built-in modem which has a phone jack for connection to a telephone line while the computer is being operated in a stand-alone mode.
A docking station is provided into which the laptop computer may be docked when it is being 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 wiring 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 so that the coupling ordinarily 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.

Related patents

	Adaptive time division duplexing method and apparatus for dynamic bandwidth allocation within a wireless communication system The present invention is an adaptive time division duplexing (ATDD) method and apparatus for duplexing transmissions in wireless communication systems. The present ATDD ...
	Fast retrain based on communication profiles for a digital modem A digital modem that supports fast retrain based on communication profiles according to the present invention includes a memory that stores a plurality of communication ...
	Digital phase locked loop having coarse and fine stepsize variable delay lines It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a digital phase locked loop having reduced jitter. According to the present invention, there is provided a ...
	ASIC cell implementation of a bus controller with programmable timing value registers for the apple desktop bus An ASIC cell implementation of an ADB bus controller for the Apple Desktop Bus has a system interface for connecting to a computer system, and an ADB Interface for ...
	System for initializing a self-timed link Briefly, the present invention satisfies the need for a way to initialize a self-timed link by providing a protocol that takes into account the unreliable data patterns ...
	System and method for alleviating skew in a bus The present invention provides a most signal skew tolerant timing window for signal transfer in relation to the capture clock timing. The teaching of this invention is ...
	Phase-locked loop or delay-locked loop circuitry for programmable logic devices These and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordance with the principles of the invention by providing PLL or DLL circuitry on a programmable logic ...
	Parallel data bus integrated clocking and control A clock is always needed with transmitted data in order to define the position of individual bits in the data sequences. If the clock is directly transmitted, such a ...
	Synchronizing signal detecting circuit Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a synchronizing signal detecting circuit that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and ...
	Method for minimizing clock skew by relocating a clock buffer until clock skew is within a tolerable limit The present invention advantageously addresses the problems above as well as other problems by providing a balanced clock placement method that minimizes clock skew. In ...

0.024
Archive: All patents - Links Copyright (c)2006 Eipa-patents.org - All rights reserved