Display device having an integral docking station for a palm sized computing device

A display device comprising:

• a touch sensitive flat panel display;
• a display controller coupled to said touch sensitive flat panel display to control said touch sensitive flat panel display;
• a microcontroller coupled to the display controller to control the display controller;
• a docking station including a communication interface coupled to the microcontroller to facilitate removable coupling of a palm sized computing device to the display device to allow said touch sensitive flat panel display to be used in conjunction with said palm sized computing device under the control of said microcontroller for an application executing on said palm sized computing device;
• and
• a chassis integrally housing said touch sensitive flat panel display, said display controller, said microcontroller and said docking station, said chassis having a form factor of a tablet with the touch sensitive flat panel display disposed on an externally exposed front surface, and including an opening disposed on a side wall exposing said integrally included docking station to facilitate said removable coupling of the palm sized computing device.

A display device comprising:

• a flat panel display;
• a display controller coupled to said flat panel display to control said flat panel display;
• an input device selected from a group consisting of a keyboard and a cursor control device;
• an input device controller coupled to the input device to control the input device;
• a microcontroller coupled to the display controller and the input device controller to control the display controller and the input device controller;
• a docking station including a communication interface coupled to the microcontroller to facilitate removable coupling of a palm sized computing device to the display device to allow said flat panel display and said input device to be used in conjunction with said palm sized computing device under the control of said microcontroller for an application executing on said palm sized computing device;
• and
• a chassis integrally housing said flat panel display, said display controller, said microcontroller, said docking station, said input device and said input device controller, said chassis having a form factor of a notebook computing device with the flat panel display and the input device disposed on an interior surface each of a top and a bottom half respectively, and including an opening disposed on a side wall of the bottom half exposing said integrally included docking station to facilitate said removable coupling of the palm sized computing device, and provision of user inputs to said application executing on said palm sized computing device using said input device.