Portable personal computer having removable security module

Abstract

A portable computer and a method of securing the same. The portable computer comprises: (1) a main chassis containing (a) data processing and volatile storage circuitry of the portable computer, (b) a nonvolatile storage unit coupled to the data processing and volatile storage circuitry and (c) a source of electrical power and (2) a security module removably coupled to the main chassis and containing circuitry for (a) enabling decryption of encrypted data stored in the nonvolatile storage unit and (b) coupling the source of electrical power to the data processing and volatile storage circuitry only when the security module is coupled to the main chassis, the decryption disabled and the source of electrical power decoupled from the data processing and volatile storage circuitry when the security module is removed from the main chassis. The security module impairs the intrinsic value of the portable computer's hardware by removing critical portions thereof, such as the physical connection between the source of electrical power and the data processing and volatile storage circuitry and at least the logical connection between the nonvolatile storage unit and the data processing and volatile storage circuitry.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.