US 5,692,199 A · Personal digital assistant module having a host interconnect bus without an interrupt line and which handles interrupts as addresses associated with specific interrupts in memory

Abstract

A personal digital assistant module with a local CPU, memory, and I/O interface has a host interface comprising a bus connected to the local CPU and a connector at a surface of the personal digital assistant for interfacing to a bus connector of a host general-purpose computer, providing direct bus communication between the personal digital assistant and the host general-purpose computer. In an embodiment, the personal digital assistant also stores a security code. The personal digital assistant according to the invention forms a host/satellite combination with a host computer having a docking bay, wherein upon docking a docking protocol controls access by the host to memory of the personal digital assistant based on one or more passwords provided by a user to the host. In another embodiment the personal digital assistant also has an expansion port connected to the local CPU, and expansion peripheral devices may be connected and operated through the expansion port.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A digital assistant module comprising:

an internal bus having address lines, data lines, and control signal lines, but no interrupt control lines;
a bus controller adapted to provide bus cycles, including address cycles;
a CPU connected to the bus;
a memory connected to the bus;
a video display coupled to the bus;
input apparatus coupled to the bus;
and
an interrupt controller connected to the bus;
wherein interrupts are mapped in high memory as unused addresses, and the interrupt controller is adapted to compare addresses during address cycles with the memory-mapped interrupts, and to interrupt the CPU in those instances wherein an address on the address bus matches an address reserved as an interrupt.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

08/815,315Filed 11 Mar 1997 · continuation

Priority

2 Jul 1993

Granted

25 Nov 1997

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification31 codes

H04N 1/00411
Display of information to the user, e.g. menus: the display also being used for user input, e.g. touch screen
G06F 1/1616
With several enclosures having relative motions, each enclosure supporting at least one I/O or computing function: with folding flat displays,…
G06F 1/1626
For portable computers: with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
G06F 1/1632
For portable computers: external expansion units, e.g. docking stations

Family

Serial86,716Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 2 Jul 1993

Serial144,231Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 28 Oct 1993

Serial273,001Parent of this division · filed 7 Jul 1994

Serial570,571Parent of this continuation · filed 11 Dec 1995

US 5,692,199 AThis patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Personal digital assistant module having a host interconnect bus without an interrupt line and which handles interrupts as addresses associated with specific interrupts in memory

Life of this patent

Personal digital assistant module having a host interconnect bus without an interrupt line and which handles interrupts as addresses associated with specific interrupts in memory

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12