Docking system and method using near field communication
AssigneeHand Held Products, Inc.
InventorPaul Edward Showering
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for configuring a mobile computing device to a docking station using near field communication is disclosed. A mobile computing device may scan an NFC tag integrated with the docking station to gather docking-station information. This docking-station information may be used by the mobile computing device to (i) configure its interface connector to match the docking connector, (ii) establish a communication link with the docking station and/or a host computer connected to the docking station, or (iii) authenticate the docking station to the mobile computing device or vice versa.
Claims18
A method for docking an NFC-enabled mobile computing device with an NFC-enabled docking station, the method comprising:
- placing an NFC-enabled mobile computing device in proximity to an NFC-enabled docking station;
- transferring docking-station information from the NFC-enabled docking station to the NFC-enabled mobile computing device using NFC communication, wherein the docking station information comprises the docking station's connector configuration and the signals to expect on each pin;
- reconfiguring the NFC-enabled mobile computing device's interface connector pins to electrically match the NFC-enabled docking station connector's configuration based on the received docking-station information;
- and
- connecting an interface connector on the NFC-enabled mobile computing device with a docking connector on the NFC-enabled docking station.
A near field communication docking system, comprising:
- an NFC-enabled mobile computing device;
- an NFC-enabled docking station having docking-station information and configured to transfer the docking-station information to the NFC-enabled mobile computing device using NFC communication;
- wherein the NFC-enabled docking system uses the docking-station information to configure the NFC-enabled mobile computing device when the NFC-enabled mobile computing device is positioned in proximity to the NFC-enabled docking station;
- wherein the docking station information comprises the docking station's connector configuration and the signals to expect on each pin;
- and
- wherein the NFC-enabled mobile computing device reconfigures its interface connector pins to electrically match the NFC-enabled docking station connector's configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.