Inventors:
Gary Walker - Phoenix AZ
Franklyn H. Story - Chandler AZ
David Evoy - Tempe AZ
Michael Crews - Phoenix AZ
Peter Chambers - Scottsdale AZ
Assignee:
VLSI Technology, Inc. - San Jose CA
International Classification:
G06F 1300
Abstract:
A portable computer and corresponding docking station, where the portable computer may be inserted into or removed from the docking station without concern relating to the state of either the portable computer or of the docking station. The hot docking sequence is performed by establishing a direct connection to the primary PCI bus without the risk of any possible system damage, file damage, or data loss. This can be accomplished even while the portable computer system is powered on and is actively running. The present invention prevents glitches from occurring in pre-existing pins and adds four new pins to implement this novel hot docking sequence. Furthermore, hot undocking can be readily performed as well by basically reversing the docking sequence.