Docking station and method to connect to a docking station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9820320-B2
Application number	US-201514963372-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2015
Priority date	Dec 9, 2015
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

A docking station and a method for establishing a wireless connection to a device in which the docking station is configured to use the distance between the device and the docking station in the admission and retention control decision. This effectively prevents the wireless docking session from initiating, or drops an existing session, when the user is determined to be outside of the effective work area as determined by the docking station.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A docking station, comprising:
a wireless transceiver;
a plurality of bridges configured to convert a data from a first type to a second type;
a switch coupled to a plurality of input/output (I/O) controllers; and
a processer configured to:
determine a link bandwidth between a device and the docking station, and
measure a distance between the device and the docking station;

wherein the docking station is configured to automatically establish a wireless connection to the device if:
the link bandwidth is greater than or equal to a minimum bandwidth requirement for connecting to the docking station, and
the distance between the device and the docking station is less than or equal to an effective work area; wherein the effective work area is determined by at least one or more from the following group:
a size of a monitor to which the docking station is connected;
requesting manual input from a user to adjust the effective work area in a mobile client docking software utility;
requesting a hold of the device by a user and moving along a working environment while the distance between the device and the docking station is recorded, wherein the maximum distance recorded is used as the effective work area;
silently recording the distance between the device and the docking station while a user is working on the docking station, wherein the maximum distance measured is recorded as the effective work area;
silently recording a distance between the device and the docking station at least for a minimum time;
and combinations thereof.

2. The docking station of claim 1 , the docking station further configured to disconnect the wireless connection if:
the link bandwidth is less than the minimum bandwidth requirement of connecting to the docking station, or
the distance between the device and the docking station is greater than the effective work area.

3. The docking station of claim 1 , further comprising a memory configured to store the effective work area.

4. The docking station of claim 1 , the docking station further configured to use the size of the monitor to determine the effective work area from a preconfigured table.

5. The docking station of claim 1 , the docking station further configured to determine the size of the monitor by reading an extended display identification data (EDID) over a video interface between the docking station and the monitor.

6. The docking station of claim 1 , the docking station further configured to determine that the user is working whenever there is activity on the device.

7. The docking station of claim 1 , the docking station further configured to trigger an adjustment of the effective work area when the docking station identifies that the user is not satisfied with the effective work area used by the docking station.

8. A method for establishing a wireless connection between a docking station and a device, the method comprising:
determining a link bandwidth between the device and the docking station;
measuring a distance between the device and the docking station; and
configuring the device to automatically connect to the docking station if:
the link bandwidth is greater than or equal to a minimum bandwidth requirement for connecting to the docking station; and
the distance between the device and the docking station is less than or equal to an effective work area; wherein the effective work area is determined by at least one or more from the following group:
a size of a monitor to which the docking station is connected;
requesting manual input from a user to adjust the effective work area in a mobile client docking software utility;
requesting a hold of the device by a user and moving along a working environment while the distance between the device and the docking station is recorded, wherein the maximum distance recorded is used as the effective work area;
silently recording the distance between the device and the docking station while a user is working on the docking station, wherein the maximum distance measured is recorded as the effective work area;
silently recording a distance between the device and the docking station at least for a minimum time;
and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising configuring the device to disconnect the wireless connection if:
the link bandwidth is less than the minimum bandwidth requirement of connecting to the docking station, or
the distance between the device and the docking station is greater than the effective work area.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions to establish a wireless connection between a docking station and a device, comprising:
determining a link bandwidth between the device and the docking station;
measuring a distance between the device and the docking station; and
configuring the device to automatically connect to the docking station if:
the link bandwidth is greater than or equal to a minimum bandwidth requirement for connecting to the docking station; and
the distance between the device and the docking station is less than or equal to an effective work area; wherein the effective work area is determined by at least one or more from the following group:
a size of a monitor to which the docking station is connected;
requesting manual input from a user to adjust the effective work area in a mobile client docking software utility;
requesting a hold of the device by a user and moving along a working environment while the distance between the device and the docking station is recorded, wherein the maximum distance recorded is used as the effective work area;
silently recording the distance between the device and the docking station while a user is working on the docking station, wherein the maximum distance measured is recorded as the effective work area;
silently recording a distance between the device and the docking station at least for a minimum time;
and combinations thereof.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising configuring the device to disconnect the wireless connection if:
the link bandwidth is less than the minimum bandwidth requirement of connecting to the docking station, or
the distance between the device and the docking station is greater than the effective work area.

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Cohn Daniel
• Harel Tom
• Mor Ran

Classifications

• H04M1/72412

  using two-way short-range wireless interfaces · CPC title

• H04M1/72409

  by interfacing with external accessories (hands-free H04M1/60) · CPC title

• H04W48/06

  based on traffic conditions · CPC title

• H04W76/18

  Management of setup rejection or failure · CPC title

• G06F1/1632 Primary

  External expansion units, e.g. docking stations · CPC title