Information Handling System Docking with Coordinated Power and Data Communication

摘要

A docking station connects through a docking port and docking cable with an information handling system to support communication between the information handling system and docking station peripherals. On initial interface, one data lane of the docking port establishes a temporary management interface, such as an I2C management bus, to configure the docking station. After configuration, a docking manager, virtual wireless access point and power block cooperate to assign data lanes of the docking port and wireless communication resources to information transfer and power transfer functions based upon processing and communication tasks performed at the information handling system.

主权项

1. An information handling system comprising:
a housing; a processor disposed in the housing, the processor operable to execute instructions for processing information; memory disposed in the housing, the memory interfaced with the processor and operable to store the instructions and information; an embedded controller disposed in the housing, the embedded controller interfaced with the processor and operable to manage interactions with external devices; a docking manager disposed in the housing, the docking manager interfaced with the embedded controller and operable to manage interactions with an external docking station through a docking port; and a docking port disposed in the housing, the docking port in electrical communication with the docking manager and having plural data lanes, the docking manager operable to adapt the data lines to a selected of plural protocols; wherein the docking manager is further operable to initialize the docking station to assign the predetermined protocols to the data lines, the docking manager in response to detection of a docking cable at the docking port automatically configuring one or more of the data lanes as a management link, communicating the predetermined protocols to the external docking station through the management link, and freeing the management link for use with the predetermined protocols after the communicating the predetermined protocols.