| 摘要 |
A computer system has a docking station and a portable computer. The docking station has a platform and a housing having a docking connector. The platform has one or more elevated rails. The portable computer has a computer connector, a base unit having a top portion and a bottom portion, a display unit connected to the top portion of said base unit, and one or more recessed grooves on the bottom portion of the base unit. The elevated rail or rails on the docking station interact with the recessed groove or grooves on the portable computer to guide the portable computer into a proper alignment with the housing of the docking station when the portable computer is placed on the platform and slid towards the housing so that the computer connector lines up with and connects to the docking connector. The docking station platform may have side walls or rotatable bumpers on the sides of the platform to provide coarse alignment between the docking station and the portable computer, and to prevent the portable computer from sliding off the platform during the alignment process. Preferably, the recessed groove or grooves are flared at the back edge of the portable computer to further assist in the alignment of the portable computer with the docking station. The docking station of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention can accommodate portable computers of different form factors and thus do not need to be replaced each time a new model of a personal computer is released with a different form factor.
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