MICRO PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT

摘要

A personal digital assistant module (10) with a local CPU (11), memory (13), and I/O interface (16) has a host interface (29) comprising a bus (26) connected to the local CPU (11) and a connector at a surface of the personal digital assistant (10) for interfacing to a bus connector of a host general-purpose computer (66), providing direct bus communication between the personal digital assistant (10) and the host general-purpose computer (66). In an embodiment, the personal digital assistant (10) also has a means for storing a security code. The personal digital assistant (10) according to the invention forms a host/satellite combination with a host computer (66) having a docking bay, wherein upon docking a docking protocol controls access by the host (66) to memory (13) of the personal digital assistant (10) based on one or more passwords provided by a user to the host (66). In another embodiment the personal digital assistant (10) also has an expansion port (20) connected to the local CPU (11), and expansion peripheral devices may be connected and operated through the expansion port (20).