Patent Abstract:
A docking system includes a customizable attachable housing, at least one hot swappable PnP hard drive dock, and a power supply. The docking system is useful for allowing a user to transfer data from multiple laptops across different manufacturers to a single docking system which houses a variety of storage and duplication options.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is related to and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/263,013 filed Dec. 4, 2015, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art. 
         [0003]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0004]    The present invention relates generally to the field of lap-top expansion and more specifically relates to a proprietary hot swappable drive system for multiple lap-top manufactures. 
         [0005]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0006]    Many people use lap-tops to work and store information, often filling up the internal hard drive space rather quickly, especially in the music and video industry. Many professionals have multiple lap-tops they use for different jobs. Sometimes information needs to be shared between lap-tops on specific work. Sharing information across different lap-tops can be difficult due to the proprietary nature of different lap-top manufacturers. Currently, the only option available is to carry around large external USB hard drives formatted in multiple file structures. When traveling, and dealing with large files, the size of the external hard drive and toting an extra piece of hardware around is cumbersome. Therefore a suitable solution is desired. 
         [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,721 to Premanand Sakarda, et al., relates to a surprise hot bay swapping of IDE/ATAPI devices. The described surprise hot bay swapping of IDE/ATAPI devices includes A system for allowing surprise insertion and removal of a peripheral device from the bays of a portable computer system. The peripheral device may be inserted or removed when the portable computer system is powered off, powered on, or in standby or sleep mode. The peripheral device may be any one of a multitude of devices corresponding to the IDE, ATAPI or FLOPPY standard. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known proprietary hot swappable drive system for multiple lap-top manufactures art, the present disclosure provides a novel laptop docking system. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a laptop docking system. 
         [0009]    A docking system is disclosed herein. The docking system includes a customizable attachable housing useful for connecting to a variety of different manufactured lap-tops, at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock, and a power supply. 
         [0010]    The docking system includes a customizable attachable housing useful for connecting to a variety of different manufactured laptops, at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock, and a power supply. According to this embodiment, the customizable attachable housing includes at least one hot swappable PnP media duplication drive. According to this embodiment, the customizable attachable housing further includes at least one universal serial bus port useful for connecting to the lap-top computer. According to this embodiment, the at least one universal serial bus port is USB 3.0 compatible for increased data transfer speeds to USB 3.0 compatible devices. According to this embodiment, the customizable attachable housing further includes a HDMI output port allowing for a user to output data to an auxiliary monitor. The customizable attachable housing further includes a dual-protocol I/O connection port allowing for non-PC compatible storage drive connections. The customizable attachable housing further includes a fire wire connection port to maintain backward compatibility. According to this embodiment, the customizable attachable housing also includes a parallel port useful for allowing a user to connect to a printer. The customizable attachable housing includes a microphone input port for inputting and saving voice recordings. The customizable attachable housing includes an optical audio port for improved audio sound production. 
         [0011]    The at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock is suitable to be coupled to a SSD drive allowing for an increase in speed when saving and retrieving data through the docking system. The at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock includes a connection port incorporating Serial AT Attachment for HDD, and SSD coupling. The at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock includes a connection port incorporating Serial AT Attachment for HDD, and SSD coupling. 
         [0012]    According to this embodiment, the at least one hot swappable PnP media duplication drive supports DVD technology and alternately large storage capacity recordable media discs. According to this embodiment, the at least one hot swappable PnP media duplication drive includes a connection port incorporating a Serial AT Attachment connector. 
         [0013]    According to another embodiment, a docking system is also disclosed herein. The docking system includes a coupling of a laptop to the docking system, a connecting means for a power supply to the docking system, a powering on of the docking system a using of the docking system to complete a task and a saving of the task to a HDD coupled to the docking system. 
         [0014]    For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]    The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, a lap-top expansion, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure. 
           [0016]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the docking system during an ‘in-use’ condition, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a rear view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4A  is a rear view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0020]      FIG. 4B  is a front view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of use for the docking system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
       [0022]    The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]    As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an expansion device coupled to a lap-top and more particularly to a lap-top expansion as used to improve the data sharing across lap-tops with physical, and operational design differences use by various lap-top manufactures. 
         [0024]    Referring now more specifically to the drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in  FIGS. 1-4B , various views of a docking system  100 .  FIG. 1  shows a docking system  100  during an ‘in-use’ condition  150 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Here, the docking system  100  may be beneficial for use by a user  140  to share data across lap-tops with physical, and operational design differences. As illustrated, the docking system  100  may include a customizable attachable housing  110 , at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock  120 , and a power supply  130 . The customizable attachable housing  110  may be structured and arranged to allow for coupling to different lap-top manufactures housing designs. 
         [0025]    The docking system  100  may be arranged as a kit  105 . In particular, the docking system  100  may further include a set of instructions  155 . The instructions  155  may detail functional relationships in relation to the structure of the docking system  100  (such that the docking system  100  can be used, maintained, or the like, in a preferred manner). 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  shows the docking system  100  of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As above, the docking system  100  may include the customizable attachable housing  110 , the at least one hot swappable PnP drive dock  120 , and the power supply  130 . The customizable attachable housing  110  may include at least one hot swappable PnP media duplication drive  112  for allowing the user  140  to alternatively coping data to digital media, the customizable attachable housing  110  may further include multiple hot swappable PnP drive docks  120  to increase internal data storage space. The hot swappable PnP drive docks  120  which may allow for HDD (Hard Disk Drive)  20  and SDD (Solid State Drive)  25  to be coupled to the customizable attachable housing  110  with Serial AT Attachments  122 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 3  is a rear view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The customizable attachable housing  110  may include at least one universal serial bus port  113 , for providing connection to non-standard lap-top  10 , also allowing for increases the number of universal serial bus ports  113  available to accept external USB compliant hardware. The customizable attachable housing  110  may further include a HDMI output port  114  useful for connecting to an external monitor. The customizable attachable housing  110  may even further include a dual-protocol I/O connection port  115  for permitting a user to couple a non-stranded lap-top  10  which only can be coupled with a dual-protocol I/O connection port  115 . 
         [0028]    The customizable attachable housing  110  may include a fire wire connection port  116  for maintain backward compatibility with older technology. The customizable attachable housing  110  may further include a microphone input port  117  for saving voice recordings and the like. The customizable attachable housing  110  may even further include an optical audio port  118  for improved audio sound production when connect to an external speaker system. The customizable attachable housing  110  may also include a parallel port  119  which may be useful for allowing a user  140  to connect a printer. 
         [0029]      FIG. 4A  is a rear view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The customizable attachable housing  110  is coupled to a non-standard lap-top  10  for illustrating the ability to connect a variety of different lap-top designs. Also, illustrating a standard power connector  130  for allowing a user  140  to connect a standard lap-top power supply. 
         [0030]      FIG. 4B  is a front view of the docking system of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The customizable attachable housing  110  coupled to a standard lap-top  15  for illustrating the ability to connect a variety of different lap-top designs. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating a method  500  for a docking system  100 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, the method  500  for a lap-top docking system  100  may include one or more components or features of the docking system  100  as described above. As illustrated, the method  500  for sharing of data across multiple lap-tops may include the steps of: step one  501 , coupling; step two  502 , connecting; step three  503 , powering on; step four  504 , using; step five  505 , saving; Step six  506 , powering off; and step seven  507 , uncoupling. 
         [0032]    It should be noted that steps  506 , and  507  are an optional steps and may not be implemented in all cases. Optional steps of method of use  500  are illustrated using dotted lines in  FIG. 5  so as to distinguish them from the other steps of method of use  500 . It should also be noted that the steps described in the method of use can be carried out in many different orders according to user preference. The use of “step of” should not be interpreted as “step for”, in the claims herein and is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112(f). It should also be noted that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other methods for a lap-top docking system (e.g., different step orders within above-mentioned list, elimination or addition of certain steps, including or excluding certain maintenance steps, etc.), are taught herein. 
         [0033]    The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6