Patent ID: RE42052

Claim:
A method of managing a communications port in a handheld computer, the handheld computer being detachably coupled in communication to one or more computer peripherals via the communications port, each of the computer peripheral peripherals being one of a cradle or a non-cradle peripheral, the method comprising: receiving a wake-up signal over the communications port corresponding to one of the one or more computer peripherals being directly connected to the handheld computer; responsive to receiving the wake-up signal, causing the handheld computer to change to a high power state from a low power state; opening a communications channel to the computer peripheral; identifying the computer peripheral; if the computer peripheral is the cradle, then performing a synchronization function and automatically closing the communication channel; and if the computer peripheral is the non-cradle peripheral, then receiving data and automatically closing the communications channel while the handheld computer is powered on .