Patent ID: 6912283

Claim:
A telephone comprising: a) a network interface circuit for audio session set-up and audio session communication with a remote telephone system over a network; b) an audio sub system for receiving a microphone input representing the voice of an operator and presenting audio data to the network interface circuit and for receiving audio data from the network interface circuit and generating a signal for driving a speaker; c) a docking interface configured for operatively coupling a device from a group of devices consisting of: i) a simple display device which comprises a display for representing information in accordance with a video signal received through the docking interface; and ii) a portable computing device which comprises a display and display circuits for generating an internal video signal for driving its display in accordance with data files received through the docking interface; d) a display controller coupled to the docking interface for coupling the video signal representing the information related to operation of the telephone to the simple display device; e) a communication controller coupled to the docking interface for coupling the data files containing information related to operation of the telephone to the portable computing device.