Patent ID: 7917679

Claim:
A portable computer system, comprising: a bus; and a docking interface coupled to the bus, wherein the docking interface comprises: a bus switch configured to couple the bus to a peripheral interface in a docking station; and a bus monitor configured to monitor bus cycles occurring on the bus and further configured to identify specified bus cycles among the bus cycles occurring on the bus; and a docking connector coupled to the docking interface and configured for docking the portable computer system to the docking station; wherein the bus switch is configured to electrically couple at least a portion of the bus to the peripheral interface, responsive to said docking; wherein for each specified bus cycle of the specified bus cycles, the bus monitor is further configured to: operate the bus switch in response to having identified the specified bus cycle, to electrically decouple a first portion of the at least a portion of the bus from the peripheral interface while leaving a remaining portion of the at least a portion of the bus electrically coupled to the peripheral interface during the specified bus cycle while the portable computer system remains docked to the docking station; and operate the bus switch in response to the specified bus cycle ending, to electrically recouple the first portion of the at least a portion of the bus to the peripheral interface while the portable computer system remains docked to the docking station.