Patent ID: 8260998

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: determining with a mobile computing device that the mobile computing device has physically paired with a docking system; automatically establishing, in response to said determining that the mobile computing device has physically paired with the docking system, wireless communication between the mobile computing device and the docking system; transmitting, by the mobile computing device and to the docking system as part of the wireless communication, data that encodes an audio signal, so as to cause speakers of the docking system to audibly output the audio signal from the mobile computing device; wherein said determining that the mobile computing device has physically paired with the docking system is based at least in part on electrical signals transmitted from the docking system to the mobile computing device over a physical electrical connection between the docking system and the mobile computing device; and wherein the transmitted electrical signals include serially communicated data that identifies a type of the docking system in distinction to multiple types of docking systems to which the mobile computing device is configured to pair.