Patent ID: 8509738

Claim:
A cradle for receiving an electronic device, the cradle comprising: an external casing having a device interfacing mechanism; an integrated circuit (IC) disposed within the casing and electrically coupled to the device interfacing mechanism, wherein the IC comprises authentication information of the cradle and N device status bits having: (a) a first set of M class bits that define to the electronic device a particular class type of the cradle among a plurality of different classes of cradles; and (b) a second set of P capabilities bits that identify to the electronic device which functionality of a plurality of possible functionalities are supported by the cradle for the identified class type of the cradle; and a logic module associated with the IC that, responsive to detection of an electrical coupling of a communication port of the electronic device to the device interfacing mechanism of the cradle, automatically transmits the N device status bits to the electronic device; wherein transmission of the N device status bits causes the electronic device to activate specific operating functions based on receipt and identification of the M class bits and P capabilities bits transmitted from the cradle.