Patent ID: 7194565

Claim:
An expansion module for use in conjunction with a removable expansion card, an I/O device, and a computing host having an externally accessible first expansion coupling, the expansion module comprising: a CompactFlash card adapted to directly removably attach with the computing host via the first expansion coupling, the CompactFlash card including a second expansion coupling, adapter circuitry to manage data transfers with the removable expansion card, and an I/O interface adapted to couple with the I/O device; wherein independent of the attachment of the CompactFlash card to the computing host, the second expansion coupling is externally accessible and is adapted to directly removably attach with the removable expansion card, the removable expansion card nesting within the CompactFlash card when attached thereto; and wherein the first externally accessible coupling and the second externally accessible coupling are respectively a first-level coupling and a second-level coupling, the expansion module is first-level module adapted to couple to the computing host via the first-level coupling, the removable expansion card is a second-level module adapted to couple to the first-level module via the second-level coupling, and the data transfers include transferring information between the first-level module and the second-level module.