US 12,380,037 B2
Information handling system with a switch circuit to perform as a dock
Qinghong He, Austin, TX (US); and Arnold Thomas Schnell, Hutto, TX (US)
Assigned to Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX (US)
Filed by DELL PRODUCTS L.P., Round Rock, TX (US)
Filed on Aug. 3, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/364,501.
Prior Publication US 2025/0045209 A1, Feb. 6, 2025
Int. Cl. G06F 13/10 (2006.01); G06F 1/16 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 13/10 (2013.01) [G06F 1/1632 (2013.01); G06F 2213/40 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An information handling system comprising:
a dock portion configured to communicate with a peripheral device; and
a compute portion including:
an external communication port;
a processor to communicate with the dock portion, the processor to:
determine whether an external information handling system is connected to the external communication port;
in response to the external information handling system being connected to the external communication port, enter the information handling system into a dock operating mode, wherein while in the dock operating mode, commands from the external information handling system are provided from the external communication port, through the dock portion, and to the peripheral device; and
in response to the external information handling system not being connected to the external communication port, enter the information handling system into a compute operating mode, wherein while in the compute operating mode, commands from the processor are provided through the dock portion to the peripheral device; and
a switch to route a command and data from the external communication port to one of a plurality of components within the information handling system or to the peripheral device.