Dual function interface for PCMCIA compatible peripheral cards and method of use therein

Claim 2

A multimode apparatus operable in either a PCMCIA mode or a serial mode, comprising: a peripheral unit having a first PCMCIA interface connector for receiving a second PCMCIA interface connector, the first PCMCIA interface connector having data lines and address lines; a PCMCIA logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the PCMCIA mode; a serial logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the serial mode; and a card logic unit coupled to the PCMCIA logic unit via a PCMCIA bus and the serial logic unit via a serial bus and coupled to the data lines and address lines of the first PCMCIA interface connector, being responsive to a mode signal from an external mode selecting logic over at least said address lines for switching between the PCMCIA mode and the serial mode of operation.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an external connector coupled to the card logic unit wherein the card logic unit comprises a bus multiplex logic coupled to the PCMCIA bus and serial bus, wherein the bus multiplex logic comprises a switch for coupling the external connector and the PCMCIA bus when the mode signal is indicative of a PCMCIA mode, and for coupling the external connector and the serial bus when the mode signal is indicative of a serial mode.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the switch is selected from the group consisting of: tristate buffers; logic multiplexers; analog switches; and mechanical relays.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the peripheral unit is a radio unit coupled to the PCMCIA logic unit via a first bus and to the serial logic unit via a second bus.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the external mode selecting logic is a PCMCIA to serial converter coupled to a host processor, the mode signal being provided to the card logic unit on power up of the host processor.

Claim 7

A multimode apparatus operable in either a PCMCIA mode or a serial mode, comprising: a peripheral unit having a first PCMCIA interface connector for receiving a second PCMCIA interface connector, the first PCMCIA interface connector having data lines and address lines; a PCMCIA logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the PCMCIA mode; a serial logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the serial mode; and a card logic unit coupled to the PCMCIA logic unit via a PCMCIA bus and the serial logic unit via a serial bus and coupled to the data lines and address lines of the first PCMCIA interface connector, being responsive to a mode signal from an external mode selecting logic over at least said address lines for switching between the PCMCIA mode and the serial mode of operation, wherein the card logic unit comprises a bus multiplex logic coupled to the PCMCIA bus and serial bus and coupled to the data lines and the address lines for multiplexing at least the data lines to the PCMCIA bus and serial bus, and a mode decoder for receiving the mode signal, wherein the mode signal comprises a combination of address and control signals.

Claim 8

A multimode apparatus operable in either a PCMCIA mode or a serial mode, comprising: a peripheral unit having a first PCMCIA interface connector for receiving a second PCMCIA interface connector, the first PCMCIA interface connector having data lines and address lines; a PCMCIA logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the PCMCIA mode; a serial logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the serial mode; and a card logic unit coupled to the PCMCIA logic unit via a PCMCIA bus and the serial logic unit via a serial bus and coupled to the data lines and address lines of the first PCMCIA interface connector, being responsive to a mode signal from an external mode selecting logic over at least said address lines for switching between the PCMCIA mode and the serial mode of operation, wherein the card logic unit comprises a bus multiplex logic coupled to the PCMCIA bus and serial bus and coupled to the data lines and the address lines for multiplexing at least the data lines to the PCMCIA bus and serial bus, and a mode decoder for receiving the mode signal, wherein the mode signal comprises a combination of address and control signals.

Claim 9

A multimode apparatus operable in a PCMCIA mode or a first alternate mode of operation, the apparatus comprising: an adapter having an alternate interface coupling a first PCMCIA connector and an external connector, the adapter being operable to provide an alternate mode signal when the external connector is coupled to an external processor; and a PCMCIA unit comprising: a second PCMCIA connector coupled to the first PCMCIA connector the second PCMCIA connector having data lines and address lines; a peripheral unit; a PCMCIA logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in a PCMCIA mode; an alternate mode logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the alternate mode; and a card logic unit coupled to the data lines and address lines of the second PCMCIA connector and operable for coupling one of the PCMCIA logic unit and the alternate mode logic unit to the PCMCIA connector, and for coupling the alternate mode logic unit to the second PCMCIA connector responsive to the alternate mode signal, selectively in response to the alternate mode signal from said adapter over at least said address lines.

Claim 10

A multimode apparatus operable in a PCMCIA mode or a first alternate mode of operation, the apparatus comprising: an adapter having an alternate interface coupling a first PCMCIA connector and an external connector, the adapter being operable to provide an alternate mode signal when the external connector is coupled to an external processor; and a PCMCIA unit comprising: a second PCMCIA connector coupled to the first PCMCIA connector the second PCMCIA connector having data lines and address lines; a peripheral unit; a PCMCIA logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in a PCMCIA mode; an alternate mode logic unit coupled to the peripheral unit and operable when the apparatus is in the alternate mode; and a card logic unit coupled to the data lines and address lines of the second PCMCIA connector and operable for coupling one of the PCMCIA logic unit and the alternate mode logic unit to the PCMCIA connector, and for coupling the alternate mode logic unit to the second PCMCIA connector responsive to the alternate mode signal, selectively in response to the alternate mode signal from said adapter over at least said address lines.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a PCMCIA bus for coupling the card logic unit and the PCMCIA logic unit, and an alternate bus for coupling the card logic unit and the alternate logic unit, wherein the card logic unit comprises a bus multiplex logic operable for coupling the second PCMCIA connector to one of the PCMCIA bus and serial bus, and a mode decoder for receiving the mode signal and controlling the coupling of the card logic unit, wherein the mode signal comprises a combination of address and control signals.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the bus multiplex logic comprises a switch for coupling the second PCMCIA connector and the alternate bus when the mode signal is indicative of the alternate mode.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the adapter further comprises a mode selection logic responsive to a signal from the external processor to provide the alternate mode signal.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the switch is selected from the group consisting of: tristate buffers; logic multiplexers; analog switches; and mechanical relays.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the adapter is a serial to PCMCIA converter operable to provide the mode signal on power up of the external processor.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the alternate interface is selected from a group consisting of: an analog voice interface; a digital voice interface; a parallel data interface; an ISDN interface; a T1 telephony interface; a two wire analog telephony interface; a four wire analog telephony interface; and a serial data interface.

Claim 19

The method of claim 14 wherein the step of providing further comprises the step of: selecting a combination of address signals and control signals.

Claim 20

The method of claim 14 wherein the step of switching further comprises the step of detecting the mode signal.

Claim 21

The method of claim 14 wherein the alternate mode of operation is a serial mode of operation.