Information technology (IT) equipment positioning system

• US 10,111,199 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2015
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Larson, Thane M., Malone, Christopher G., Lyle, Stephen B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Small, Naomi J
• Application Number:
  US14/886,644
• Publication Number:
  US 20160044629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,100 Days
• Field of Search: 340 81
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/751 wherein the responder or reflector radiates a coded signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/825 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1498 Resource management, Optimisation arrangements, e.g. configuration, identification, tracking, physical location thermal management H05K7/20836

Abstract

An information technology (IT) equipment positioning system comprises a plurality of wireless transponders distributed in multiple locations in the data center and a controller. The controller is adapted to operate the transponders using triangulation to identify and detect positioning according to three-dimensional coordinates for wireless-tagged IT equipment located in the data center.

Claims

1. A radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled electronic device comprising:

an item of information technology (IT) equipment at a first slot in a first location of a data center,

wherein the data center comprises a plurality of receivers for receiving RFID signals;

a RFID tag affixed to the IT equipment item and embedded with size information associated with the IT equipment item; and

storage coupled to the RFID tag including a data structure field to;

characterize physical dimensions of the IT equipment item based on the orientation of the RFID tag to determine a current configuration of the data center;

characterize temperature conditions in the data center;

determine a position of the IT equipment item at a second slot in a second location of the data center using three-dimensional coordinate triangulation and the plurality of receivers to improve cooling, airflow, and workload efficiency of the datacenter relative to the IT equipment at the first slot, wherein the second location is different than the first location; and

determine an availability of a third slot in a third location of the data center for the IT equipment item using the three-dimensional coordinate triangulation.

2. The RFID-enabled electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first slot of the data center is included in a rack of the data center.

3. The RFID-enable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first slot of the data center is included in a cabinet of the data center.

4. The RFID-enabled electronic device of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises an active RFID tag.

5. The RFID-enabled electronic device of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises a passive RFID tag.

6. An information technology (IT) equipment positioning system, comprising:

wireless transponders distributed in a data center,

wherein the data center comprises a plurality of receivers for receiving RFID signals; and

a controller coupled to the wireless transponders to;

identify a position of wireless-tagged IT equipment at locations corresponding to respective slots located in the data center, wherein the position is identified using three-dimensional coordinate triangulation;

determine a current condition of the data center, wherein the current condition of the data center includes temperature, airflow, and workload efficiency;

determine different locations corresponding to different respective slots in the data center to position the IT equipment to improve of cooling, airflow, and workload efficiency performance, wherein the determination is based on the physical dimensions of the IT equipment; and

determine an availability of a particular slot in a particular location of the data center for an IT equipment item using the three-dimensional triangulation.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the slots are in racks and/or cabinets located in the datacenter.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein at least two wireless tags are associated with the IT equipment to determine a position that includes three dimensional coordinates of the IT equipment in three dimensional space.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the controller detects a volume-space occupied by wireless-tagged IT equipment at slots of a rack or cabinet located in the data center according to dimension information encoded in association with a wireless tag of the IT equipment.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a graphical user interface; and

the controller that displays via the graphical user interface a mapping describing a current data center configuration and positioning of IT equipment in the data center.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the controller detects orientation of wireless-tagged IT equipment at slots of a rack or cabinet located in the data center based on at least two wireless tags attached to the IT equipment.

12. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a graphical user interface; and

the controller displaying via the graphical user interface a real-time inventory, location mapping, and size description of IT equipment in the data center.

13. The system of claim 6, further comprising at least three wireless transponders distributed at locations in the data center sufficient to use triangulation to determine three-dimensional coordinates of the IT equipment.

14. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

the item of IT equipment mounted at a slot of a rack and/or cabinet of the data center;

at least one wireless tag coupled to the item of IT equipment mounted in the slot.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein the IT equipment item has affixed to it an RFID tag embedded with size information associated with the IT equipment item.

16. A database stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising:

data fields to map a data center in a three-dimensional space, the data fields including;

transponder data fields to use with at least three transponders in a wireless communication system that uses triangulation to determine three-dimensional position coordinates of wireless-tagged information technology (IT) equipment positioned in the data center,

wherein the data center comprises a plurality of receivers for receiving RFID signals;

location data fields to identify a first location of the IT equipment corresponding to a respective slot in the data center determined by triangulation,

wherein the IT equipment has affixed to it an RFID tag embedded with size information associated with the IT equipment;

dimensional data fields to;

identify spatial dimensions of the IT equipment in the data center based on orientation of wireless tags, wherein the dimensional data fields are used to determine positioning of the IT equipment in a second location corresponding to a different respective slot of the data center to improve performance of the data center, wherein the different respective slot is different relative to the first location based on the orientation of the wireless tags; and

determine an availability of a third slot in a third location of the data center for the IT equipment using the three-dimensional coordinate triangulation.

17. The database of claim 16, wherein the data fields further include command data fields to store at least one command line interface (CLI) code encoded in a wireless tag on the IT equipment.

18. The database of claim 16, wherein the data fields further include volume-space data fields to identify volume of the IT equipment in the data center encoded in a wireless tag on the IT equipment.