Systems and methods for event tracking and health assessment of battery-powered information handling systems

• US 10,496,509 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2017
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Thompson, Rick C., Leara, William D., Vichare, Nikhil M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phil K
• Application Number:
  US15/443,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20180246552A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3093 Configuration details thereof, e.g. installation, enabling, spatial arrangement of the probes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Systems and methods that may be implemented to monitor and record (store) information related to environmental conditions, operating conditions and/or events to which a battery-powered information handling system has been exposed while the battery powered information handling system is not powered. In one embodiment this stored environmental, system operating and/or event information may be made available to one or more system programmable integrated circuits at a following system restart or operating system (OS) boot. Such stored information may be used, for example, to determine one or more actions during a subsequent system restart or OS reboot, and/or to better enable root cause analysis of no-POST (power on self-test) type failures.

Claims

1. A battery system, comprising:

one or more rechargeable battery cells configured to be coupled to provide electrical current to a system load of an information handling system when the battery system is paired with the information handling system;

a battery system storage; and

at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the battery system storage and the one or more battery cells, the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system being programmed to be powered by the one or more rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with a host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or the information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on the battery system storage while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

where the at least one battery system programmable integrated circuit is further programmed to later provide the previously-stored sensed information from the battery system storage that was previously recorded while the battery system was not paired with the information handling system or was paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit to at least one programmable integrated circuit of a paired information handling system when the battery system is next paired with the information handling system having the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition; and

where the battery system is a smart battery pack that includes a battery management unit (BMU) coupled to a battery unit that includes the one or more rechargeable battery cells, the BMU including the battery system programmable integrated circuit and the battery system storage; and

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is configured to;

sense presence and absence of the information handling system paired to the battery system, and

record the number of times that the battery system has been paired and unpaired with an information handling system as the sensed information on the battery system storage.

2. The battery system of claim 1, further comprising one or more sensors coupled to the battery system programmable integrated circuit, and where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to use the coupled sensors to sense at least one of the environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

and to record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as the stored sensed information on the battery system storage.

3. The battery system of claim 2, where the one or more sensors comprise at least one of a temperature sensor, voltage sensor, charging current sensor, a discharge current sensor, an accelerometer, a relative humidity sensor, or a global positioning system (GPS) sensor.

4. The battery system of claim 1, where the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system is further programmed to be powered by the one or more rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while no external charge source is present:

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having an unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on the battery system storage while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit.

5. A battery system, comprising:

one or more rechargeable battery cells configured to be coupled to provide electrical current to a system load of an information handling system when the battery system is paired with the information handling system;

a battery system storage; and

at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the battery system storage and the one or more battery cells, the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system being programmed to be powered by the one or more rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with a host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or the information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on the battery system storage while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

where the at least one battery system programmable integrated circuit is further programmed to later provide the previously-stored sensed information from the battery system storage that was previously recorded while the battery system was not paired with the information handling system or was paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit to at least one programmable integrated circuit of a paired information handling system when the battery system is next paired with the information handling system having the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition;

where the battery system is configured to be paired with the information handling system with the one or more battery cells coupled to provide electrical current to a system load contained within a chassis enclosure of the paired information handling system;

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is configured to be coupled to one or more sensors of the information handling system that are external to the battery system and that are attached internal to and within the chassis enclosure of the paired information handling system with the one or more external sensors being disposed outside of and not part of the battery system; and

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to;

use the external sensors of the information handling system to sense at least one environmental condition within the chassis enclosure of the information handling system, and

record and store the sensed environmental condition as the stored sensed information on the battery system storage; and

where the battery system is configured to power the one or more external sensors of the information handling system to sense the at least one environmental condition within the chassis enclosure of the information handling system while the battery system is paired with the information handling system host programmable integrated circuit in an unpowered state.

6. The battery system of claim 5, where the battery system is a smart battery pack that includes a battery management unit (BMU) coupled to a battery unit that includes the one or more rechargeable battery cells;

and where the BMU includes the battery system programmable integrated circuit and the battery system storage.

7. An information handling system, comprising:

a system load including a host programmable integrated circuit programmed to execute an operating system for the information handling system;

a battery system paired with the information handling system, the battery system being separate from the system load and comprising;

one or more rechargeable battery cells coupled to provide electrical current to the system load of the information handling system,

battery system storage, and

at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the battery system storage and the one or more battery cells;

where the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system is programmed to be powered by the one or rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or the information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on the battery system storage while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is further programmed to later provide the previously-stored sensed information from the battery system storage that was previously recorded while the battery system was not paired with the information handling system or was paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system the next time the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition while the battery system is paired with the information handling system;

where the information handling system further comprises;

a chassis enclosure containing the system load with the one or more battery cells being coupled to provide electrical current to the system load within the information handling system chassis enclosure, and

one or more sensors external to the battery system that are attached internal to and within the chassis enclosure of the information handling system with the one or more external sensors being disposed outside of and not part of the battery system, the one or more sensors being coupled to provide signals to the battery system programmable integrated circuit;

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to;

use the external sensors of the information handling system to sense at least one environmental condition within the chassis enclosure of the information handling system, and

record and store the sensed environmental condition as the stored sensed information on the battery system storage; and

where the battery system is configured to power the one or more external sensors of the information handling system to sense the at least one environmental condition within the chassis enclosure of the information handling system while the battery system is paired with the information handling system host programmable integrated circuit in an unpowered state.

8. The information handling system of claim 7, where the battery system further comprises one or more battery system sensors inside the battery system and coupled to the battery system programmable integrated circuit, and where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to use the coupled battery system sensors to sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

and to record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences sensed by the battery system sensors as the stored sensed information on the battery system storage.

9. The information handling system of claim 8, where the one or more battery system sensors comprise at least one of an accelerometer, a relative humidity sensor, or a global positioning system (GPS) sensor.

10. The information handling system of claim 7, where the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system is further programmed to be powered by the one or more rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while no external charge source is present:

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on the battery system storage while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit.

11. An information handling system, comprising:

a system load including a host programmable integrated circuit programmed to execute an operating system for the information handling system;

a battery system paired with the information handling system, the battery system being separate from the system load and comprising;

one or more rechargeable battery cells coupled to provide electrical current to the system load of the information handling system,

a battery system storage, and

at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the battery system storage and the one or more battery cells;

where the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system is programmed to be powered by the one or rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed; and

record the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as sensed information on the battery system storage; and

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is further programmed to provide the sensed information from the battery system storage to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system the next time the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition while the battery system is paired with the information handling system; and

where the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system is programmed to provide the sensed information from the battery system storage to the host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system the next time the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition to boot the operating system with the battery system paired with the information handling system; and

where the host programmable integrated circuit is configured to;

analyze the sensed information provided from the battery system storage,

determine a boot sequence for the operating system based on the analysis of the sensed information provided from the battery system storage, the determined boot sequence being one of at least a normal boot sequence to the operating system, or a modified boot sequence that includes execution of a pre-boot diagnostic routine prior to attempting to boot the operating system, and

then proceed with the determined boot sequence.

12. The information handling system of claim 11, where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to record the sensed information to include any sensed event occurrences to which at least one of the battery system or information handling system is exposed while the host programmable integrated circuit is in an unpowered condition;

where at least one of the host programmable integrated circuit or the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to determine a severity of any event occurrences to which the battery system or information handling system is exposed while the host programmable integrated circuit is in an unpowered condition; and

where the host programmable integrated circuit is configured to;

determine the boot sequence for the operating system based on the presence and determined severity of any sensed event occurrences, the determined boot sequence being one of;

a normal boot sequence to the host operating system where either no event occurrences or low severity event occurrences are sensed, or

a modified boot sequence that includes execution of a pre-boot diagnostic routine prior to attempting to boot the operating system where high severity event occurrences are sensed; and

then proceed with the determined boot sequence;

where the host programmable integrated circuit is further configured to not boot to the host operating system when the pre-boot diagnostic routine is executed and fails.

13. The information handling system of claim 12, where the host programmable integrated circuit is further programmed to analyze any sensed low severity event occurrences after the normal boot sequence is completed;

and to generate an alert to report any low severity event occurrences to a local operating system level support application executing on the host programmable integrated circuit and/or to a remote support and/or data collection application executing on a remote server coupled to the information handling system by a network.

14. An information handling system, comprising:

a system load including a host programmable integrated circuit programmed to execute an operating system for the information handling system;

a battery system paired with the information handling system, the battery system being separate from the system load and comprising;

one or more rechargeable battery cells coupled to provide electrical current to the system load of the information handling system,

a battery system storage, and

at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the battery system storage and the one or more battery cells;

where the programmable integrated circuit of the battery system is programmed to be powered by the one or rechargeable battery cells to perform the following while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed; and

record the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as sensed information on the battery system storage; and

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is further programmed to provide the sensed information from the battery system storage to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system the next time the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition while the battery system is paired with the information handling system; and

where the battery system programmable integrated circuit is programmed to be powered by one or more battery cells while the host programmable integrated circuit is in an unpowered condition to power the battery system programmable integrated circuit to record the elapsed time since the host programmable integrated circuit was last in a powered condition as the sensed information; and

where the host programmable integrated circuit is programmed to determine a post-boot operation after booting the host operating system for the first time after the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition with the battery system paired to the information handling system based on the recorded elapsed time, the post boot operation comprising at least one of;

prioritizing at least one defined software update for the information handling system if the elapsed time exceeds a predefined time threshold, the defined software update comprising a virus signature definition for anti-virus software executing on the host programmable integrated circuit, or

changing a firewall setting for the host programmable integrated circuit to limit network traffic to the information handling system if the elapsed time exceeds a predefined time threshold so as to only allow operating system updates until any needed operating system updates have been downloaded and installed, and the operating system has been rebooted.

15. A method, comprising operating at least one programmable integrated circuit of a battery system having one or more rechargeable battery cells to:

perform the following steps while the battery system is not paired with an information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with a host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or the information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on storage of the battery system while the battery system is not paired with an information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

then later provide the previously-stored sensed information from the battery system storage that was previously recorded while the battery system was not paired with the information handling system or was paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system when the battery system is next paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition;

where the battery system is a smart battery pack that includes a battery management unit (BMU) coupled to a battery unit that includes the one or more rechargeable battery cells, the BMU including the battery system programmable integrated circuit and the battery system storage; and

where the method further comprises using the battery system programmable integrated circuit to;

sense presence and absence of the information handling system paired to the battery system, and

record the number of times that the battery system has been paired and unpaired with an information handling system as the sensed information on the battery system storage.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising using the battery system programmable integrated circuit to use one or more coupled sensors to sense at least one of the environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

and to record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as the stored sensed information on the battery system storage;

where the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences comprise at least one of battery temperature, battery cell voltage, battery cell charging current, battery cell discharge current, acceleration, relative humidity, or global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising operating the at least one programmable integrated circuit of the battery system to perform the following steps while no external charge source is present:

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit; and

record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as stored sensed information on storage of the battery system while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising using the battery system programmable integrated circuit to use one or more coupled sensors to sense at least one of the environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system or is paired with the information handling system having the unpowered host programmable integrated circuit;

and to record and store the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as the stored sensed information on the battery system storage;

where the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences comprise at least one of acceleration, relative humidity, or global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

19. A method, comprising operating at least one programmable integrated circuit of a battery system having one or more rechargeable battery cells to:

perform the following steps while the battery system is not paired with an information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with a host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed; and

record the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as sensed information on storage of the battery system; and

then provide the sensed information from the battery system storage to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system when the battery system is next paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition; and

where the method further comprises providing the sensed information from the battery system storage to the host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system the next time the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition to boot the operating system with the battery system paired with the information handling system; and

using the host programmable integrated circuit to;

analyze the sensed information provided from the battery system storage,

determine a boot sequence for the operating system based on the analysis of the sensed information provided from the battery system storage, the determined boot sequence being one of at least a normal boot sequence to the operating system, or a modified boot sequence that includes execution of a pre-boot diagnostic routine prior to attempting to boot the operating system, and

then proceed with the determined boot sequence.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

operating the battery system programmable integrated circuit in a manufacturing mode to allow programming and configuration of the battery system programmable integrated circuit during manufacture or fabrication;

then operating the battery system programmable integrated circuit in a shipping mode powered by the one or rechargeable battery cells to;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system is exposed while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system, and

record the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as sensed information on the battery system storage while the battery system is not paired with the information handling system; and

then pairing the battery system with the information handling system;

then placing the at least one programmable integrated circuit of the paired information handling system in powered condition; and

then using the at least one programmable integrated circuit of the paired information handling system to;

analyze the sensed information provided from the battery system storage,

determine a boot sequence for an operating system of the paired information handling system based on the analysis of the sensed information provided from the battery system storage, the determined boot sequence being one of at least a normal boot sequence to the operating system, or a modified boot sequence that includes execution of a pre-boot diagnostic routine prior to attempting to boot the operating system, and

then proceed with the determined boot sequence.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

using the battery system programmable integrated circuit to record the sensed information to include any sensed event occurrences to which at least one of the battery system or information handling system is exposed while the host programmable integrated circuit is in an unpowered condition information;

using at least one of the host programmable integrated circuit or the battery system programmable integrated circuit to determine a severity of any event occurrences to which the battery system or information handling system is exposed while the host programmable integrated circuit is in an unpowered condition; and

using the host programmable integrated circuit to determine the boot sequence for the operating system based on the presence and determined severity of any sensed event occurrences, the determined boot sequence being one of;

a normal boot sequence to the host operating system where either no event occurrences or low severity event occurrences are sensed, or

a modified boot sequence that includes execution of a pre-boot diagnostic routine prior to attempting to boot the operating system where high severity event occurrences are sensed; and

then using the host programmable integrated circuit to either proceed with the determined boot sequence if the pre-boot diagnostic routine passes, or to not boot to the host operating system if the pre-boot diagnostic routine fails.

22. A method, comprising operating at least one programmable integrated circuit of a battery system having one or more rechargeable battery cells to:

perform the following steps while the battery system is not paired with an information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with a host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed; and

record the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as sensed information on storage of the battery system; and

then provide the sensed information from the battery system storage to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system when the battery system is next paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition; and

where the method further comprises using the battery system programmable integrated circuit to;

sense presence and absence of a paired information handling system, and record when the battery system is paired and unpaired with the information handling system as the sensed information on the battery system storage; and

then placing the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition with the battery system paired with the information handling system, and

then using the at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system to implement a modified boot sequence instead of a normal boot sequence if the sensed information indicates that the battery system has been unpaired from the information handling system load at least one time,

where the modified boot sequence comprises at least one of executing a pre-boot diagnostic routine prior to attempting to boot an operating system of the information handling system or providing the sensed information that the battery system has been unpaired from the information handling system load to a remote support and/or data collection application executing on a remote server coupled to the information handling system by a network.

23. A method, comprising operating at least one programmable integrated circuit of a battery system having one or more rechargeable battery cells to:

perform the following steps while the battery system is not paired with an information handling system or while the battery system is paired with the information handling system with a host programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system in an unpowered condition;

sense at least one of environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences to which the battery system and/or information handling system is exposed; and

record the sensed environmental conditions, operating conditions or event occurrences as sensed information on storage of the battery system; and

then provide the sensed information from the battery system storage to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system when the battery system is next paired with the information handling system with the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition; and

where the method further comprises;

while the host programmable integrated circuit is in an unpowered condition, using the rechargeable battery cells to power the battery system programmable integrated circuit to record the elapsed time since the host programmable integrated circuit was last in a powered condition as the sensed information;

then placing the host programmable integrated circuit in powered condition with the battery system paired with the information handling system; and

then after booting the host operating system for the first time after the host programmable integrated circuit is placed in powered condition, using the host programmable integrated circuit to determine a post-boot operation based on the recorded elapsed time since the host programmable integrated circuit was last in a powered condition, the post boot operation comprising at least one of;

prioritizing at least one defined software update for the information handling system if the elapsed time exceeds a predefined time threshold, the defined software update comprising a virus signature definition for anti-virus software executing on the host programmable integrated circuit, or

changing a firewall setting for the host programmable integrated circuit to limit network traffic to the information handling system if the elapsed time exceeds a predefined time threshold so as to only allow operating system updates until any needed operating system updates have been downloaded and installed, and the operating system has been rebooted.