Enabling emulation of system functions by an external device

• US 20040078503A1
• Filed: 10/09/2003
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Brown, Andrew, Zaudtke, Stephen M., Hascall, Douglas R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,082,528 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/72
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

A system includes an interface to communicate with a handheld device, and a processor to interact with the handheld device through the interface to enable the handheld device to emulate a pointer device function and a display function of the system.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a CPU;

a peripheral bus coupled to the CPU;

a management processor coupled to the peripheral bus; and

an infrared transceiver coupled to the management processor;

the management processor enabling an external device to emulate any one or more of a keyboard, a mouse, a disk drive, and a monitor via the infrared transceiver.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the management processor decoding video cycles on the peripheral bus, converting the video cycles to a video stream and sending the video stream via the infrared transceiver for display by the external device.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory coupled to the management processor; and

the management processor storing status information of the computer into the memory.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the management processor implementing an IrDA stack.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an I/O bus coupled to the management processor; and

a microcontroller coupled to the I/O bus and the infrared transceiver;

the microcontroller implementing an IrDA stack and enabling communications with the external device via the infrared transceiver.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first memory coupled to the management processor;

an I/O bus coupled to the management processor;

a microcontroller coupled to the I/O bus and the infrared transceiver; and

a second memory coupled to the microcontroller.

7. The system of claim 6, the computer providing an auxiliary power signal, further comprising:

the management processor, the first and second memories, the microcontroller and the infrared transceiver coupled to the auxiliary power signal.

8. The system of claim 1, the computer in a headless configuration, further comprising:

the infrared transceiver located on a front bezel of the computer; and

a handheld device, including an infrared transceiver, that communicates with the computer via the computer infrared transceiver.

9. A system comprising:

an interface to communicate with a handheld device; and

a processor to interact with the handheld device through the interface to enable the handheld device to emulate a pointer device function and a display function of the system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the system comprises a headless system that does not have a pointer device and a display.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the interface comprises an infrared transceiver.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is adapted to interact with the handheld device through the interface to further emulate a keyboard function.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising a system bus over which video cycles are routed, wherein the processor is adapted to convert the video cycles to video data and to send the video data through the interface to the handheld device for display by the handheld device.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is adapted to interact with the handheld device through the interface to further emulate a disk drive.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is adapted to load a diagnostic routine into the system from the handheld device in the handheld device'"'"'s role of emulating a disk drive.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is adapted to receive control commands through the interface from the handheld device during initialization.

17. A method executable in a system, comprising:

communicating with a handheld device through an interface; and

interacting with the handheld device through the interface to enable the handheld device to emulate a pointer device function and a display function of the system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein emulating the pointer device function and the display function of the system comprises emulating the pointer device function and the display function of a headless system that does not have a pointer device and a display.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein communicating with the handheld device through the interface comprises communicating with the handheld device through an infrared transceiver.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising interacting with the handheld device through the interface to further emulate a keyboard function.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the system comprises a system bus over which video cycles are routed, the method further comprising converting the video cycles to video data and to send the video data through the interface to the handheld device for display by the handheld device.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising interacting with the handheld device through the interface to further emulate a disk drive.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising loading a diagnostic routine into the system from the handheld device in the handheld device'"'"'s role of emulating a disk drive.