Tracking electronic devices

• US 20040178269A1
• Filed: 03/10/2003
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Chandrakant D., Lyon, Geoff M., Pradhan, Salil V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,350,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations

Abstract

Tracking electronic devices that are equipped with tracking tags and that are stored in designated locations. The position of a reading device is monitored as it traverses the designated locations of the electronic devices and is activated to interrogate the tracking tags of the electronic devices. Identification data from the tracking tags is collected to enable determining the presence and location of the electronic devices, based on the monitored position of the reading devices.

Claims

1. A method of tracking electronic devices equipped with tracking tags, said method comprising:

traversing at least one reading device along locations corresponding to designated locations for said electronic devices;

monitoring the position of said at least one reading device;

activating said at least one reading device and thereby interrogating said tracking tags of said electronic devices present in said designated locations;

collecting identification data from said tracking tags; and

determining at least one of a presence and a location of at least one of said electronic devices based on said collected identification data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one reading device comprises at least one of a radio frequency reader, a bar code scanner, and an inductive device along a plurality of bays within an enclosure.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said monitoring step comprises resolving the position of said at least one reading device and storing the location of said electronic devices based upon the position of said at least one reading device during said collecting step.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said traversing step comprises driving said at least one reading device with a powered screw device.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said monitoring step further comprises providing feedback from a position encoder to determine the position of said at least one reading device.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said collecting step comprises sequentially collecting said identification data from said tracking tags.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said collecting step comprises receiving a response signal from at least one of a radio frequency tag, bar code tag, or magnet tag.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said determining step comprises converting said response signal into said identification data and storing said identification data in a computer memory.

9. A method of tracking electronic devices, said method comprising:

tagging a plurality of electronic devices with a plurality of tracking tags;

providing an enclosure having a plurality of bays for receiving said plurality of electronic devices;

traversing at least one reading device along locations corresponding to said plurality of bays;

monitoring the position of said at least one reading device;

activating said at least one reading device and thereby interrogating said plurality of tracking tags of said plurality of electronic devices present in said plurality of bays;

collecting identification data from said plurality of tracking tags; and

determining at least one of the presence and location of said plurality of electronic devices based on said monitoring and collecting steps.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said tagging step comprises associating at least one of a plurality of radio-frequency tags, a plurality of bar code tags, and a plurality of magnetic tags with said plurality of electronic devices.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said traversing step comprises driving said at least one reading device with a powered screw device.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said monitoring step further comprises providing feedback from a position encoder to determine the position of said at least one reading device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said monitoring step comprises resolving the position of said at least one reading device and storing the location of each electronic device based upon the position of said at least one reading device during said collecting step.

14. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said activating step comprises activating at least one of a radio frequency reader, a bar code scanner, and a magnetic pickup.

15. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said collecting step comprises sequentially receiving a response signal from at least one of a radio frequency tag, a bar code tag, and a magnetic tag.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said determining step comprises converting said response signal into said identification data and storing said identification data in a computer memory.

17. An apparatus for tracking a plurality of electronic devices having a plurality of tracking tags associated therewith, said apparatus comprising:

an enclosure having a plurality of bays, said plurality of bays receive said plurality of electronic devices; and

a traversable reading device mounted to said enclosure to traverse said plurality of bays, said traversable reading device being adapted to interrogate said plurality of tracking tags of said plurality of electronic devices to determine at least one of a presence and a location of at least one of said plurality of electronic devices.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein said enclosure is a server rack and said plurality of electronic devices is a plurality of servers and said plurality of tracking tags are a plurality of radio frequency tags attached to said plurality of electronic devices.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein said traversable reading device is a radio frequency reader mounted to a powered screw servo-system.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein said traversable reading device is mounted to a front face of said enclosure.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein said powered screw servo-system includes a position encoder to monitor the position of said radio frequency reader to thereby report the presence and location of said plurality of electronic devices via radio frequency interrogation of said plurality of radio frequency tags.

22. An apparatus for tracking electronic devices, said apparatus comprising:

means for tagging said electronic devices;

means for housing said electronic devices in designated locations;

means for reading said means for tagging, said means for reading being mounted to said means for housing and being traversable along said designated locations;

means for activating said means for reading to interrogate said means for tagging;

means for collecting identification data from said means for tagging; and

means for determining at least one of the presence and location of said electronic devices.