Apparatus and system for monitoring environmental factors in a computer system

• US 20060155517A1
• Filed: 12/22/2004
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2004
• 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: Lee, Terry, Dobbs, Robert William, Konesky, Kenneth Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 7,764,184 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/188
• 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

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention present an apparatus coupled to an internal bus for monitoring environmental factors in a computer system including: an embedded controller having a processor; an environmental sensor that provides data related to environmental conditions; a reset generator; and a power source. A LAN interface may be configured to remotely access and control the embedded controller. Further, the internal bus may be selected from any of the following: a PCI bus, an ISA bus, a DIMM slot, a SIMM slot, a PCMCIA slot, or a server blade slot. Still further, the environmental sensor may be selected from any of the following: a DC electrical sensor; an AC electrical sensor; a temperature sensor; a humidity sensor; a force monitor sensor; a signal monitor sensor; an electrostatic discharge sensor; an activity sensor; an optical particulate sensor; a Hall Effect sensor; a global positioning sensor; or a whisker detection sensor.

Claims

1. An apparatus coupled to an internal bus for monitoring environmental factors in a computer system comprising:

an embedded controller having a processor;

at least one environmental sensor that provides data related to environmental conditions;

a reset generator; and

a power source.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a LAN interface configured to remotely access and control the embedded controller.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the internal bus is selected from the group consisting of:

a PCI bus, an ISA bus, a DIMM slot, a SIMM slot, a PCMCIA slot, or a server blade slot.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the embedded controller further comprises:

a real-time clock;

memory resources for storing acquired data; and

independent I/O resources for handling acquired data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the power source comprises:

a slot power source having a first voltage;

DC isolation circuitry configured to electrically isolate the apparatus from the computer system; and

an external power source having a second voltage for supplying independent power to the apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the power source further comprises DC/DC generation circuitry configured to stabilize the first and second voltages.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the reset generator may be triggered externally.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one environmental sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

a DC electrical sensor;

an AC electrical sensor;

a temperature sensor;

a humidity sensor;

a force monitor sensor;

a signal monitor sensor;

an electrostatic discharge sensor;

an activity sensor;

an optical particulate sensor;

a Hall Effect sensor;

a global positioning sensor;

or a whisker detection sensor.

9. A system for monitoring environmental conditions in a computer system network comprising:

a plurality of networked computing systems such that each system is in electronic communication with every other system in the network;

a plurality of internal environmental monitoring devices coupled to an internal bus each comprising;

an embedded controller having a processor;

a LAN interface configured to remotely access and control the embedded controller;

at least one environmental sensor that provides data related to environmental conditions;

a reset generator; and

a power source.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the internal bus is selected from the group consisting of:

a PCI bus, an ISA bus, a DIMM slot, a SIMM slot, a PCMCIA slot, or a server blade slot.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the embedded controller further comprises:

a real-time clock;

memory resources for storing acquired data; and

independent I/O resources for handling acquired data.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the power source comprises:

a slot power source having a first voltage;

DC isolation circuitry configured to electrically isolate the apparatus from the computer system; and

an external power source having a second voltage for supplying independent power to the apparatus.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the power source further comprises DC/DC generation circuitry configured to stabilize the first and second voltages.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the at least one environmental sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

a DC electrical sensor;

an AC electrical sensor;

a temperature sensor;

a humidity sensor;

a force monitor sensor;

a signal monitor sensor;

an electrostatic discharge sensor;

an activity sensor;

an optical particulate sensor;

a Hall Effect sensor;

a global positioning sensor;

or a whisker detection sensor.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the networked computing systems comprise a cluster.

16. A system for monitoring environmental conditions in a computer system network comprising:

a plurality of networked computing systems such that each system is in electronic communication with every other system in the network;

a plurality of external environmental monitoring devices coupled to an external bus each comprising;

an embedded controller having a processor;

a LAN interface configured to remotely access and control the embedded controller;

at least one environmental sensor that provides data related to environmental conditions;

a reset generator; and

a power source having a first voltage.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the external bus is selected from the group consisting of:

a parallel port bus, a serial port bus, a universal serial bus, or an IEEE 1394 bus.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the embedded controller further comprises:

a real-time clock;

memory resources for storing acquired data; and

independent I/O resources for handling acquired data.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the power source further comprises DC/DC generation circuitry configured to stabilize the first voltage.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the at least one environmental sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

a DC electrical sensor;

an AC electrical sensor;

a temperature sensor;

a humidity sensor;

a force monitor sensor;

a signal monitor sensor;

an electrostatic discharge sensor;

an activity sensor;

an optical particulate sensor;

a Hall Effect sensor;

a global positioning sensor;

or a whisker detection sensor.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the networked computing systems comprise a cluster.

22. An apparatus coupled to an internal bus for monitoring environmental factors in a computer system comprising:

an embedded controller means for processing data;

a networking interface means for accessing and controlling the embedded controller means;

at least one environmental sensing means for monitoring environmental conditions;

a reset means for initializing the embedded controller means; and

a power means for providing electrical energy to the apparatus.

23. A method of monitoring environmental conditions in a computer system network comprising:

providing a plurality of networked computing systems each electronically coupled with an environmental monitoring device such that each networked computing system may be individually monitored;

gathering environmental condition data from the environmental monitoring devices for each of the networked computing systems;

displaying environmental condition data such that at least a portion of the environmental condition data for the computer system network may be simultaneously viewed; and

logging environmental condition data in memory.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising

determining threshold environmental conditions which may cause computer system failure;

and

establishing alarm thresholds based on threshold environmental conditions which may cause computer system failure such that a user may be informed of potential failures based on environmental conditions.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the environmental monitoring device is an internal device coupled to an internal bus.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the internal bus is selected from the group consisting of:

a PCI bus, an ISA bus, a DIMM slot, a SIMM slot, a PCMCIA slot, or a server blade slot.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein the environmental monitoring device is an external device coupled to an external bus.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the external bus is selected from the group consisting of:

a parallel port bus, a serial port bus, a universal serial bus, or an IEEE 1394 bus.

29. The method of claim 23 wherein logging environmental condition data in memory further comprises time stamping logged entries.