Wireless monitoring of component compatibility in an electronics system

• US 20070001837A1
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• 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: Malone, Christopher, Larson, Thane
• Granted Patent: US 7,400,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs

Abstract

An electronics system comprises a frame including a first wireless communicator and at least one component associated with the electronics system. The at least one component includes a second wireless communicator. A manager of the electronics system is in wired communication with the first wireless communicator and configured for determining a compatibility of the at least one component with the electronics system via wireless communication between the first wireless communicator and the second wireless communicator.

Claims

1. An electronics system comprising:

a frame including a first wireless communicator;

at least one component associated with the electronics system, the at least one component including a second wireless communicator; and

a manager of the electronics system in wired communication with the first wireless communicator and configured for determining a compatibility of the at least one component with the electronics system via wireless communication between the first wireless communicator and the second wireless communicator.

2. The electronics system of claim 1 wherein the at least one component comprises at least one of:

a central processing unit;

a memory;

a power unit;

a cooling unit;

an input/output unit; and

a circuit board.

10. The electronics system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless communicator comprises a RFID transceiver and the second wireless communicator comprises a RFID transponder, the RFID transponder comprising a memory for storing at least one parameter of the at least one component for comparison with the electronics system.

11. The electronics system of claim 1, and further comprising:

an external computer system in communication with the electronics system and including an external manager configured to assist the manager of the electronics system in managing compatibility of the at least one component with the electronics system.

12. The electronics system of claim 1 wherein the electronics system comprises a computer system and the at least one component comprises an at least one computer system component.

3. The electronics system of claim 3 wherein the manager comprises a comparator module configured to determine compatibility by comparing the at least one parameter of the at least one component with a predetermined criteria of the electronics system, and the at least one parameter of the at least one component comprises at least one of:

a component type parameter;

an electronics system protocol parameter; and

a component specification parameter.

5. The electronics system of claim 3 wherein the component specification parameter comprises at least one of:

a temperature parameter;

a speed parameter;

a power parameter;

a serial number parameter;

a release date parameter; and

an original equipment manufacturer identifier.

6. The electronics system of claim 3 wherein the manager comprises an activator module configured to selectively enable operation of the at least one component with the electronics system based the compatibility determined by the comparator.

7. The electronics system of claim 6 wherein the activator module comprises a warn function for producing a warning that the at least one component is not compatible with the electronics system.

8. The electronics system of claim 3 wherein the comparator is configured to perform the comparison prior to physical installation of the at least one component in the electronics system.

9. The electronics system of claim 3 wherein the comparator performs the comparison of the at least one parameter of the component with the predetermined criteria of the electronics system via a system specification module that includes a database of information about the electronics system and components of the electronics system.

4. The electronics system of claim 4 wherein the protocol parameter comprises a power management protocol.

13. An installation monitor for a computer system, the monitor comprising:

means for monitoring a computer system including;

means for determining a compatibility of at least one component with the computer system at the time of installation of the at least one component within the computer system, the compatibility based on at least one parameter of the at least one component; and

means for selectively enabling operation of the at least one component within the computer system based on the determined compatibility of the at least one component with the computer system; and

;

means for wirelessly communicating between the at least one component and the means for monitoring regarding the at least one parameter of the at least one component.

14. The installation monitor of claim 13 wherein the means for wirelessly communicating comprises:

a RFID transponder disposed on the at least one component of the computer system and including a memory for storing the at least one parameter of the at least one component; and

a RFID transceiver disposed on the computer system.

15. The installation monitor of claim 13 wherein the computer system comprises a server and the means for monitoring comprises a server management system of a server.

16. A method of insuring component compatibility in a computer system, the method comprising:

establishing a wireless communication pathway between a component of a computer system and a manager of the computer system, the wireless communication pathway being independent of a wired communication path between the component and the computer system;

comparing, via the wireless communication, at least one parameter of the component with at least one operating parameter of the computer system; and

selectively enabling, via the manager, activation of the at least one component within the computer system based upon a result of the comparison of the at least one parameter and the at least one operating parameter.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein establishing the wireless communication pathway comprises:

arranging the at least one component to include a RFID transponder and the computer system to include a RFID transceiver with the RFID transponder comprising a memory for storing information about the at least one parameter of the at least one component.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein arranging the at least one component to include a RFID transponder comprises storing the at least one parameter of the at least one component as at least one of:

a temperature parameter;

a speed parameter;

a power parameter;

a serial number parameter;

a release date parameter; and

an original equipment manufacturer identifier.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein comparing the at least one parameter of the component comprises:

performing the comparing prior to physically installing the at least one component into the computer system, and

wherein selectively enabling the at least one component comprises not installing the at least one component into the computer system when the comparing reveals an incompatibility of the at least one component with the computer system.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein selectively enabling the at least one component comprises:

installing the at least one component into the computer system prior to performing the comparing of the at least one component with the computer system; and

preventing activation of the component in the computer system via the manager when the at least one parameter of the component is not compatible with the operating parameter of the computer system.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein selectively enabling the component comprises:

communicating a warning via the manager to avoid at least one of;

physically installing the component; and

activating the computer system with the at least one component physically installed in the computer system.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein comparing the at least one parameter comprises:

querying the at least one component via the wireless communication pathway to obtain information about the at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter comprises an origin identifier of the at least one component; and

;

comparing the origin identifier of the at least one component against a database to obtain specifications of the at least one component for comparison against the operating parameter of the computer system.

23. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of insuring component compatibility in a computer system, the method comprising:

establishing a wireless communication pathway between a component of a computer system and a manager of the computer system, the wireless communication pathway being independent of a wired communication path between the component and the computer system;

comparing, via the wireless communication, at least one parameter of the component with at least one operating parameter of the computer system; and

selectively enabling, via the manager, activation of the at least one component within the computer system based upon a result of the comparison of the at least one parameter and the at least one operating parameter.

24. The medium of claim 23 wherein comparing the at least one parameter comprises:

querying the at least one component via the wireless communication pathway to obtain information about the at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter comprises an origin identifier of the at least one component; and

comparing the origin identifier of the at least one component against a database to obtain specifications of the at least one component for comparison against the operating parameter of the computer system.