SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING PHYSICAL LOCATION OF ETHERNET-CONNECTED MEDIA DRIVES IN A MEDIA LIBRARY ASSEMBLY
First Claim
1. A method for identifying a physical location of one of a plurality of Ethernet-connected media drives in a media library assembly, the method comprising the steps of:
- connecting a first drive bay that receives a media drive to a hardware identification board;
wiring the hardware identification board to identify a hardware identification of the first drive bay;
connecting the hardware identification board to an Ethernet switch with an Ethernet cable;
transmitting a signal from the hardware identification board to the Ethernet switch via the Ethernet cable, the signal including the hardware identification of the first drive bay; and
generating a routing table at the Ethernet switch, the routing table including the hardware identification of the first drive bay.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for identifying a physical location of an Ethernet-connected media drive in a media library assembly includes connecting a first drive bay that receives the media drive to a hardware identification board; connecting the hardware identification board to an Ethernet switch with an Ethernet cable; transmitting a signal including a hardware identification of the first drive bay from the hardware identification board to the Ethernet switch via the Ethernet cable; and generating a routing table including the hardware identification of the first drive bay at the Ethernet switch. The method can include providing the routing table to a library controller of the media library assembly. The method can include the library controller issuing a logical communication address that is based on the hardware identification of the first drive bay. The step of transmitting a signal can include setting a configuration of a plurality of switches within the hardware identification board based on the hardware identification of the first drive bay. The signal can be a 4-bit signal.
29 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for identifying a physical location of one of a plurality of Ethernet-connected media drives in a media library assembly, the method comprising the steps of:
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connecting a first drive bay that receives a media drive to a hardware identification board; wiring the hardware identification board to identify a hardware identification of the first drive bay; connecting the hardware identification board to an Ethernet switch with an Ethernet cable; transmitting a signal from the hardware identification board to the Ethernet switch via the Ethernet cable, the signal including the hardware identification of the first drive bay; and generating a routing table at the Ethernet switch, the routing table including the hardware identification of the first drive bay. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A media library assembly comprising:
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a plurality of drive bays, each drive bay being adapted to receive a corresponding media drive; an Ethernet switch; and a plurality of hardware identification boards that each is connected to one of the plurality of drive bays, each hardware identification board being uniquely configured based on a hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay, the hardware identification boards each transmitting a signal to the Ethernet switch via a Ethernet cable, each signal including the hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for identifying a physical location of one of a plurality of Ethernet-connected media drives in a media library assembly, the method comprising the steps of:
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connecting 16 drive bays to 16 corresponding hardware identification boards, each drive bay being adapted to receive a corresponding media drive; connecting the 16 hardware identification boards to an Ethernet switch, wherein each connection between each the 16 hardware identification boards and the Ethernet switch includes a corresponding Ethernet cable; transmitting a signal from each of the hardware identification boards to the Ethernet switch via the corresponding Ethernet cable, the signals including hardware identifications of each of the drive bays; generating a routing table at the Ethernet switch, the routing table including the hardware identifications of each of the drive bays; transmitting the routing table to a library controller of the media library assembly; issuing a logical communication address for each of the drive bays with the library controller, each of the logical communication addresses being based on the hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay; and storing the logical communication addresses in the routing table. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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Specification