NFC Communication with an Information Handling System Supplemented by a Management Controller

• US 20150312702A1
• Filed: 04/23/2014
• Published: 10/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Shetty, Sudhir V., Raju, Arulnambi
• Granted Patent: US 9,432,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Near Field Communication (NFC) supports server information handling system management through communication between a mobile information handling system and a baseboard management controller. Enhanced transfer by NFC of management information is provided by manipulating the NFC tag memory assigned for information transfer with the aid of a microcontroller coordinating NFC transfers at the baseboard management controller. The microcontroller manages tag memory and/or system memory so that the portable information handling system writes and reads information beyond the capabilities of unaided tag memory. In one embodiment, the baseboard management controller defines file locations in microcontroller memory so that an application associated with an external NFC device can obtain the files from an NFC transceiver managed by the microcontroller.

Claims

1. An information handling system comprising:

a chassis operable to support processing components;

a processor disposed in the chassis and operable to execute instructions for processing information;

memory disposed in the chassis and interfaced with the processor, the memory operable to store the instructions and information;

a management controller disposed in the chassis and interfaced with the processor, the management controller operable manage operational conditions associated with processing components within the chassis including at least the processor;

a near field communication (NFC) transceiver disposed in the chassis and operable to wirelessly communicate with an NFC device external to the chassis; and

a microcontroller interfacing the management controller with the near field communication transceiver, the microcontroller managing memory interfaced with the NFC transceiver, the memory storing information in support of NFC transceiver wireless communications, the memory including persistent and non-persistent memory;

wherein the management controller populates management information in the microcontroller memory according to a file partitioning scheme that defines mapping to different memory locations.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the management controller populates the partition to store information that changes with greater than a predetermined frequency in non-persistent memory.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the management controller populates the partition to store information that changes with less than a predetermined frequency in persistent memory.

4. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the management controller is further operable to define the partition predetermined relationship by populating a file location register of the microcontroller that associates file locations of the management controller memory view with types of memory of the microcontroller.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising a locking module stored in the microcontroller and operable to detect access by the management controller to management information stored in the microcontroller and, in response to detecting access, to lock the file from changes until completion of the access by the management controller.

6. The information handling system of claim 5 wherein the locking module is further operable to detect access by an external NFC device to management information stored in the microcontroller and, in response to detecting, to lock the file from changes by the management controller until completion of the access by the external NFC device.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising an application associated with an external NFC device, the application having the partition defined by the management controller and operable to obtain selected of the management information by requesting information from selected addresses of the memory by reference the to the partition definition.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising a security module operable to generate and exchange keys that enable secure configuration through NFC transactions.

9. A method for communication of management information between a server information handling system management controller and an external information handling system having a near field communication (NFC) device, the method comprising:

communicating management information from the management controller to a microcontroller;

storing the management information at memory of the microcontroller according to a logical file view of the microcontroller memory that is maintained by the management controller; and

communicating the management information from the microcontroller memory to an NFC transceiver coupled to the microcontroller; and

communicating the management information with the NFC transceiver to the external NFC communication device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

defining with the management controller a file location register at the microcontroller, the file location register assigning a first set of files to persistent memory and a second set of files to non-persistent memory; and

referencing the file location register with the microcontroller to store management information at the microcontroller.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

storing a first type of management information in the persistent memory; and

storing a second type of management information in the non-persistent memory.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

communicating management information from the external NFC device through the NFC transceiver to the microcontroller;

storing the management information at the microcontroller based upon the file register definitions; and

communicating the management information from the microcontroller to the management controller.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the first type of information comprises identification information for the server information handling system.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the second type of information comprises event logs for the server information handling system.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

requesting management information with an external NFC device communication;

in response to the requesting, locking the microcontroller memory; and

unlocking the microcontroller memory after completing a communication of the requested management information to the external NFC device.

16. A system for NFC transfers of information, the system comprising:

a portable information handling system having an NFC communication device and an NFC application stored in non-transitory memory, the NFC application operable to command the NFC communication device to communicate information with another NFC communication device; and

a server baseboard management controller operable to manage operations of a server information handling system based upon management information;

an NFC transceiver interfaced with the baseboard management controller and operable to perform NFC transfers of information; and

a microcontroller having memory, the microcontroller interfaced with the server baseboard management controller and the NFC transceiver, the microcontroller having a file location register referenced by the baseboard management controller to store management information in predetermined locations of the microcontroller memory, the microcontroller operable to command the NFC transceiver to communicate management information from the memory responsive to requests from the portable information handling system NFC communication device.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the microcontroller memory comprises persistent memory and non-persistent memory and the file location register defines a first type of management information for storage in the persistent memory and a second type of management information for storage in the non-persistent memory.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the second type of management information comprises one or more logs that track operation of the server information handling system.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the microcontroller is further operable to respond to a request for management information by the portable information handling system NFC communication device with management information of less than all of the files defined by the file location register.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the microcontroller is further operable to lock the memory to prevent writes to the memory while providing management information in response to the portable information handling system request.