Method of selective independent powering of portion of computer system through remote interface from remote interface power supply

• US 6,134,668 A
• Filed: 10/01/1997
• Issued: 10/17/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Micro Electronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Johnson, Karl S., Sheikh, Tahir Q.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Harold
• Application Number:
  US08/942,320
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 395/750.01-750.08, 395/180-185.1, 713/310, 713/320, 713/321, 713/322, 713/323, 713/324, 713/330, 713/340, 307/66
• US Class Current: 713/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0769 Readable error formats, e.g. cross-platform generic formats, human understandable formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3065 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in reporting the monitored data error or fault reporting or logging G06F11/0766
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/328 Computer systems status display G06F11/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/305 by remotely controlling device operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 : comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 : Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 : by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 : Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 : Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 : in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A fault tolerant method of independent powering of diagnostic processes through a remote interface by use of a serial (local) or modem (dial-in) gateway. A server connects to a local or remote facility which includes a client computer. If the internal server power is off, the remote interface provides independent external power to portions of the server to enable reading of the server internal status or to remotely power up the server from the client computer. The remote interface provides bias power to a chassis microcontroller and a system recorder comprising a non-volatile memory and a microcontroller. The management of the server devices is directed by a network of microcontrollers without intervention by the server operating system software.

Claims

1. A method of independent powering of a computer, comprising the acts of:

supplying power to a first computer from a computer power supply;

supplying power to a remote interface from a remote interface power supply that is independent of the computer power supply, so as to power at least a computational device in the remote interface; and

providing the independent power through the remote interface to at least a portion of the first computer when the power supplied by the computer power supply falls below a threshold power level.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

storing status information of the first computer in a memory; and

reading the status information from the portions of the first computer having the provided independent power.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the act of displaying the status information on a second computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of providing the independent power includes the act of isolating the computer power supply by a diode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of providing power to the remote interface includes the act of converting alternating current to direct current.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of providing the independent power includes the act of switching to the remote interface power supply when the computer power supply is off.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of providing the independent power includes the act of switching to the remote interface power supply when the computer power supply is inoperable.

8. A method of independent powering of a computer, comprising the acts of:

supplying power to the computer from a computer power supply;

supplying power to a remote interface from a remote interface power supply that is independent of the computer power supply, so as to power at least a computational device in the remote interface;

providing the independent power through the remote interface to at least a portion of the computer; and

remotely powering up the computer using the independent power if the power supplied by the computer power supply falls below a threshold power level, wherein a command is received by the remote interface and the computational device executes the command.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of remotely powering up the computer includes the act of remotely turning on the computer power supply through the remote interface.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of remotely powering up the computer includes the act of sending a power-up command from a remote computer.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold power level is 0 Volts.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold power level is in the range of about 0 to less than about +5 Volts.

13. A method of independent powering of a computer, comprising the acts of:

supplying power to a first computer from a first computer power supply;

supplying power to a remote interface from a remote interface power supply, so as to power at least a computational device in the remote interface; and

providing power through the remote interface to at least a portion of the first computer when the power supplied by the computer power supply falls below a threshold power level.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the remote interface power supply is independent of the first computer power supply.