Method for managing environmental conditions of a distributed processor system

• US 6,249,885 B1
• Filed: 10/01/1997
• Issued: 06/19/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Nguyen, Ken, Johnson, Karl S., Amdahl, Carlton G., Wallach, Walter A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Dieu-Minh T.
• Application Number:
  US08/942,448
• Time in Patent Office: 1,357 Days
• Field of Search: 714/47, 714/43, 714/48, 714/51, 709/224, 395/200.54, 702/186, 713/323, 713/324, 713/340
• US Class Current: 714/47.2
• 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 11/0772 Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0787 Storage of error reports, e.g. persistent data storage, storage using memory protection
• 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 11/3024 where the computing system component is a central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3027 where the computing system component is a bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3031 where the computing system component is a motherboard or an expansion card
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3044 where the computing system component is the mechanical casing of the computing system
• 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 11/3058 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
• 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 13/4081 Live connection to bus, e.g. hot-plugging current or voltage limitation during live insertion H02H9/004
• 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: G06F 9/4411 : Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 : Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• 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: H05K 7/20836 : Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 : in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A network of microcontrollers for monitoring and diagnosing the environmental conditions of a computer is disclosed. The network of microcontrollers provides a management system by which computer users can accurately gauge the health of their computer. The network of microcontrollers provides users the ability to detect system fan speeds, internal temperatures and voltage levels. The invention is designed to not only be resilient to faults, but also allows for the system maintenance, modification, and growth—without downtime. Additionally, the present invention allows users to replace failed components, and add new functionality, such as new network interfaces, disk interface cards and storage, without impacting existing users. One of the primary roles of the present invention is to manage the environment without outside involvement. This self-management allows the system to continue to operate even though components have failed.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring and diagnosing a computer connected to a microcontroller network, the method comprising:

requesting conditions of the computer from the microcontroller network;

sensing the conditions of the computer with the microcontroller network;

receiving the sensed conditions in the microcontroller network; and

communicating the sensed conditions from the microcontroller network to the source of the request wherein the controlling of said sensed conditions includes increasing the speed of a fan in the computer when the temperature of the computer is above a threshold temperature.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source of the requesting conditions is the computer.

3. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising providing a client computer connected to the computer wherein the source of the requesting conditions is the client computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting conditions of the computer includes requesting the speed of a system fan.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting conditions of the computer includes requesting the temperature of a sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting conditions of the computer includes requesting the status of a watchdog timer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting conditions of the computer includes requesting the state of a microcontroller bus in the microcontroller network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting conditions of the computer includes requesting the presence status of a canister containing a plurality of adapter slots.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting conditions of the computer includes requesting the status of the system voltage.

10. A method of monitoring system functions of a computer, the method comprising:

interconnecting a plurality of microcontrollers via a microcontroller bus;

controlling a plurality of environmental conditions of the computer with the interconnected microcontrollers wherein the controlling said plurality of environmental conditions includes increasing the speed of a fan in the computer when the temperature of the computer is above a threshold temperature;

connecting at least one of interconnected microcontrollers to a system bus of the computer;

receiving a message sent from the system bus to the interconnected microcontrollers, the message requesting a change in a selected one of the plurality of environmental conditions; and

sending a message from the interconnected microcontrollers to the system bus, the message indicating a change in the selected one of the plurality of environmental conditions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message requests the interconnected microcontrollers to check the presence of a power supply.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message requests the interconnected microcontrollers to write a flash memory in the computer with a new basic input/output system (BIOS) program.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message requests the interconnected plurality of microcontrollers to send a message to a system log.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message includes requesting notification of a system fault.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message requests the interconnected microcontrollers to disable power to a canister containing a plurality of adapter slots.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message requests the interconnected microcontrollers to enable power to a canister containing a plurality of adapter slots.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the requesting message requests the interconnected microcontrollers to reset a watchdog timer.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the microcontroller bus comprises an I²C bus.