Electronic location tag

• US 6,288,645 B1
• Filed: 08/09/2000
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cameron, Gavin Munro, Orr, Frank Martin, McCall, Colin David
• Primary Examiner(s): TRIEU, VAN THANH
• Application Number:
  US09/634,397
• Time in Patent Office: 398 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.1, 340/10.51, 340/10.52, 340/572.1, 340/572.3, 340/568.1, 340/568.2, 340/568.3, 340/533, 340/538, 707/203, 712/1, 712/200, 717/1, 717/4
• US Class Current: 340/568.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1097 Boot, Start, Initialise, Power
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1409 for removal detection of electrical appliances by detecting their physical disconnection from an electrical system, e.g. using a switch incorporated in the plug connector

Abstract

An electronic location tag comprises stored data which includes a identifier. The data is transmitted to an attached data processing system through an interface. The attached data processing system is adapted to initiate a security action responsive to receiving the identifier. The electronic location tag is adapted to be physically attached to the environment surrounding the tag.

Claims

1. A method of determining the physical location of a data processing system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a data tag, having stored data therein including a stored identifier, the data tag being physically attached to the data processing system'"'"'s environment;

reading by the data processing system of data from the data tag; and

responsive to the reading step, initiating a security action.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the security action comprises storing the data read from the data tag for later recovery.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of transmitting the stored information to a remote database.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the security action comprises the steps of:

comparing the data read from the data tag with stored data;

responsive to said comparison, enabling a boot process if the read data corresponds to the stored data and disabling a boot process if the read data does not corresponds to the stored data.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the security action comprises the steps of:

checking for the presence of data read by the reading step;

responsive to the presence of data, enabling a boot process if the read data is present and disabling a boot process if the read data is not present.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the stored data in the data tag corresponds to the location of the data tag.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the stored data is read from the data tag using a USB interface.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the data tag forms a portion of a LAN attachment port.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the data tag forms a portion of a power socket.

10. A data tag comprising:

stored data, including a identifier; and

an interface for transmitting said identifier to a data processing system attached to the interface, the data processing system being adapted to initiate a security action responsive to receiving the identifier;

the data tag being adapted to be physically attached to the environment surrounding the data tag.

11. The data tag according to claim 10 wherein the stored data in the data tag corresponds to the location of the data tag.

12. The data tag according to claim 10 wherein the interface is a USB interface.

13. The data tag according to claim 10 wherein the data tag forms a portion of a LAN attachment port.

14. The data tag according to claim 10 wherein the data tag forms a portion of a power socket.

15. The data tag according to claim 10 wherein the environment surrounding the data tag is a peripheral device and the data tag forms part of said peripheral device.

16. A data processing system comprising:

an interface for receiving a identifier from a data tag, the data tag being adapted to be physically attached to the environment surrounding the data tag; and

means for initiating a security action responsive to receiving the identifier.

17. The data processing system according to claim 16 wherein the means for initiating a security action comprises means for storing the data read from the data tag for later recovery.

18. The data processing system according to claim 17, wherein the means for initiating a security action further comprises means for transmitting the stored information to a remote database.

19. The data processing system according to claim 16 wherein the means for initiating a security action comprises:

means for comparing the data read from the data tag with stored data;

responsive to said means for comparing, means for enabling a boot process if the read data corresponds to the stored data and disabling a boot process if the read data does not corresponds to the stored data.

20. The data processing system accoridng to claim 16 wherein the means for initiating a security action comprises:

means for checking for the presence of data read from the data tag; and

responsive to the presence of the data read from the security tag, means for enabling a boot process if the read data is present and means for disabling a boot process if the read data is not present.