Method and system for locating devices during system administration

• US 6,504,825 B1
• Filed: 03/18/1999
• Issued: 01/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cheston, Richard, Karidis, John, Atkins, Barry Douglas, McGovern, Joseph P., Novak, Frank P., Challener, David Carroll
• Primary Examiner(s): CANGIALOSI, SALVATORE A
• Application Number:
  US09/272,071
• Time in Patent Office: 1,391 Days
• Field of Search: 700/225, 700/226, 340/825.49, 340/825.36, 370/254, 342/419, 379/38, 379/45, 379/373.02, 379/376.01
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system for mapping a location of an electronic equipment in a defined area. The system comprises of a server which is typically a data processing system. An activation signal is sent to the electronic equipment. In response to the activation signal, the electronic equipment emits a pre-defined signal containing a unique signature of the electronic equipment. The signal is captured by a device connected to the server with a known location in the defined area. The server utilizes the known location of the device along with the unique signature of the electronic equipment to identify/determine the location of the electronic equipment.

Claims

1. A system for mapping a location of electronic equipment in a defined area, said system comprising:

a processing unit, which comprises an electronic map of the physical layout of said defined area and an algorithm for mapping a physical location of each of said electronic equipment in said defined area utilizing a received signal from each of said electronic equipment and a known location of a monitoring device near said electronic equipment;

a plurality of monitoring devices with physical locations within said defined area that are known to said processor unit, wherein each of said monitoring devices is capable of communicating with said processing unit and receiving signals from any one of said electronic equipment that is located within a vicinity of said monitoring device and transmitting said signal to said processing unit;

means for triggering at least one of said electronic equipment, wherein said at least one electronic equipment is triggered to transmit a signal including a unique signature, which is sent to said processing unit matched with the identifier (ID) of the monitoring device having a known physical location within the vicinity of said electronic equipment; and

means wherein said processing unit determines and records a physical location within said defined area of each of said electronic equipment utilizing the signal received from the electronic equipment and the physical location of the monitoring device within the vicinity of the electronic equipment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said electronic equipment is a data processing system and said processing unit is a server that is connected to said data processing system to create a local area network (LAN); and

wherein further said unique signature of said emitting means includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address of said data processing system, and wherein said server and said data processing system communicates via said LAN utilizing said IP address.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein further said server messages said data processing system to stop transmitting said unique signature once said physical location is determined.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said processing unit initiates a procedure to locate the electronic equipment by sending a trigger to said electronic equipment;

responsive to a receipt of said trigger from said processing unit, said electronic equipment emits said signal, and wherein said signal is captured by a monitoring device in vicinity of said electronic equipment; and

said processing unit completes the determination and recordation by mapping which of said plurality of monitoring devices transmitted the signal corresponding to each of said electronic equipment.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein:

said monitoring devices include a plurality of individual units of a distributed phone network in said defined area; and

said server comprises connection means to said phone network, messaging means for communicating with said electronic equipment via said phone network, means for receiving electronic messages via said phone network, said messages including said signal emitted by said electronic equipment, and means for analyzing said messages received via said telephone network to determine said location of said electronic equipment based on said unique signature in said signal and said location of said individual units of said phone network.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising triangulation means, wherein a triangulation analysis is completed to determine a specific location of said electronic equipment when one or more of said electronic equipment is within a communication range of more than one of said monitoring devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said monitoring devices comprise:

a plurality of phone units of a PBX phone network connected to said processing unit, wherein a location of each phone unit within said defined area is known, and said phone units are capable of being in a listening mode for said signal while on-hook;

means for communicating with said electronic equipment via said phone unit located within a predefined reference area of said electronic equipment; and

means for receiving audible signals from said electronic equipment utilizing a listening function of said PBX phone unit while said phone unit is on-hook, said audible signals comprising tones correlated to specific characters which are decipherable to provide said unique signature.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein:

said monitoring devices comprise a plurality of electromagnetic frequency (EMF) receivers, wherein each of said receiver is able to communicate information to said processing unit and has a known physical location within said defined area;

said electronic equipment are data processing systems and comprise software resident on said data processing system allowing said data processing system to transmit an EMF signal utilizing an internal video display card, said EMF signal including a unique signature of said data processing system; and

wherein said EMF receivers further comprise;

means for receiving said EMF signal with said unique signature and

means for transmitting said unique signature along with location indicia of said EMF receiver to said server, wherein a physical location of said data processing system within said defined area is determined using the transmitted signature and location indicia.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said electronic equipment is a stand alone data processing system and said monitoring device is a PBX phone unit that is on-hook, said system further comprising:

a device associated with said data processing system that is utilized to wake up said data processing system; and

means for activating said device via a particular phone ring and wake up said data processing system, wherein said data processing system transmits the signal by which its location is determined when said device is activated.

10. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

means for waking up said data processing system; and

means for triggering a transmittal of said signal from said data processing system via a signaling method established from among audible and EMF signaling, wherein location indicia of the monitoring device is transmitted along with said signal.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said electronic equipment is a stand alone data processing system that is equipped with a signaling mechanism that is detectable by said monitoring device and wherein further said data processing system is programed to automatically transmit said signal at a preset time and in response to an activation signal from said monitoring device.

12. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

means for ringing each telephone phone unit in a sequential manner, wherein a particular phone is made to ring and when a signal is received within a predetermined time after the particular phone rings, the electronic equipment associated with the unique signature is mapped to the physical location of the particular phone.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said electronic equipment and said processing unit are components of a local area network (LAN) and transmission of said signal is completed from said electronic equipment to said processing unit via LAN connection.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein said electronic equipment and said processing unit are components of a local area network (LAN), said system further comprising:

means for sequentially triggered transmission of said signal by a LAN-routed signal from said processing unit to said electronic equipment, wherein said signal is transmitted via said monitoring device to said server and said server associates the unique signature of the received signal to electronic equipment triggered and the location of the monitoring device.

15. A method for mapping a location of an electronic equipment with audio capabilities in a defined area, said defined area containing a PBX phone network with individual phone units capable of being in a listening mode while on-hook and each having known physical locations, said method comprising the steps of:

triggering said electronic equipment to instantiate audible transmission of a unique signature of said electronic equipment, wherein said transmission is audible within a radius of said electronic equipment in which at least one of said individual phone units is located;

monitoring said defined area via said individual phone units for said unique signature;

determining which of said individual phone units heard said unique signature, wherein only particular phone units within said radius of said electronic equipment is capable of hearing said unique signature; and

mapping the physical location of said electronic equipment to said known physical location of the individual phone unit that heard said unique signature.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

said electronic equipment is a data processing system that is connected to a network, said mapping is completed by a server of said network, and said unique signature transmitted includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

said method further comprises messaging via said IP address to said data processing system to stop transmitting said unique signature once a location of said data processing system is determined.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said data processing system can decipher a particular phone ring and is programmed to transmit an audible signal containing its unique signature when said particular phone ring is heard, and wherein said triggering step includes the step of:

sequentially dialing the individual phone units to ring with said particular phone ring; and

mapping the electronic equipment within said defined area based on a response received following each particular phone ring, wherein a next phone unit is dialed after a previous phone unit until all of said phone units in the defined area have been rung.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said data processing system comprises audio recognition software capable of deciphering a particular phone ring while said data processing system is in a stand-by mode, wherein when said phone unit gives off said particular phone ring, and when said data processing system is in a stand-by mode, said data processing system is turned on by internal circuitry linked to said software and designed to turn said data processing system on in response to said particular phone ring, and said data processing system transmits an audible signal containing said unique signature of said data processing system.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said PBX phone network comprises of a first unit and a second unit and wherein further when one or more of said electronic equipment is within communication range of more than one of said units, said mapping step further includes the step of determining a specific location of said electronic equipment utilizing triangulation.

20. The method of claim 16, said data processing system being a stand alone data processing system and further comprising:

providing a device to wake up said data processing system without connecting to said phone unit or said data processing system, wherein said device is tuned to listen for an audible phone ring, and contains a timer utilized to wake up said data processing system;

activating said device by providing said audible phone ring; and

waking up said data processing system utilizing said device.

21. A computer program product for implementing a server function to map a location of an electronic equipment with audio capabilities in a defined area, said defined area containing a PBX phone network with individual phone units capable of being in a listening mode while on-hook and each having known physical locations, said program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program instructions for;

triggering said electronic equipment to instantiate audible transmission of a unique signature of said electronic equipment, wherein said transmission is audible within a radius of said electronic equipment in which at least one of said individual phone units is located;

monitoring said defined area via said individual phone units for said unique signature;

determining which of said individual phone units heard said unique signature, wherein only particular phone units within said radius of said electronic equipment is capable of hearing said unique signature; and

mapping the physical location of said electronic equipment to said known physical location of the individual phone unit that heard said unique signature, wherein when one or more of said electronic equipment is within communication range of more than one of said phone units, said mapping instructions determines a specific location of said electronic equipment utilizing triangulation.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein:

said electronic equipment is a data processing system that is connected to a network, said mapping is completed by a server of said network, and said unique signature transmitted includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

said program instructions further comprises instructions for messaging via said IP address to said data processing system to stop transmitting said unique signature once a location of said data processing system is determined.