Method and system for capturing in-service date information

• US 7,047,565 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Piazza, William Joseph, Simmons, Hoyt Conis, Sanders Fore, Sharon Lynn
• Primary Examiner(s): Revak, Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sherkat, Arezoo
• Application Number:
  US10/002,428
• Publication Number:
  US 20030084380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,658 Days
• Field of Search: 713/200, 340/5.5
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting

Abstract

A system and method for establishing and maintaining date information associated with an electronic device. The system is typically configured to prompt a user to enter or otherwise establish a valid date at some point after power is applied to the system. After establishing a valid date, the real time clock is configured to maintain real-time date/time information. Upon determining that a valid date has been set, the system may subsequently obtain date/time information from the real time clock and store the obtained date and time in the non-volatile memory as the in-service date. The system may be enabled to determine if, subsequent to establishing an in-service date, the user altered the date/time information in a manner that indicated an intent to extend the warranty period beyond the manufacturer specified warranty period. In an embodiment suitable for use in conjunction with a server blade, the system includes a main processor and a service processor that handles low-level functions associated with the server blade. The in-service date information may be stored in a non-volatile memory of the service processor. This non-volatile memory may be implemented as an EEPROM that includes connections or pins supporting an externally accessible bus such as an I2C bus. In this embodiment, the system may further include a readout device configured to connect to the service processor EEPROM through the externally accessible bus to enable a technician to retrieve the in-service date without regard to the functionality of the main processor(s) and system memory.

Claims

1. A method for recording an in-service date associated with an electronic device, comprising:

establishing an initial valid date as the current date for the device and maintaining the current date thereafter;

responsive to determining that the device is in service and that no in service date has been stored previously, storing the current date as the in-service date; and

performing an action selected from;

periodically monitoring the current date of the device to determine if the valid date has been altered after storing the in-service date; and

obtaining the in-service date from the non-volatile device with an external readout machine connected to the non-volatile storage;

responsive to determining that the initial valid date has not been established, generating a valid date error message before transitioning to a normal operating mode in which the user is enabled to operate the device; and

responsive to determining that the in service date is after the current date, issuing an in service data error message before transitioning the system to a normal operating mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the valid date comprises entering the current date during a power on sequence of the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the device is in service comprises determining that the device has been operating for a predetermined length of time after the valid dare is set.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the current date in non-volatile storage comprises storing the current date in a non-volatile storage device of a service processor of the device such that the stored date is inaccessible to a main processor of the device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically monitoring the valid date, comprises periodically determining if the valid date is earlier than the in-service date.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, responsive to determining that the current date is earlier than the in-service date, issuing an error message.

7. The method of claim 6, Further comprising, responsive to determining that the current date is earlier than the in-service date, enabling alteration of the in-service to match the current date.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein enabling the alteration includes requiring an operator of the device to enter a unlocking code.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the in-service date via the readout machine comprises executing an I2C compliant communication between the readout machine and the non-volatile memory.

10. A data processing system, comprising:

a main processor having access to a system memory;

a real-time clock configured to maintain the current date upon being initialized with a valid date;

non-volatile storage; and

a set of processor executable instructions at least a portion of which are contained in the system memory, wherein the instructions are configured to store the current date in the non-volatile storage as the in-service date automatically;

wherein the system is further confirmed to issue an error message, prior to transitioning to a normal operating mode in which the user is able to operate the device, responsive to determining that the current date has been altered after storing the in-service date.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein determining if the current date is altered after storing the in-service date comprises periodically monitoring the current date to determine if the current date is earlier than the in-service date.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the contents of the non-volatile storage device are externally accessible.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising an external readout device configured to access the contents of the non-volatile storage via a communication bus.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the communication bus includes power signals such that the readout device can access the contents red.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the communication bus comprises an I2C communication bus.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising a service processor connected to the main processor, wherein the non-volatile storage device comprises a non-volatile storage device of the service processor that is inaccessible to the main processor.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor executable instructions are further configured to enable alteration of the in-service to march the current date responsive to determining that the current date is earlier than the in-service date.

18. The system of claim 17, enabling alteration of the in-service date requires an operator of the device to enter a unlocking code.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein requiring the operator to enter a unlocking code includes requiring rho operator to obtain the unlocking code from a manufacturer of the device.

20. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions, stored on a computer readable storage medium for maintaining an in service date (ISD) representative of the date on which an electronic device is placed in service, comprising:

instructions for determining, upon powering on the electronic device, whether a valid date has ever been entered into the electronic device;

instructions for prompting a user to enter a valid date responsive to determining that no valid date has ever been entered into the device;

instructions for setting a date valid flag (DVF) responsive to entry of a valid date into the device;

instructions for determining the current date and storing the current date as the ISD responsive to determining that (a) the DVF is TRUE, (b) the electronic device has been functioning for a specified duration, and (c) the ISD is not currently stored;

instructions for preventing a user from altering the ISD, once established, by issuing an ISD error message responsive to determining that the ISD is after the current date, before transitioning the system to a normal operating mode, without entering an unlocking code obtained from the manufacturer of the device.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the instructions for preventing a user from altering the ISD include instructions for enabling the user to operate the device despite the absence of a valid ISD.