Determining the physical location of resources on and proximate to a network

• US 7,257,108 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2004
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cromer, Daryl Carvis, Desai, Dhruv Manmohandas, Locker, Howard Jeffrey, Cheston, Richard W., Ward, James Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DANH C
• Application Number:
  US10/901,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20060023671A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/328, 370/351, 455/41.2, 455/445, 340/10.1, 235/462.13
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A network includes a plurality of wall plates, each of the wall plates couples a network resource such as a computer or a network attached device to the network and includes an RFID circuit to detect proximate devices having an RFID tag. The proximate devices can be network attached devices or non network attached devices such as desks, phones, and artwork. Logic is included within each wall plate which includes wall plate physical location information. The logic is designed to respond to a broadcast signal. In so doing, the physical location of any resource can be determined. The physical location of all known resources are provided to an inventory application in the network, thereby allowing network administrators and users to remotely determine the physical location (room, floor, building, etc.) of any and all known resources attached to the network. Likewise, local computer users are able to identify the network resources located in their vicinity.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising:

a wall plate which provides access to a network and houses a store containing information related to the physical location of the wall plate;

a system Media Access Controller (MAC) store which contains information related to the MAC address of a computer system coupled to said wall plate and obtaining network access therefrom;

a wireless identification (ID) controller housed in said wall plate and configured to read wireless ID tag information provided by a proximate resource;

a network port which is operatively coupled to said wall plate, said system MAC store, and said wireless ID controller and which responds to a predetermined command received at the port by transmitting the physical location information contained in the store of said wall plate, the information related to the Mac address, and the ID tag information over the network.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the predetermined command originates from an inventory program executed on a network computer and wherein the physical location information and ID tag information are provided to the inventory program.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the network is an ethernet local area network.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the wireless ID tag information is an RFID tag.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the wireless ID controller includes an ID storage which retains the read ID tag information.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the network port is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port.

7. A method comprising:

storing physical location information in a storage area of a wall plate which provides access to a network, the stored physical location information being related to the physical location of wall plate;

storing information related to the MAC address of a computer system coupled to the wall plate;

reading wireless ID tag information provided by a resource which is proximate to the wall plate;

transmitting the scored physical location information, the information related to the Mac address, and the read wireless ID tag information over the network provided by the wall plate.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a predetermined command at a network port housed within the wall plate;

wherein said transmission is responsive to said reception.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the network port is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the predetermined command originates from an inventory program executed on a network computer and wherein the physical location information and ID tag information are provided to the inventory program.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the network is an ethernet local area network.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the wireless ID tag information is an RFID tag.

13. A service comprising:

installing a plurality of wall plates, each wall plate provides computer access to a network;

providing a physical layer and logic within each of the wall plates wherein the logic is capable of storing physical address information which is related to the physical location of the wall plate and wherein the logic is capable of storing information related to the MAC address of a computer system coupled to the wall plate to obtain network access therefrom and wherein the logic is capable of storing wireless ID information provided by a resource which is proximate to wall plate; and

providing a command from the network that will cause the physical address information, the information related to the Mac address, and the wireless ID information to be provided to a network application.

14. The service of claim 13 in which the physical layer comprises a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port.

15. The service of claim 13 in which each of the plurality of wall plates comprises an Ethernet wall plate.

16. The service of claim 13 wherein the application comprises an inventory application.

17. The service of claim 13 wherein a wireless interface is utilized to write the physical location information into the wall plate.

18. The service of claim 13 wherein the physical location information includes a building number, floor, and office where the wall plate is located.

19. A product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer executable code stored therein, the computer executable code in said product to be effective to;

store physical location information in a storage area of a wall plate which provides access to a network, the stored physical location information being related to the physical location of wall plate;

store information related to the MAC address of a computer system coupled to the wall plate;

read wireless ID tag information provided by a resource which is proximate to the wall plate;

transmit the stored physical location information, the information related to the Mac address, and the read wireless ID tag information over the network provided by the wall plate.

20. The product of claim 19 wherein the code is further effective to:

receive a predetermined command at a network port housed within the wall plate;

wherein said transmission is responsive to said reception.

21. The product of claim 19 wherein the network port is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port.

22. The product of claim 19 wherein the predetermined command originates from an inventory program executed on a network computer and wherein the physical location information and ID tag information are provided to the inventory program.

23. The product of claim 19 wherein the network is an ethernet local area network.

24. The product of claim 19 wherein the wireless ID tag information is an RFID tag.