Wireless monitoring of component compatibility in an electronics system

• US 7,400,252 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Issued: 07/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Malone, Christopher Gregory, Larson, Thane Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US11/170,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20070001837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/5.72, 340/572.4, 340/562, 340/10.1, 340/10.51, 340/613.9, 340/539.1, 340/505, 709/203, 709/224.X, 455/558
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs

Abstract

An electronics system comprises a frame including a first wireless communicator and at least one component associated with the electronics system. The at least one component includes a second wireless communicator. A manager of the electronics system is in wired communication with the first wireless communicator and configured for determining a compatibility of the at least one component with the electronics system via wireless communication between the first wireless communicator and the second wireless communicator.

Claims

1. A computer comprising:

a frame supporting computer circuitry and supporting a first wireless RFID communicator associated with the computer circuitry;

at least one computer component removably installable within the computer and configured to electrically interact with, and as part of, the computer circuitry, wherein the computer circuitry cannot function without the at least one computer component, wherein the at least one computer component including a second wireless RFID communicator, and wherein the at least one computer component comprises at least one of a central processing unit, a power unit, or a cooling unit; and

a manager in wired communication with the first wireless RFID communicator and including a comparator module configured for determining a compatibility of the at least one computer component with the computer circuitry, via wireless communication between the first wireless RFID communicator and the second wireless RFID communicator, by comparing at least one of a speed parameter or a power parameter of the at least one computer component with a predetermined criteria regarding the computer circuitry prior to physical installation of the at least one computer component within the computer.

2. The computer of claim 1 wherein the manager comprises an activator module configured to selectively enable operation of the at least one computer component with the computer circuitry based on the compatibility determined by the comparator module.

3. The computer of claim 2 wherein the activator module comprises a warn function for producing a warning that the at least one computer component is not compatible with the computer circuitry.

4. The computer of claim 1 wherein the comparator module performs the comparison of the at least one parameter of the at least one computer component with the predetermined criteria of the computer circuitry via a system specification module of the computer that includes a database of information about the computer circuitry and the at least one computer component.

5. The computer of claim 1, and further comprising:

an external computer system in communication with the computer and including an external manager configured to assist the manager of the computer in managing compatibility of the at least one computer component with the computer.

6. A method of insuring component compatibility in a computer system, the method comprising:

establishing a RFID wireless communication pathway between at least one component of a computer system and a manager of the computer system, the RFID wireless communication pathway being independent of a wired communication path between the at least one component and the computer system;

comparing, via the RFID wireless communication pathway, at least one parameter of the component with at least one operating parameter of the computer system including performing the comparison prior to physically installing the at least one component into the computer system; and

selectively enabling, via the manager, activation of the at least one component within the computer system based upon a result of the comparison of the at least one parameter and the at least one operating parameter,

wherein the computer system cannot function without the at least one component, and

wherein selectively enabling includes not physically installing the at least one component into the computer system when the comparing reveals an incompatibility of the at least one component with the computer system.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one component includes a RFID transponder configured to store in memory the at least one parameter of the at least one component as at least one of:

a speed parameter;

or

a power parameter.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein selectively enabling the component comprises:

communicating a warning via the manager to avoid physically installing the component and to avoid activating the computer system with the at least one component physically installed in the computer system.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein comparing the at least one parameter comprises:

querying the at least one component via the RFID wireless communication pathway to obtain information about the at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter comprises an origin identifier of the at least one component; and

comparing the origin identifier of the at least one component against a database to obtain specifications of the at least one component for comparison against the operating parameter of the computer system.

10. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of insuring component compatibility in a computer, the method comprising:

establishing a RFID wireless communication pathway between a computer component of a computer and a manager of the computer, the RFID wireless communication pathway being independent of a wired communication path between the computer component and the computer;

comparing, via the RFID wireless communication pathway, at least one parameter of the computer component with at least one operating parameter of the computer including performing the comparison prior to physical installation of the at least one computer component into the computer; and

selectively enabling, via the manager, activation of the at least one computer component within the computer system based upon a result of the comparison of the at least one parameter and the at least one operating parameter, including not physically installing the at least one component into the computer system when the comparing reveals an incompatibility of the at least one component with the computer system.

11. The medium of claim 10 wherein comparing the at least one parameter comprises:

querying the at least one computer component via the RFID wireless communication pathway to obtain information about the at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter comprises an origin identifier of the at least one computer component; and

comparing the origin identifier of the at least one computer component against a database to obtain specifications of the at least one computer component for comparison against the operating parameter of the computer.