Device data

• US 7,873,723 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2003
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Pradhan, Salil, Lyon, Geoff M., Patel, Chandrakant
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean Gilles; Jude J
• Application Number:
  US10/354,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20040153539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,910 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-225, 709/250, 711/120, 711/144, 711/145, 714/21, 714/54, 714/53, 340/10.31
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/077 Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07758 arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer

Abstract

An apparatus includes a processor and a storage medium. The processor is operable to collect device data associated with the apparatus and transmit at least some of the device data to a tag.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor operable to collect device data associated with the apparatus; and

a storage medium connected to the processor and operable to store the device data, wherein the processor transmits at least some of the device data to a tag which stores the received at least some of the device data, and wherein the tag is a transponder operable to be read by a tag render to receive the at least some device data from the tag.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising software initiating transmission of the device data to the tag in response to detecting an update to the device data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein an update to the device data comprise one or more of a modification to the device data, an addition of information to the device data, and a deletion of information from the device data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device data comprises information associated with hardware for the apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is connected to a network, and the device data includes information about the network.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device data includes an environmental condition of the apparatus.

7. A system comprising:

an electronic device connected to a network; and

a tag connected to the electronic device, wherein the electronic device is operable to transmit data to the tag in response to detecting a condition of the electronic device, and wherein the tag is a transponder operable to be read by a reader to receive the data transmitted to the tag.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the data includes information about the electronic device and the network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the electronic device stores the data, and the condition comprises an update to the stored data.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the condition comprises a change of a hardware configuration of the electronic device.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the condition comprises a detected environmental condition of the electronic device.

12. The system of claim 7, further comprising the reader, wherein the tag transmits the data to the reader in response to being interrogated by the reader.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a computing device connected to the reader, the computing device including network management software for monitoring the network and being operable to receive the data from the reader for display by the network management software.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the electronic device is housed in a rack.

15. A method comprising:

storing data associated with an electronic device;

detecting an update of the data; and

transmitting the updated data from the electronic device to a tag in response to detecting the update, wherein the tag is a transponder operable to be read by a reader to receive the updated data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing the updated data in the tag;

receiving an interrogation signal from the reader; and

transmitting the updated data from the tag to the reader in response to receiving the interrogation signal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the electronic device is connected to a network, and the updated data includes information about the network, and the method further comprises transmitting the updated data from the reader to a computing device having network administration software.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying the updated data using the network administration software.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the updated data comprises information about one or more detected environmental conditions of the electronic device and the step of detecting an update comprises detecting a changed environmental condition of the electronic device from the updated data.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the updated data comprises information about hardware for the electronic device and the step of detecting an update comprises detecting a change to the hardware from the updated data.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the updated data comprises information about the electronic device and a network, the electronic device being connected to the network, and the step of detecting an update comprises detecting a change to the data.

22. An apparatus comprising:

means for storing data associated with an electronic device;

means for detecting an update of the data; and

means for transmitting the updated data from the electronic device to a tag, wherein the tag is a transponder operable to be read by a reader to receive the updated data.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the tag comprises:

means for storing the updated data;

means for receiving an interrogation signal from the reader; and

means for transmitting the updated data to the reader means in response to receiving the interrogation signal.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a computing device means for monitoring a network using network management software, wherein the computing device means is operable to receive the updated data from the reader and display the updated data using the network management software.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the update to the data comprises one or more of a an update of data associated with a hardware configuration of the electronic device, an update of data associated with an environmental condition of the electronic device, and an update of data associated with a network, wherein the electronic device is connected to the network.

26. A system comprising:

a plurality of electronic devices connected to a network;

a tag connected to each electronic device, wherein each electronic device is operable to transmit data associated with the electronic device to the tag, wherein the tag is a transponder operable to be read by at least one reader to receive the data from the tag; and

a computing device including network management software, wherein the computing device is operable to receive the data associated with each electronic device and display the data using the network management software.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the data associated with each electronic device comprises an update to previously stored data for the respective electronic device.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising the at least one reader which reads the data from each tag for transmission to a storage device for use by the network management software.

29. The system of claim 26, further comprising a position detection system connected to the tags and being operable to determine a location of each electronic device.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the location of each electronic device is one or more of location within a rack housing the respective electronic device and location of a rack housing the respective electronic device.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the data includes information about the network.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the computing device is connected to a database storing the data associated with each electronic device.

33. A system comprising:

at least one electronic device housed in a rack;

a tag connected to the at least one electronic device, wherein the electronic device is operable to transmit data associated with the electronic device to the tag;

at least one reader operable to receive the data associated with the electronic device from the tag; and

a computing device connected to the at least one reader, the computing device being operable to determine location of the electronic device based on detecting a presence of the electronic device in the rack.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the presence of the electronic device in the rack is determined based on whether data is received from the tag.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the location comprises one or more of location within the rack and location of the rack.