Method and apparatus for RF access to system ID and fault information

• US 8,274,366 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2007
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zaretsky, Lee, Szeszycki, Roman
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam V
• Application Number:
  US11/757,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20070229225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.1, 340/10.2, 340/10.5, 340/572.1, 340/5.61, 340/5.74, 364/186, 364/580, 371/22.1, 702/188, 235/382
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0772 Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers

Abstract

A method and apparatus for RF access to system identification and fault information is disclosed. In one aspect, the present disclosure teaches a method of accessing system information in an information handling system including storing system information in a computer component forming a part of an information handling system. The method further includes receiving a request for at least a portion of the system information via a radio frequency identification (“RF”) transponder link. The method further includes automatically transmitting a response from the computer component via the RFID transponder link such that the response includes the at least a portion of the system information.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

a non-volatile storage medium operable to store fault information regarding a fault associated with the information handling system;

a controller communicatively coupled to the processor, the controller operable to access the fault information;

a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) transponder coupled to the controller, the RFID transponder operable to interface with the controller to obtain the fault information; and

a computer programmable logic device (“

CPLD”

) buffer coupled between the RFID transponder and the controller, the CPLD buffer operable to process a request for a portion of the fault information received at the RFID transponder and relay the request to the controller.

2. An information handling system according to claim 1, wherein the RFID transponder is further operable to transmit the fault information to a requesting entity via a RFID transponder link.

3. An information handling system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further operable to dynamically update the fault information stored in the non-volatile storage medium with current fault information.

4. An information handling system according to claim 1, wherein the non-volatile storage medium comprises an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).

5. An information handling system according to claim 1, wherein the fault information includes fault codes or system failure codes.

6. An information handling system according to claim 1, wherein:

the controller is further operable to access component identification information identifying a particular information handling system component associated with the fault; and

the RFID transponder is further operable to interface with the controller to obtain the component identification information.

7. An information handling system according to claim 1, wherein the RFID transponder is operable to obtain the fault information when the information handling system is in a powered down state.

8. An information handling system according to claim 7, wherein the RFID transponder is further operable to transmit the fault information to a requesting entity via a RFID transponder link when the information handling system is in the powered down state.