System and method for powering a wireless end point in a server rack of a data center

• US 9,678,552 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2015
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Ahmed, Sajjad, Masuyama, Jinsaku, Palmer, John R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Chun
• Application Number:
  US14/929,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20170123449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 592 Days
• Field of Search: 713300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3278 Power saving in modem or I/O interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An information handling system includes a host processing complex to instantiate a hosted processing environment, a management controller to manage the host processing complex out of band from the hosted processing environment, and a wireless management module coupled to the management controller. The wireless management module includes a first Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface that is coupled to a second USB interface of the management controller when the management controller is powered up, and is coupled to a USB connector when the management controller is powered down, wherein the wireless management module receives power from a USB device coupled to the USB connector.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

a host processing complex to instantiate a hosted processing environment;

a management controller to manage the host processing complex out of band from the hosted processing environment; and

a wireless management module coupled to the management controller, the wireless management module including a first Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface that;

is coupled to a second USB interface of the management controller when the management controller is powered up; and

is coupled to a USB connector when the management controller is powered down, wherein the wireless management module receives power from a USB device coupled to the USB connector.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the wireless management module further includes a memory device, and the wireless management module is further to couple the memory device to the USB device.

3. The information handling system of claim 2, wherein the wireless management module further includes a battery to power the memory device when the management controller is powered down and the USB device is not coupled to the wireless management module.

4. The information handling system of claim 2, wherein the memory device stores a system event log of the information handling system.

5. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the wireless management module further includes a wireless transceiver, wherein the wireless transceiver is to couple to a mobile device when the wireless management controller is powered from the USB device.

6. The information handling system of claim 5, wherein the wireless management module further includes a memory device, and the wireless management module is further to couple the memory device to the mobile device.

7. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the management controller includes a USB multiplexor that couples the first USB interface to second USB interface when the management controller is powered up and that couples the first USB interface to the USB connector when the management controller is powered down.

8. The information handling system of claim 7, wherein the USB multiplexor further couples the USB device to the second USB interface to power the management controller when the management controller is powered off and in response to an indication from the USB device.

9. An method, comprising:

instantiating, on a host processing complex of a system, a hosted processing environment;

managing, by a management controller of the system, the host processing complex out of band from the hosted processing environment;

coupling a first USB interface of a wireless management module to a second USB interface of the management controller when the management controller is powered up;

coupling the first USB interface to a USB connector when the management controller is powered down; and

receiving, by the wireless management module, power from the USB device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

coupling the USB device to a memory device of the wireless management module.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

powering the memory device by a batter of the wireless management module when the management controller is powered down and the USB device is not coupled to the wireless management module.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing a system event log of the information handling system on the memory device.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

coupling a mobile device to a wireless transceiver of the wireless management module when the wireless management controller is powered from the USB device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

coupling the mobile device to a memory device of the wireless management module.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

coupling, by a USB multiplexor, the first USB interface to second USB interface when the management controller is powered up; and

coupling, by the USB multiplexor, the first USB interface to the USB connector when the management controller is powered down.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

coupling, by the USB multiplexor, the USB device to the second USB when the management controller is powered off and in response to an indication from the USB device; and

powering the management controller from the USB device when the USB multiplexor couples the USB device to the second USB interface.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

coupling, by a USB multiplexor, the first USB interface to second USB interface when the management controller is powered up; and

coupling, by the USB multiplexor, the first USB interface to the USB connector when the management controller is powered down.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including code for performing a method, the method comprising:

instantiating, on a host processing complex of a system, a hosted processing environment;

managing, by a management controller of the system, the host processing complex out of band from the hosted processing environment;

coupling a first USB interface of a wireless management module to a second USB interface of the management controller when the management controller is powered up;

coupling the first USB interface to a USB connector when the management controller is powered down; and

receiving, by the wireless management module, power from the USB device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

coupling the USB device to a memory device of the wireless management module; and

powering the memory device by a batter of the wireless management module when the management controller is powered down and the USB device is not coupled to the wireless management module.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

coupling a mobile device to a wireless transceiver of the wireless management module when the wireless management controller is powered from the USB device.