Generating globally unique device identification

• US 20040122931A1
• Filed: 06/16/2003
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McCasey, Mark, Balakrishnan, Shobana, Rowland, Craig, Sandford, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 7,428,587 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]

Abstract

A globally unique device identification is created. Initially, for a device, polling is performed for information regarding certain hardware components, such as hard disks, network cards, sound cards, video cards, etc. A device identifier is assigned to the device, which in one embodiment, is based on the hardware component information. The device identifier and the current information regarding the hardware components of the system are stored in a repository. Periodically, a new poll is performed of the hardware components of the system, and the current hardware component information in the repository is updated. A device is identified by the identity or similarity of the hardware component information read from the device with the stored current hardware component information.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining device identity for a particular device in a network comprising one or more devices, comprising:

gathering identification data comprising hardware component data from one of said particular device;

comparing said gathered identification data to data stored in a repository, the repository having at least one record therein, each record being associated with one of said devices, and each record comprising a unique device identification for said associated device and stored identification data from said associated device, the comparison being performed to determine if a record from among said at least one record matching said particular device is found; and

if a matching record is found, updating said stored identification data in said matching record using said gathered identification data.

2. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising:

if a matching record is not found, adding a record to said repository comprising a new unique device identification for said device and said gathered identification data.

3. The method of claim 1, where said step of gathering information comprises gathering a UUID, model information, manufacturer information and serial number information from SMBIOS, a serial number of a boot hard disk drive;

a MAC address of a first Ethernet card; and

a MAC address of a second Ethernet card from said device, and where said method further comprises;

creating a gathered hash H1 from said gathered UUID, model information, manufacturer information and serial number; and

creating a gathered hash H2 from said gathered serial number of a boot hard disk drive, MAC address of a first Ethernet card, and MAC address of a second Ethernet card.

4. The method of claim 3, where each of said records further comprise a stored device ID and a stored UUID, and where said step of comparing said gathered identification data to data stored in a repository to determine if a matching record from among said at least one record is found comprises:

if said gathered hash H1 is valid, comparing said gathered hash H1 to said stored device IDs, and if a match is found between said gathered hash H1 and a stored device ID associated with a specific record, determining if said gathered UUID is valid, and if said gathered UUID is valid, updating said specific record with said gathered identification data; and

if no match is found between said gathered hash H1 and said stored device IDs, creating a new record comprising a device ID equal to said gathered hash H1 and further comprising said gathered identification data;

if said gathered hash H1 is not valid or if said gathered UUID is not valid, comparing said gathered hash H2 to said stored device IDs, and if a match is found between said gathered hash H2 and a stored device ID associated with a specific record, updating said specific record with said gathered identification data, and if no match is found between said gathered hash H2 and said stored device ID, searching for a match on prespecified gathered identification data from among said gathered identification data, and if a match is found, updating said specific record with said gathered identification data, but if no match is found, creating a new record comprising a device ID equal to said gathered hash H2 and further comprising said gathered identification data.

5. The method of claim 4, where each of said records further comprises a first Ethernet MAC address, a second Ethernet MAC address, a boot hard disk drive serial number, and a machine name, and where said prespecified gathered identification data comprises a gathered first Ethernet MAC address, a gathered second Ethernet MAC address, a gathered boot hard disk drive serial number, and a gathered machine name and where said search for a match on prespecified gathered information comprises searching for a match in any one of said records for any of said gathered first Ethernet MAC address, said gathered second Ethernet MAC address, or said gathered boot hard disk drive serial number and, if a match is found in a first record, searching for a match in said first record for said gathered machine name.

6. The method of claim 1, where said step of gathering identification data comprises gathering at least one item of identification data selected from the group consisting of:

UUID from SMBIOS on said device;

model information from SMBIOS on said device;

manufacturer information from the SMBIOS on said device;

serial number information from SMBIOS on said device;

a serial number of the boot hard disk drive on said device;

a MAC address of a first Ethernet card on said device;

a MAC address of a second Ethernet card on said device;

an asset number from SMBIOS on said device;

machine name on said device;

size of physical RAM on said device;

RAM clock speed on said device;

accelerated graphics port memory size on said device;

vendor ID of the boot hard disk drive on said device; and

product ID of the boot hard disk drive on said device.

7. The method of claim 1, where said step of gathering identification data comprising hardware component data from one of said devices comprises:

determining a gathering mode; and

gathering certain items of identification data based on said mode.

8. At least one of an operating system, a computer readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions, a co-processing device, a computing device, and a modulated data signal carrying computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

9. A method for determining an identity of a particular device, where a repository comprises at least one record, where each record comprises a unique device identification for an associated device and stored identification data from said associated device, said method comprising:

gathering identification data comprising hardware component data from one of said particular device;

comparing said gathered identification data to data stored in a repository, to determine if a record from among said at least one record matching said particular device is found; and

if a matching record from among said at least one record is found, associating said unique device identification from said matching record with said particular device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

if a matching record from among said at least one record is found, updating said stored identification data in said matching record using said gathered identification data.

11. The method of claim 9, said method further comprising:

if a matching record is not found, indicating that no matching record was found.

12. The method of claim 9, said method further comprising:

if a matching record is not found, adding a record to said repository comprising a new unique device identification for said device and said gathered identification data.

13. The method of claim 9, where said step of gathering identification data comprises gathering at least one item of identification data selected from the group consisting of:

UUID from SMBIOS on said device;

model information from SMBIOS on said device;

manufacturer information from the SMBIOS on said device;

serial number information from SMBIOS on said device;

a serial number of the boot hard disk drive on said device;

a MAC address of a first Ethernet card on said device;

a MAC address of a second Ethernet card on said device;

an asset number from SMBIOS on said device;

machine name on said device;

size of physical RAM on said device;

RAM clock speed on said device;

accelerated graphics port memory size on said device;

vendor ID of the boot hard disk drive on said device; and

product ID of the boot hard disk drive on said device.

14. The method of claim 9, where said step of gathering identification data comprising hardware component data from one of said devices comprises:

determining a gathering mode; and

gathering certain items of identification data based on said mode.

15. At least one of an operating system, a computer readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions, a co-processing device, a computing device, and a modulated data signal carrying computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 9.

16. A system for maintaining device identities for at least one device, comprising:

a repository for storing at least one record, where each record is associated with one of said at least one devices, and where each record comprises a unique device identification for said associated device and stored identification data from said associated device;

a gatherer for gathering identification data comprising hardware component data from a particular device from among said devices;

a comparator for comparing said gathered identification data to data stored in said repository to determine if a record from among said at least one record matching said particular device is found; and

an updater, for, if a matching record from among said at least one record is found, updating said stored identification data in said matching record using said gathered identification data.

17. The system of claim 16, said system further comprising:

a repository updater for, if a matching record is not found, adding a record to said repository comprising a new unique device identification for said device and said gathered identification data.

18. The system of claim 16, where said gatherer determines a gathering mode and gathers certain items of identification data based on said mode.

19. A system for determining the identity of a specific device with a record stored in a repository, comprising

a repository for storing at least one record, where each record is associated with a device from among a network comprising at least one devices, and where each record comprises a unique device identification for said associated device and stored identification data from said associated device;

a gatherer for gathering identification data comprising hardware component data from a particular device from among said devices;

a comparator for comparing said gathered identification data to data stored in said repository to determine if a matching record from among said at least one record is found; and

an identity responder, for returning said unique device identification from said matching record as the identity of said device if a matching record from among at least one record has been found.

20. The system of claim 19, where said identity responder also updates said stored identification data stored in said matching record using said gathered identification data if a matching record from among said at least one record has been found.

21. The system of claim 19, where said identity responder, if a matching record is not found, indicates that no matching record was found.

22. The method of claim 21, where said identity responder, if a matching record is not found, indicates that no matching record was found, adds a record to said repository comprising a new unique device identification for said device and said gathered identification data.

23. The system of claim 19, where said gatherer determines a gathering mode and gathers certain items of identification data based on said mode.