Computer diagnostic interface

• US 20060020856A1
• Filed: 07/22/2004
• Published: 01/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Owhadi, Eric, Anuez, Tony O.
• Application Number:
  US10/895,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20060020856A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/32 with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing diagnostic indications representing detected failure conditions in a computer system, comprising: generating at least one indicator light waveform to present a predetermined quantity of one or more sequential illuminations of at least one indicator light; and, generating, at approximately the same time and in synchronicity with the at least one indicator light waveform, a corresponding at least one speaker audio waveform presenting, via a speaker, a same quantity of one or more sequential audible enunciations.

Claims

1. A method for providing diagnostic indications representing detected failure conditions in a computer system, comprising:

generating at least one indicator light waveform to present a predetermined quantity of one or more sequential illuminations of at least one indicator light; and

generating, at approximately the same time and in approximate synchronicity with the at least one indicator light waveform, a corresponding at least one speaker audio waveform presenting, via a speaker, a same quantity of one or more sequential audible enunciations via a speaker.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the at least one indicator light waveform comprises:

generating at least one indication cycle comprising a first indication portion during which the quantity of one or more sequential illuminations is presented, and a first pause portion during which no illuminations are presented.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the at least one speaker audio waveform comprises:

generating at least one indication cycle comprising a second indication portion during which the quantity of one or more sequential audible enunciations are presented, and a second pause portion during which no enunciations are presented.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein generating at least one indicator light waveform comprises generating a plurality of indicator light waveforms each comprising a quantity of one or more sequential illuminations that uniquely represent an associated failure condition, and

wherein generating at least one speaker audio waveform comprises generating a plurality of speaker audio waveforms each comprising a same quantity of sequential audible enunciations to uniquely represent a same associated failure condition.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein diagnostic failure conditions can be distinguished by one or more of the following waveform characteristics:

quantity of sequential indicator light illuminations and audible enunciations;

frequency of sequential indicator light illuminations and audible enunciations;

pitch of one or more of the sequential audible enunciations; and

color of one or more of the sequential indicator light illuminations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one indicator light is located at a readily visible location on the computer system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the readily visible location on the computer system comprises:

a front bezel of the computer system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one indicator light comprises one or more of the group consisting of:

at least one dual-colored light emitting diode (LED); and

at least one tri-colored LED.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one indicator light comprises one or more of the group consisting of:

a power LED;

a hard drive LED;

a floppy disk drive LED;

a CD-ROM LED;

a DVD-ROM LED; and

a CD-RW LED.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the speaker comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a chassis speaker; and

one or more on-board speakers.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected failure conditions comprise one or more of the group consisting of:

potential failures;

actual failures;

error conditions; and

faults.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected failure conditions comprise failure conditions detected during one or more of the detection operations consisting of:

BIOS-based failure detection operations; and

hardware-based detection operations.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected failure conditions comprise one or more of the group consisting of:

a condition in which system BIOS fails to properly fetch code and execute;

a condition in which system BIOS is corrupted;

a condition in which a memory of the computer system fails;

a condition in which a graphics BIOS fails to successfully load in a graphics card of the computer system;

a condition in which an option ROM fails to successfully load in its respective PCI card of computer system;

a condition in which an option card failure is detected;

a condition in which a port failure is detected;

a condition in which a power failure is detected;

a condition in which a processor of the computer system exceed a predetermined threshold temperature; and

a condition in which absence of a processor of the computer system is detected.

26. The computer of claim 1, wherein the speaker comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a chassis speaker; and

one or more on-board speakers.

14. A system for providing diagnostic indications representing detected failure conditions in a computer system, comprising:

means for generating at least one indicator light waveform to present a predetermined quantity of one or more sequential illuminations of at least one indicator light; and

means for generating, at approximately the same time and in approximate synchronicity with the at least one sequential indicator light waveform, a corresponding at least one speaker audio waveform to present, via a speaker, a same quantity of one or more sequential audible enunciations.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the means for generating the at least one indicator light waveform comprises:

means for generating at least one indication cycle comprising a first indication portion during which the quantity of one or more sequential illuminations is presented, and a first pause portion during which no illuminations are presented.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the means for generating the at least one speaker audio waveform comprises:

means for generating at least one indication cycle comprising a second indication portion during which the quantity of one or more sequential audible enunciations are presented, and a second pause portion during which no enunciations are presented.

17. The system of claim 14,

wherein the means for generating at least one indicator light waveform comprises means for generating a plurality of indicator light waveforms each comprising a quantity of one or more sequential illuminations that uniquely represent an associated failure condition, and

wherein the means for generating at least one speaker audio waveform comprises means for generating a plurality of speaker audio waveforms each comprising a same quantity of sequential audible enunciations to uniquely represent a same associated failure condition.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein diagnostic failure conditions can be distinguished by one or more of the following waveform characteristics:

quantity of sequential indicator light illuminations and audible enunciations;

frequency of sequential indicator light illuminations and audible enunciations;

pitch of one or more of the sequential audible enunciations; and

color of one or more of the sequential indicator light illuminations.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one indicator light is located at a readily visible location on the computer system.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the speaker comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a chassis speaker; and

one or more on-board speakers.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the detected failure conditions comprise failure conditions detected during one or more of the detection operations consisting of:

BIOS-based failure detection operations; and

hardware-based detection operations.

22. A computer system comprising:

at least one indicator light located in a readily visible location on the computer system;

at least one speaker; and

an apparatus for providing diagnostic indications representing failure conditions detected in the computer system, wherein the apparatus generates at least one an indicator light waveform to present a predetermined quantity of one or more sequential illuminations of the at least one indicator light; and

which generates, at approximately the same time and in synchronicity with the at least one sequential indicator light waveform, a corresponding at least one speaker audio waveform to present a same quantity of one or more sequential audible enunciations via the at least one speaker.

23. The computer of claim 22, wherein each of the at least one indicator light waveform and the at least one speaker audio waveform comprise:

at least one indication cycle comprising a indication portion during which the quantity of one or more sequential illuminations and enunciations is presented, and a pause portion during which no illuminations and enunciations are presented.

24. The computer of claim 22,

wherein generating at least one indicator light waveform comprises generating a plurality of indicator light waveforms each comprising a quantity of one or more sequential illuminations that uniquely represents an associated failure condition, and

wherein generating at least one speaker audio waveform comprises generating a plurality of speaker audio waveforms each comprising a same quantity of sequential audible enunciations to uniquely represents a same associated failure condition.

25. The computer of claim 22, wherein the at least one indicator light is located at a readily visible location on the computer system.

27. The computer of claim 22, wherein the detected failure conditions comprise failure conditions detected during one or more of the group consisting of:

BIOS-based detection failure operations; and

hardware-based detection failure operations.