METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY TRACKING AND CONTROLLING THE USAGE OF REMOVABLE HARD DRIVES

• US 20100141446A1
• Filed: 12/09/2008
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Horn, Richard T., Kirby-Mello, Lynn Rochelle
• Application Number:
  US12/330,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20100141446A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0275 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS] tag technology used for parent or child unit, e.g. same transmission technology, magnetic tag, RF tag, RFID

Abstract

A method and a system for automatically tracking and controlling usage of a first set of components, including the steps of receiving data from one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags electrically coupled with a second set of components; checking whether the first set of components are permitted to communicate with the second set of components; and enabling the first set of components to transfer data between the first and second set of components when communication is permitted.

Claims

1. A system for automatically tracking and controlling usage of a first set of components, the system comprising:

one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags electrically coupled with a second set of components;

wherein the RFID tags enable the first set of components to transfer data between the first and second set of components.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first set of components are removable storage elements, the second set of components are fixed storage elements, and the first and second set of components are in operable communication with a server in a network configuration.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of the second set of components includes software capable of communicating with the one or more RFID tags.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of the second set of components is electrically coupled with a node configured to be in operable communication with the one or more RFID tags.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the node of each of the second set of components sends RFID tag information to an analysis element.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein a list of permissible components of the first set of components is provided to an analysis element during setup of the system.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein initialization of communication between the first and second set of components is permitted when it is confirmed by the analysis element that the first set of components is on the list of permissible components of the first set of components.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first set of components are in operable communication with selective components of the second set of components.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein electronic activities resulting from the insertion of the first set of components into the second set of components is recorded in a database and transmitted to an analysis element.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the electronic activities include at least one of the following:

loading time, unloading time, data loaded, data removed, failure to load, and time of access.

11. A method for automatically tracking and controlling usage of a first set of components, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving data from one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags electrically coupled with a second set of components;

checking whether the first set of components are permitted to communicate with the second set of components; and

enabling the first set of components to transfer data between the first and second set of components when communication is permitted.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first set of components are removable storage elements, the second set of components are fixed storage elements, and the first and second set of components are in operable communication with a server in a network configuration.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein each of the second set of components includes software capable of communicating with the one or more RFID tags.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein each of the second set of components is electrically coupled with a node configured to be in operable communication with the one or more RFID tags.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the node of each of the second set of components sends RFID tag information to an analysis element.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein a list of permissible components of the first set of components is provided to an analysis element during setup of the system.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein initialization of communication between the first and second set of components is permitted when it is confirmed by the analysis element that the first set of components is on the list of permissible components of the first set of components.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first set of components are in operable communication with selective components of the second set of components.

19. The method according to claim 11, wherein electronic activities resulting from the insertion of the first set of components into the second set of components is recorded in a database and transmitted to an analysis element.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the electronic activities include at least one of the following:

loading time, unloading time, data loaded, data removed, failure to load, and time of access.

21. A method for controlling a plurality of removable memory devices, the method comprising the steps of:

electrically coupling a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to each of a plurality of fixed memory devices;

receiving data from the plurality of RFID tags;

analyzing the data received from the plurality of RFID tags; and

enabling communication between the plurality of fixed memory devices and the plurality of removable memory devices based on the analyzed data.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of removable memory devices are flash memory devices.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of fixed memory devices include software for communicating with the plurality of RFID tags.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of fixed memory devices are located in a server connected to a network.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the server includes a network interface in operative communication with the network in order to collect the data from the plurality of RFID tags.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein the server includes a database interface in operative communication with the network in order to store the data from the plurality of RFID tags processed by an analysis device.

27. The method according to claim 21, wherein a list of permissible removable memory devices is provided to an analysis device during setup of a server.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein initialization of communication between the plurality of removable memory devices and the plurality of fixed memory devices is permitted when it is confirmed by the analysis device that the plurality of removable memory devices is on the list of permissible removable memory devices.

29. The method according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of removable memory devices are in operable communication with selective fixed memory devices.

30. The method according to claim 21, wherein all electronic activities resulting from the insertion of the plurality of removable memory devices into the plurality of fixed memory devices is recorded in a database interface and transmitted to an analysis device.