Maintaining RFID information for virtual machines

• US 8,326,991 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2007
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Diaz, Joel D., Stansell, Kevin S., Zorek, Edward V. Sr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain, Tauqir
• Application Number:
  US11/842,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20090051492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,932 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 340/572.1
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/47 using RFID associated with sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and products for maintaining RFID information for virtual machines are disclosed that include establishing a virtual machine on a host computer, the host computer capable of supporting a plurality of virtual machines, the host computer comprising one or more RFID transponders; determining RFID information for the virtual machine; storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and upon request from an RFID reader, transmitting the stored RFID information as output from the specified RFID transponder to the requesting RFID reader.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining Radio Frequency Identification (‘

RFID’

) information for virtual machines, the method comprising;

establishing a virtual machine on a host computer, the host computer capable of supporting a plurality of virtual machines, the host computer comprising one or more RFID transponders;

determining RFID information for the virtual machine;

storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and

upon request from an RFID reader, transmitting the stored RFID information as output from the specified RFID transponder to the requesting RFID reader.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

moving all systems software and all application software from a separate physical computer to the virtual machine on the host computer, the separate physical computer comprising RFID information in an RFID transponder;

wherein determining RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises determining RFID information for the virtual machine in dependence upon the RFID information of the separate physical computer.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising deactivating the RFID transponder of the separate physical computer.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing, after determining RFID information for the virtual machine, the determined RFID information in interim storage available to an RFID manager of the host computer, wherein storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises:

reading, by the RFID manager from the interim storage, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and

writing, by the RFID manager through an RFID reader onto the specified RFID transponder, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises logically associating the determined RFID information and the virtual machine, including storing in association, as components of the stored RFID information, an RFID information identification code that uniquely identifies the specified RFID transponder and a virtual machine identification code that uniquely identifies the virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling the RFID transponders in an RFID network of RFID readers, wherein the requesting RFID reader comprises an RFID reader of the RFID network.

7. Apparatus for maintaining Radio Frequency Identification (‘

RFID’

) information for virtual machines, the apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of;

establishing a virtual machine on a host computer, the host computer capable of supporting a plurality of virtual machines, the host computer comprising one or more RFID transponders;

determining RFID information for the virtual machine;

storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and

upon request from an RFID reader, transmitting the stored RFID information as output from the specified RFID transponder to the requesting RFID reader.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

computer program instructions capable of moving all systems software and all application software from a separate physical computer to the virtual machine on the host computer, the separate physical computer comprising RFID information in an RFID transponder;

wherein determining RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises determining RFID information for the virtual machine in dependence upon the RFID information of the separate physical computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions capable of deactivating the RFID transponder of the separate physical computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions capable of storing, after determining RFID information for the virtual machine, the determined RFID information in interim storage available to an RFID manager of the host computer, wherein storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises:

reading, by the RFID manager from the interim storage, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and

writing, by the RFID manager through an RFID reader onto the specified RFID transponder, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises logically associating the determined RFID information and the virtual machine, including storing in association, as components of the stored RFID information, an RFID information identification code that uniquely identifies the specified RFID transponder and a virtual machine identification code that uniquely identifies the virtual machine.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions capable of enabling the RFID transponders in an RFID network of RFID readers, wherein the requesting RFID reader comprises an RFID reader of the RFID network.

13. A computer program product for maintaining Radio Frequency Identification (‘

RFID’

) information for virtual machines, the computer program product disposed on a computer readable, recordable storage medium wherein the computer readable, recordable storage medium is not a signal, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions capable of;

establishing a virtual machine on a host computer, the host computer capable of supporting a plurality of virtual machines, the host computer comprising one or more RFID transponders;

determining RFID information for the virtual machine;

storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and

upon request from an RFID reader, transmitting the stored RFID information as output from the specified RFID transponder to the requesting RFID reader.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising:

computer program instructions capable of moving all systems software and all application software from a separate physical computer to the virtual machine on the host computer, the separate physical computer comprising RFID information in an RFID transponder;

wherein determining RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises determining RFID information for the virtual machine in dependence upon the RFID information of the separate physical computer.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer program instructions capable of deactivating the RFID transponder of the separate physical computer.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer program instructions capable of storing, after determining RFID information for the virtual machine, the determined RFID information in interim storage available to an RFID manager of the host computer, wherein storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises:

reading, by the RFID manager from the interim storage, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine; and

writing, by the RFID manager through an RFID reader onto the specified RFID transponder, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein storing, in a specified one of the RFID transponders, the determined RFID information for the virtual machine further comprises logically associating the determined RFID information and the virtual machine, including storing in association, as components of the stored RFID information, an RFID information identification code that uniquely identifies the specified RFID transponder and a virtual machine identification code that uniquely identifies the virtual machine.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer program instructions capable of enabling the RFID transponders in an RFID network of RFID readers, wherein the requesting RFID reader comprises an RFID reader of the RFID network.