U.S. patent application number 10/383657 was filed with the patent office on 2004-09-16 for tracking electronic devices.
Invention is credited to Lyon, Geoff M., Patel, Chandrakant D., Pradhan, Salil V..
Application Number | 20040178270 10/383657 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32961310 |
Filed Date | 2004-09-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040178270 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pradhan, Salil V. ; et
al. |
September 16, 2004 |
TRACKING ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Abstract
Tracking electronic devices that are equipped with tracking tags
and that are stored in designated locations. Reading devices are
distributed in locations that are recorded and that correspond to
the designated locations of the electronic devices. The reading
devices are activated to interrogate the tracking tags.
Identification data from the tracking tags is collected to enable
determining the presence and location of the electronic devices,
based on the recorded location of the reading devices.
Inventors: |
Pradhan, Salil V.; (Santa
Clara, CA) ; Patel, Chandrakant D.; (Fremont, CA)
; Lyon, Geoff M.; (Menlo Park, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY
Intellectual Property Administration
P.O. Box 272400
Fort Collins
CO
80527-2400
US
|
Family ID: |
32961310 |
Appl. No.: |
10/383657 |
Filed: |
March 10, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
235/462.13 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06K 7/10079 20130101;
G06K 17/00 20130101; G01S 13/74 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
235/462.13 |
International
Class: |
G06K 007/10; G06K
015/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of tracking electronic devices equipped with tracking
tags, said method comprising: distributing a plurality of reading
devices in locations corresponding to designated locations for said
electronic devices; recording the locations of said plurality of
reading devices; activating said plurality of reading devices and
thereby interrogating said tracking tags of said electronic devices
present in said designated locations; collecting identification
data from said tracking tags; and determining at least one of a
presence and a location of at least one of said electronic devices
based on the collected identification data.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said distributing step
comprises placing said plurality of reading devices proximate a
plurality of bays within an enclosure.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said distributing step
further comprises placing said plurality of reading devices to
respectively align with said tracking tags when said electronic
devices are docked within said bays of said enclosure.
4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said tracking tags are
respectively attached at a uniform location on said electronic
devices.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said recording step
comprises storing the locations of said plurality of reading
devices in a computer memory.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said activating step
is performed sequentially by said plurality of reading devices
comprising at least one of a plurality of radio frequency readers,
a plurality of bar code scanners, and a plurality of inductive
devices.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said collecting step
is performed sequentially on said tracking tags which comprise at
least one of radio frequency tags, bar code tags, or magnet
tags.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said determining step
comprises converting said response signal into said identification
data and storing said identification data in a computer memory.
9. A method of tracking electronic devices, said method comprising:
tagging a plurality of electronic devices with a plurality of
tracking tags; providing an enclosure having a plurality of bays
for receiving said plurality of electronic devices; distributing a
plurality of reading devices in locations corresponding to said
plurality of bays; recording the locations of said plurality of
reading devices; activating said plurality of reading devices and
thereby interrogating said plurality of tracking tags of said
plurality of electronic devices present in said plurality of bays;
collecting identification data from said plurality of tracking
tags; and determining at least one of the presence and location of
said plurality of electronic devices based on said recording and
collecting steps.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said tagging step
comprises associating at least one of a plurality of
radio-frequency tags, a plurality of bar code tags, and a plurality
of magnetic tags with said plurality of electronic devices.
11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said distributing
step comprises placing at least one of a plurality of radio
frequency readers, a plurality of bar code scanners, and a
plurality of magnetic pickups.
12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said distributing
step further comprises placing said plurality of reading devices to
respectively align with said plurality of tracking tags when said
electronic devices are docked within said bays of said
enclosure.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said plurality of
tracking tags are respectively attached at a uniform location on
said electronic devices.
14. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said recording step
comprises storing the locations of said plurality of reading
devices in a computer memory.
15. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said activating step
comprises sequentially activating said plurality of reading devices
which comprise at least one of a plurality of radio frequency
readers, a plurality of bar code scanners, and a plurality of
magnetic pickups.
16. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said collecting step
comprises receiving a response signal from at least one of a radio
frequency tag, a bar code tag, and a magnetic tag.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said determining
step comprises converting said response signal into said
identification data and storing said identification data in a
computer memory.
18. An apparatus for tracking a plurality of electronic devices
having a plurality of tracking tags associated therewith, said
apparatus comprising: an enclosure having a plurality of bays, said
plurality of bays receive said plurality of electronic devices; and
a plurality of reading devices mounted to said enclosure and
distributed in correspondence with said plurality of bays, said
plurality of reading devices being adapted to interrogate said
plurality of tracking tags of said plurality of electronic devices
to determine at least one of a presence and a location of at least
one of said plurality of electronic devices.
19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said plurality of
reading devices are located such that they respectively align with
said plurality of tracking tags when said plurality of electronic
devices are docked within said plurality of bays of said
enclosure.
20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said plurality of
tracking tags are respectively attached at a uniform location on
said plurality of electronic devices.
21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said enclosure is
a server rack and said plurality of electronic devices is a
plurality of servers and said plurality of tracking tags are a
plurality of radio frequency tags attached to said plurality of
electronic devices.
22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein said plurality of
reading devices are a plurality of daisy-chained radio frequency
readers being mounted to an inside wall of said rack.
23. An apparatus for tracking electronic devices, said apparatus
comprising: means for tagging said electronic devices; means for
housing said electronic devices in designated locations; means for
reading said means for tagging, said means for reading being
mounted to said means for housing and being distributed in
correspondence to said designated locations; means for activating
said means for reading to interrogate said means for tagging; means
for collecting identification data from said means for tagging; and
means for determining at least one of the presence and location of
said electronic devices.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCES
[0001] This application is related to the following: co-pending
U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (attorney docket number
200208133-1), filed XX/XX/XX and entitled "Tracking Electronic
Devices" by Pradhan et al.; co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.
No. YY/YYY,YYY (attorney docket number 200208131-1), filed YY/YY/YY
and entitled "Device Data" by Lyon et al.; and U.S. patent
application Ser. No. ZZ/ZZZ,ZZZ (attorney docket number
200208028-1), filed YY/YY/YY and entitled "Location Aware Sensor
Nodes" by Pradhan et al., all of which are assigned to the assignee
of the present invention and are incorporated by reference herein
in their entireties.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention pertains to tracking electronic devices. More
particularly, this invention relates to tracking electronic devices
using reading devices and tags.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Electronic devices such as computer servers,
telecommunications devices, and the like are often housed within
cabinets or racks within a building or data center. An example of a
rack may be defined as an Electronics Industry Association (EIA)
enclosure and typically includes a plurality of open bays. Racks
permit the arrangement of electronic devices in a vertical
orientation for efficient use of space. The electronic devices are
typically installed into respective bays in the rack and include
servers, network switches, personal computer boards, and the like,
which in turn include a number of electronic components, such as
processors, micro-controllers, high speed video cards, memories,
semi-conductor devices, and the like.
[0004] The floor plan of a data center includes the racks generally
arranged side-by-side in rows such as in an X-axis and Y-axis
array. The locations of the racks within the data center sometimes
change as do the locations of the electronic devices within bays of
the racks. Moreover, racks and electronic devices are sometimes
added, replaced, or removed entirely from a data center. It is
desirable to track such equipment changes in a data center and
thereby maintain an up-to-date geographical inventory of the
location of each rack within the data center floor plan and of the
location of each electronic device within each rack, bay by
bay.
[0005] Currently, however, it is burdensome to track such equipment
changes in a data center along the X and Y axes (width and depth)
at the rack level, but is even more burdensome to track equipment
changes along the Z axis (height) at the bay level. Conventionally,
the physical presence and location of electronic devices within a
data center is determined manually. For example, during an
inventory process, a network administrator typically walks from
rack to rack around the data center and manually records the
presence and location of network devices within each bay of each
rack in the data center. Manual review and recordation of such
information is time consuming, costly, and overly susceptible to
human error.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] According to an embodiment of the invention, there is
provided a method of tracking electronic devices that are equipped
with tracking tags. The method comprises the following steps:
distributing reading devices in locations that correspond to
locations designated for the electronic devices; recording the
locations of the reading devices; activating the reading devices
and thereby interrogating the tracking tags of the electronic
devices that are present in the locations designated for the
electronic devices; collecting identification data from the
tracking tags; and determining a presence and/or a location of at
least one of the electronic devices based on the collected
identification data.
[0007] According to another embodiment of the invention, there is
provided another method of tracking electronic devices that
includes the following steps: tagging electronic devices with
tracking tags; providing a rack having bays for receiving the
electronic devices; distributing reading devices in locations that
correspond to the bays; recording the locations of the reading
devices; activating the reading devices and thereby interrogating
the tracking tags of the electronic devices that are present in the
bays; collecting identification data from the tracking tags; and
determining at least one of the presence and location of said
plurality of electronic devices based on the recording and
collecting steps.
[0008] According to yet another embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus is provided for tracking electronic devices having
tracking tags associated therewith. A rack includes bays that
receive the electronic devices. Reading devices are mounted to the
rack and are distributed in correspondence with the bays. The
reading devices are adapted to interrogate the tracking tags of the
electronic devices to determine at least one of a presence and/or a
location of at least one of the electronic devices.
[0009] According to still another embodiment of the invention,
another apparatus is provided for tracking electronic devices that
includes a means for tagging the electronic devices, a means for
housing the electronic devices in designated locations, and a means
for reading the means for tagging. The means for reading is mounted
to the means for housing and is distributed in correspondence to
the designated locations of the electronic devices. The apparatus
also includes a means for activating the reading devices to
interrogate the means for tagging. The apparatus further includes a
means for collecting identification data from the tracking tags,
and a means for determining the presence and/or location of the
electronic devices based on the means for collecting.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and
not limitation in the accompanying figures in which like numeral
references refer to like elements, and wherein:
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a rack apparatus according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system used in
accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 1; and
[0013] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of tracking
electronic devices according to another embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] In the following detailed description, numerous specific
details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding
of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of
ordinary skill in the art that these specific details need not be
used to practice the present invention. In other instances,
well-known structures, interfaces, and processes have not been
shown in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present
invention.
[0015] In accordance with the present invention, an automatic
tracking system and method is provided for tracking the presence
and/or location of any tagged electronic device within a data
center. The purpose of automatically tracking electronic devices is
to continuously monitor the location of each and every tagged
electronic device down to the specific aisle, rack, and bay where
the electronic device is mounted. Thus, it is possible with the
present invention to eliminate the costly, time consuming, and
error-prone method of manually tracking the presence and/or
location of electronic devices within a data center.
[0016] In general, according to an embodiment of the present
invention, a rack apparatus is provided in which identification
technology "overlays" the rack apparatus wherein the identification
technology is provided to track the presence and location of
electronic devices located within the rack. The terminology
"identification technology" means any system or apparatus for
identifying objects such as bar code systems, magnetic stripe
systems, radio frequency identification (RFID or RF identification)
systems, and the like. Furthermore, the terminology "rack
apparatus" is synonymous with data rack, server rack, electronics
housing or enclosure, and the like. Thus, the present invention is
not limited only to server rack applications implementing RF
technology.
[0017] Generally, RF systems typically include readers and one or
more tags that are attached to respective objects whose identity is
thereby tracked. Readers are synonymous with interrogators,
exciters, transceivers, transmitter/receivers, and the like. Tags
are synonymous with transponders, and the like.
[0018] The tag is an electronic device that incorporates unique
identification data, such as a number, and is generally attached to
an object whose identity is desired to be tracked. Thus, the
object's identity is identified by the interrogating reader which
reads the number of the tag to which the object is attached. The RF
system operates on radio frequency and, thus, RF systems do not
require a direct line of sight between the reader and the tag. As
such, the tag and tagged object may be located within an enclosure.
RF tags are also known as RF transponders and may be "active" or
"passive". Active tags are continuously powered by a battery,
whereas passive tags briefly acquire power from the reader upon
being interrogated thereby. Passive tags typically include a coil
or antenna to collect the from the reader the RF signal from which
the tag derives its temporary operating power. Accordingly, passive
tags are located within close proximity to the reader (typically in
the range from a few centimeters up to one meter) in order to
ensure that the tags collect a sufficient amount of energy to
operate. Passive tags typically include an integrated circuit for
storing data an identification number. Passive tags are typically
desirable due to their smaller size, fewer components, and reduced
cost compared to active tags.
[0019] The reader typically includes an antenna, analog circuitry,
digital processing circuitry, and a memory. The analog circuitry
includes modulation circuitry for transmitting and receiving
signals to and from the tag. The digital processing circuitry
generates an interrogation signal which is modulated using the
analog circuitry. Thus, the reader emits a radio frequency signal
in the vicinity of the tag and the tag emits a response, from which
the RF system determines the identity of the responding tag. More
specifically, the reader transmits a coded RF signal, from which a
nearby tag or tags collect energy. The nearby tag uses the
collected energy to compare the coded RF signal to the tag's
identification data. If the tag's identification data is the same
as that encoded in the RF signal, then the tag relays its encoded
identification data back to the reader. Alternatively, and as
contemplated by the present invention, the RF system is configured
to use the reader to interrogate the tag and then automatically
relay the tag's identification data back through the RF system to
the reader.
[0020] RF components and systems, in and of themselves, are
generally well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. What is
not currently known to those of ordinary skill in the art, however,
is the present specific application and adaptation of RF technology
for tracking electronic devices within a data center, which is
further described below.
[0021] Referring now specifically to FIG. 1, an enclosure or rack
10 is shown which may be, for example, an Electronics Industry
Association enclosure, 78 in. (2 meters) wide, 24 in. (0.61 meter)
wide and 30 in. (0.76 meter) deep. The rack 10 includes opposed
pairs of mounts 12 that define open bays 14a-n into which
electronic devices 16 are located. The term "rack" includes any
doors, lids, or other accessories associated with the rack (not
shown). One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the
mounts 12 and bays 14a-n merely exemplify one of any number of
mounting means that are used with rack apparatus. Furthermore, the
term "bay" is synonymous with slot, opening, location, position,
and the like.
[0022] The rack 10 may house any number of electronic devices 16
which may be modules, server boards, telecommunications devices,
and the like, e.g., about forty (40) to eighty (80) devices. The
electronic devices 16 typically include a number of components 18,
e.g., processors, micro-controllers, high speed video cards,
memories, semi-conductor devices, and the like. Some racks include
retractable rails to which the electronic devices are slidably
mounted, wherein the retractable rails permit the electronic
devices to be moved between a retracted position within the rack
and an extended position in which the electronic devices are at
least partially extended from the rack. In any case, it is highly
desirable to track the presence, identification, and/or location of
each electronic device 16 within each rack 10 in a data center.
[0023] Using any number of readily available identification
technologies, each electronic device 16 is tagged with a tracking
device or tag 20, such as a radio frequency (RF) transponder, or RF
tag, as shown. Alternatively, the tag 20 may instead be a bar code
tag, a magnetic tag, magneto-mechanical tag, microwave tag, and the
like. In general, RF tags are typically programmed with unique
identification codes that identify an object with which the RF tags
are associated. In one embodiment, the tag 20 may be a passive
device. In another embodiment, the tag 20 may be an active device
having a relatively greater communication range.
[0024] As defined herein, the terminology "tracking device" or
"tag" means hardware, information, signals, and the like that are
not necessarily intrinsic to the circuitry or software associated
with the electronic devices 16 or components 18 thereof. In other
words, the tag 20 is externally attached to a respective electronic
device and is independent of the intrinsic workings of the
electronic devices 16 and components 18. As shown, the tag 20 may
be encoded with any unique identification, such as medium access
controlled identification of the electronic device with which it is
associated.
[0025] Before each electronic device 16 is installed in the rack
10, it is "tagged" with respective RF tags 20. As used herein, the
word "attached" is broadly construed to include all types of
associating an RF tag with an object to be tagged. The tags 20 are
shown mounted onto a left front portion of each electronic device
16, but the tag 20 can be mounted to, printed on, or encapsulated
within each electronic device 16. The tag 20 may be attached to the
respective electronic device by adhesive, by double-sided tape, by
metal fasteners, and the like. Those skilled in the art will
recognize that many other methods of physically associating tags 20
with respective electronic devices 16 are possible and the present
invention is not limited to the examples set forth herein. In other
words, it is not necessary to mount the tag 20 exactly as shown and
it is contemplated that the tag 20 can be located anywhere on or in
the electronic device 16, so long as the tag is within the
recommended operating range of the manufacturer.
[0026] As shown in FIG. 1, located just above each pair of mounts
12 the rack 10 includes reading devices, coils, or readers 22a-n
such as RF transponders, bar code scanners, magnetic pickups, and
the like. Preferably, a strip of daisy-chained readers 22a-n are
mounted along a planar face of the rack such as the front, as long
as the readers 22a-n are located proximate the corresponding tags
20 within the operating range of such devices as mentioned above.
Thus, the readers 22a-n can be mounted in any alternative locations
such as to an access door (not shown) of the rack, or to a front
portion of a left inside wall 24 of the rack 10, and care is taken
to ensure that the tags 20 are each attached at a uniform location
on the face of each corresponding electronic device 16 so that each
tag 20 aligns with a corresponding reader 22a-n. Accordingly, the
tags 20 and readers 22a-n are distributed throughout each rack in a
one-to-one respective arrangement such that each reader 22a-n is
associated with a respective tag 20. As will be discussed below,
this one-to-one tag to reader relationship enables one to determine
the presence and location of a tag and its associated electronic
device by virtue of knowing the location of the corresponding
reader. Moreover, it is contemplated that one or more electronic
devices 16 could occupy more than one bay location. For purposes of
example only, in one embodiment an electronic device 16 occupies
bay locations 14d-g. In one embodiment, readers 14d-g are
associated with the electronic device 16. In another embodiment, a
single reader 14g (or 14f, or 14e, or 14d) is associated with the
electronic device 16 occupying bay locations 14d-g. Accordingly, it
is also contemplated that multiple readers 22a-n could track the
location of a single electronic device that occupies more than one
bay location, or that one of the readers 22a-n could track the
location of such a larger electronic device.
[0027] The location of each reader is predetermined so that the
presence and location of each corresponding tag may be easily
identified. Each coil or reader 22a-n is of the same known size
and, therefore, given any coil identity k (from 1 at the top to n
at the bottom, down along the Z-axis), one can quickly identify the
exact position of any given coil in inches, mm, etc. Also, the
identity and location of each reader 22a-n may initially be
manually associated with its respective bay and rack location and
entered into RF system computer memory. For example, reader 22a can
be manually associated with bay 14a, reader 22b with bay 14b, and
so on. Then, to identify the location of any given RF tag 20 (and
therefore each associated electronic device 16), the daisy-chained
readers 22a-n are energized sequentially, or in any desired
predetermined pattern. Thus, knowing an energized coil number or
identity, ergo the bay location and the RF response (if any), the
location and presence of electronic devices in a rack can be
accurately determined. Thereafter, whenever an electronic device 16
is removed, or moved from one bay or rack location to another, the
RF system can track such movement by virtue of the known location
of the readers 22a-n.
[0028] One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the
readers 22a-n may be mounted to the rack 10 in any reasonable
manner including any of a variety of fastening devices including
tie straps, hook and loop material, screws, mounting brackets, and
the like (not shown). The readers 22a-n and tags 20 may be mounted
in any corresponding locations, positions, or orientations on the
rack to ensure that each tag 20, no matter where located in or on
the electronic device 16, aligns with a corresponding reader 22a-n
when a electronic device 16 is docked to the rack 10. Accordingly,
the readers 22a-n may alternatively be mounted to a rear portion of
the inside wall 24 of the rack 10, to a door (not shown) of the
rack, on the mounts 12, and the like. As shown, the readers 22a-n
are daisy-chained together in series. For example, the output of
one reader 22a-n is connected to an input of another reader 22a-n
via a connector 26. Alternatively, the readers 22a-n may be
connected by a connector, in parallel, such that each reader 22a-n
can be addressed independently, or may be connected in any other
reasonable manner. The location of each reader 22a-n may be
designated by its corresponding rack 10 and bay 14.
[0029] FIG. 1 further illustrates the readers 22a-n and the tags 20
according to an RF identification technology embodiment of the
present invention. RFID systems are generally known to those of
ordinary skill in the art and are readily available from various
manufacturers including Texas Instruments of Plano, Tex. and Alien
Technologies of Morgan Hill, Calif. Also contemplated within the
scope of the present invention are various other systems that use
tags and readers to identify objects from a distance by associating
the tag with the object, such as bar code systems.
[0030] Referring still to FIG. 1, the tags 20 store unique
identification codes that identify the electronic devices 16 with
which the tags 20 are associated and that can be read by the
readers 22a-n. The tags 20 may store the unique identification
codes in addressable memory and may store attributes of the
corresponding electronic device 16. Each of the tags 20 includes a
transceiver or an antenna 28. When the tags 20 are within the
proximate operating range of the readers 22a-n and when the readers
22a-n are activated, the antennas 28 (e.g. coils, or the like)
receive an interrogating signal from the readers 22a-n from which
the tags 20 convert to operating power. As used herein, the term
"proximate" means located within a distance wherein the tags 20 and
readers 22a-n are operable with one another. Typical passive RF
systems have a reader to tag operating range of about 18 inches. In
practice, this range will vary depending on the output power of the
readers, the geometries of the reader and tag coils, the signal
frequency, and other operating parameters. In response to receiving
the interrogation signal, the tags 20 transmit a reply such as its
identification code.
[0031] The readers 22a-n then receive the reply from the tags 20
via antenna 30. In other words, each of the readers 22a-n
interrogates a corresponding one of the tags 20 to receive the
identification code therefrom. Upon being energized by the reader
22a-n, the tag 20 steps through a preprogrammed sequence of events
that addresses memory locations therein and that transmits its
stored data (e.g. ID code) from the memory locations back to the
reader 22a-n.
[0032] According to an embodiment, when the reader 22a-n receives
data, such as the identification codes and attribute information
from the electronic devices, back from the tag 20, it decodes that
data and transmits the data to a computer or tracking node 32
mounted atop the rack 10.
[0033] Referring now to FIG. 3, the tracking node 32 includes a
processor 34 and a transceiver 36 for communicating with other
tracking nodes (not shown) and a host computer (not shown)
elsewhere within the data center. The tracking node 32 further
includes volatile and non-volatile memory 38 and 40 respectively.
Executable code for controlling activation of the readers 22a-n may
be stored in the non-volatile memory 40. The tracking node 32
includes an interface 42 for communicating with the readers
22a-n.
[0034] Referring again to FIG. 1, the tracking node 32 may be
programmed to sequentially activate the readers 22a-n from top to
bottom, vice-versa, or in any desired pattern since the location of
each reader is recorded. It is also contemplated that the tracking
node 32 could simultaneously activate the readers 22a-n if desired.
The tracking node 32 may query the status of any given bay 14 by
activating the readers 22a-n to detect the presence or absence of
tags 20 and their corresponding electronic devices 16. The location
of each reader 22a-n is stored in the memory of the tracking node
32, such as in the non-volatile memory 42 or a separate storage
device (not shown). Thus, the node 34 can correlate the
predesignated or known location of each reader 22a-n to a
corresponding tag 20 and associated electronic device 16.
Accordingly, the tracking node 32 can detect not only the presence
of any given electronic device 16 within a bay 14, but can also
determine the location of a particular electronic device 16 by its
identification code.
[0035] FIG. 3 illustrates a method 100 for determining the presence
and location of electronic devices within a rack, according to an
embodiment of the invention. Steps 310-340 involve the initial
setup of electronic devices within racks in a data center. In step
310, the electronic devices are tagged, such as with an RF tag as
described above. In step 320, designated locations are provided for
receiving each of the electronic devices, such as bays within a
server rack as discussed above. In step 330, reading devices such a
RF readers are correspondingly placed in locations proximate the
designated locations for the electronic devices, such as on an
inside wall of a server rack. In step 340, the locations of the
reading devices are recorded in computer memory.
[0036] Steps 350-370 involve operation of the RF system according
to an embodiment of the present invention. In step 350, the reading
devices are activated by the RF system to interrogate or read the
tagged electronic devices. The reading devices may be activated
sequentially, such as starting from a home position at the top of
the rack and ending at a distal position at a bottom of the rack
and vice versa. In step 360, the identification of each present
tagged electronic device is collected. The collection of the
identification of each present tagged electronic device may also be
performed sequentially. In step 370, based on the recording the
locations of the reading devices and based on collecting the
identification of each present tagged electronic device, the
identification of each present tagged electronic device is
associated with the location of its corresponding reader and bay so
as to determine the presence and location of present electronic
devices. The method 300 is an exemplary embodiment, and it will be
apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the method is
subject to many alternatives, modifications and variations without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
[0037] According to the above described embodiments, the present
invention is capable of tracking the presence, identity, and/or
location of electronic devices within racks in a data center. As
described above, each bay of each rack is initially associated with
a reader such that the RF system retains the reader location in
memory. Electronic devices are installed in the bays of the racks
whereupon the readers read the tags associated with such electronic
devices and the RF system associates the read tag data with the
known reader location to, in turn, provide location information for
each tagged electronic device. The RF system continuously or
intermittently monitors or activates the readers so that any change
in location of an electronic device is automatically tracked. Thus,
the present invention eliminates the need for manual tracking or
inventory of electronic devices.
[0038] While this invention has been described in conjunction with
the specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many
alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to
those skilled in the art. There are changes that may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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