Universal bay chassis and system for self-identification and automatic configuration of an information handling system in the chassis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12093003-B2
Application number	US-202117243217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2021
Priority date	Apr 28, 2021
Publication date	Sep 17, 2024
Grant date	Sep 17, 2024

Abstract

A build on-demand chassis with a universal bay system that can be assembled into different configurations to support different system requirements from end users includes positionable partitions and a bay support assembly for each set of devices. A controller communicates with a microcontroller unit (MCU) in each bay support assembly to determine a slot identifier and a type of device supported by the bay support assembly to provide greater flexibility in what configurations are possible. When a processor in the information handling system sends an instruction for a type of device, the controller knows the location and capabilities of the device and manages the communication.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A chassis comprising:
a pair of guide rails;
a first support plane coupled to each guide rail of the pair of guide rails;
a second support plane coupled to each guide rail of the pair of guide rails and separated from the first support plane to form a row;
a plurality of partitions for positioning between and connecting to the first support plane and the second support plane, wherein
each partition comprises a first wall engaged with a second wall, and
a first wall of a first partition of the plurality of partitions and a second wall of a second partition of the plurality of partitions have device retainers for retaining a set of devices;

wherein the first support plane, the second support plane, and the partitions define a plurality of bays, wherein each bay of the plurality of bays includes a keyed tab that identifies a location of the bay with respect to the chassis,
a bay support assembly comprising:
a set of device connections for electrically and communicatively coupling to each device of the set of devices; and

a controller configured to execute a set of instructions to:
communicate with a microcontroller unit (MCU) of the bay support assembly when the information handling system is powered up to determine a type of bay support assembly, a device connection identifier for each device connection of a plurality of device connections, and a location of the bay support assembly with respect to the chassis based on installation of the set of devices establishing a connection with that the keyed tab of the bay the set of devices are located in.

2. The chassis of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a baseboard management controller (BMC).

3. The chassis of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the device based on a communication protocol associated with the type of bay support assembly.

4. The chassis of claim 3 , wherein the set of devices comprises one of a set of processors, memory devices, I/O storage devices and network devices.

5. The chassis of claim 4 , wherein the device retainers comprise device rails for installing and removing the set of devices.

6. A universal bay system for retaining an information handling system in a chassis, the universal bay system comprising:
a pair of guide rails;
a first support plane coupled to each guide rail of the pair of guide rails;
a second support plane coupled to each guide rail of the pair of guide rails and separated from the first support plane to form a row;
a plurality of partitions for positioning between and connecting to the first support plane and the second support plane, wherein
each partition comprises a first wall engaged with a second wall, and
a first wall of a first partition of the plurality of partitions and a second wall of a second partition of the plurality of partitions have device retainers for retaining a set of devices;

wherein the first support plane, the second support plane, and the partitions define a plurality of bays, wherein each bay of the plurality of bays includes a keyed tab that identifies a location of the bay with respect to the chassis,
a bay support assembly comprising:
a set of device connections for electrically and communicatively coupling to each device of the set of devices; and

a controller configured to execute a set of instructions to:
communicate with a microcontroller unit (MCU) of the bay support assembly when the information handling system is powered up to determine a type of bay support assembly, a device connection identifier for each device connection of a plurality of device connections, and a location of the bay support assembly with respect to the chassis based on installation of the set of devices establishing a connection with the keyed tab of the bay that the set of devices are located in.

7. The universal bay system of claim 6 , wherein the controller comprises a baseboard management controller (BMC).

8. The universal bay system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the device based on a communication protocol associated with the type of bay support assembly.

9. The universal bay system of claim 8 , wherein the set of devices comprises one of a set of processors or a set of memory devices.

10. The universal bay system of claim 9 , wherein the device retainers comprise rails for installing and removing the set of devices.

11. A method for configuring an information handling system in a chassis, the method comprising:
connecting a first support plane to a first guide rail and a second guide rail;
connecting a second support plane to the first guide rail and the second guide rail;
positioning a plurality of partitions between the first support plane and the second support plane to define a plurality of bays, wherein each bay of the plurality of bays includes a keyed tab that identifies a location of the bay with respect to the chassis;
positioning a bay support assembly relative to a bay of the plurality of bays;
positioning a set of devices in the bay; and
connecting the set of devices to a set of device connections in the bay support assembly,
wherein a controller communicatively coupled to the bay support assembly is configured for:
communicating with a microcontroller unit (MCU) in the bay support assembly when the information handling system is powered up to determine i) a device connection identifier for each device connection in the bay support assembly, ii) determine a type of bay support assembly, and iii) a location of the bay support assembly with respect to the chassis based on installation of the set of devices establishing a connection with the keyed tab of the bay that the set of devices are located in; and
determining a communication protocol for each device in the set of devices in the bay based on the type of bay support assembly and the device connection identifier for the device connection.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the controller comprises a baseboard management controller (BMC).

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured for routing communication to a set of devices based on a communication protocol associated with the type of bay support assembly.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein positioning a plurality of partitions relative to the first support plane to form a plurality of bays comprises assembling a first wall and a second wall, wherein each wall comprises device retainers.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein each wall comprises device rails for installing and removing the set of devices.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Strickland Stephen
• Lewis Jeffrey Michael
• Mundt Kevin Warren
• Dube Shawn Joel

Classifications

• H05K7/1489

  characterized by the mounting of blades therein, e.g. brackets, rails, trays (H05K7/1491 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B2219/25257

  Microcontroller · CPC title

• G05B19/042 Primary

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/1487 Primary

  Blade assemblies, e.g. blade cases or inner arrangements within a blade · CPC title