Collecting telemetry data of a docking station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12572172-B2
Application number	US-202418656696-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2024
Priority date	May 7, 2024
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

Collecting telemetry data of a docking station, including: storing i) an identifier of an information handling system and ii) user credentials of a user of the information handling system; registering management of the information handling system with an external computing device; registering management of the docking station with the external computing device; storing telemetry data associated with the information handling system; storing telemetry data associated with the docking station; determining that a heartbeat signal from the docking station has not been received within a time threshold, and in response: classifying the docking station as offline, and in response to the classifying: providing a request for i) the user credentials and ii) the telemetry data of the information handling system and the docking station; accessing the shared memory at the docking station; providing i) the user credentials and ii) the telemetry data of the information handling system and the docking station.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method of collecting telemetry data of a docking station, the method including:
storing, by the information handling system and at a shared memory of the docking station, i) an identifier of an information handling system coupled to the docking station and ii) user credentials of a user of the information handling system; registering, by the information handling system, management of the information handling system with an external computing device; registering, by the docking station, management of the docking station with the external computing device; storing, by the information handling system and at the shared memory of the docking station, telemetry data associated with the information handling system; storing, by the docking station at the shared memory of the docking station, telemetry data associated with the docking station; determining, by the external computing device, that a heartbeat signal from the docking station has not been received within a time threshold, and in response:
classifying the docking station as offline, and in response to the classifying:
providing, by the external computing device and to the information handling system, a request for i) the user credentials and ii) the telemetry data of the information handling system and the docking station;
accessing, by the information handling system, the shared memory at the docking station; and
after accessing the shared memory, providing, by the information handling system and to the external computing device, i) the user credentials and ii) the telemetry data of the information handling system and the docking station.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further including storing, at the shared memory of the docking station, an identifier of the docking station.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further including:
identifying, by the information handling system, coupling of the information handling system with the docking station; and in response to identifying the coupling, storing, at the shared memory of the docking station, i) an identifier of the information handling system coupled with the docking station and ii) the user credentials of the user of the information handling system.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein registering management of the information handling system with the external computing device further includes providing, by the information handling system and to the external computing device, the identifier of the information handling system, wherein registering management of the docking station with the external computing device further includes providing, by the docking station and to the external computing device, the identifier of the docking station.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the information handling system is in communication with the shared memory of the docking station over a stateless out-of-band (OOB) channel.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , when the docking station is online, preventing, by the docking station, retrieval access of the shared memory by the information handling system over the OOB channel.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , when the docking station is offline, exposing the shared memory to the information handling system over the OOB channel.

8 . A computing environment, including:
an information handling system comprising a processor having access to memory media storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations; a docking station connected to the information handling system, the docking station comprising a processor having access to memory media storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations, the docking station including a shared memory; an external computing device in communication with the docking station and the information handling system, the external computing device comprising a processor having access to memory media storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations; wherein the information handling system is configured to perform operations:
storing, at a shared memory of the docking station, i) an identifier of an information handling system coupled to the docking station and ii) user credentials of a user of the information handling system;
registering management of the information handling system with an external computing device;
storing, at the shared memory of the docking station, telemetry data associated with the information handling system;
wherein the docking station is configured to perform operations:
registering management of the docking station with the external computing device;
storing, at the shared memory of the docking station, telemetry data associated with the docking station;
wherein the external computing device is configured to perform operations:
determining that a heartbeat signal from the docking station has not been received within a time threshold, and in response:
classifying the docking station as offline, and in response to the classifying:
providing, to the information handling system, a request for i) the user credentials and ii) the telemetry data of the information handling system and the docking station;

wherein, further in response to classifying the docking station as offline, the information handling system is configured to perform operations:
accessing the shared memory at the docking station; and
after accessing the shared memory, providing, to the external computing device, i) the user credentials and ii) the telemetry data of the information handling system and the docking station.

9 . The computing environment of claim 8 , wherein the docking station is configured to perform operations storing, at the shared memory of the docking station, an identifier of the docking station.

10 . The computing environment of claim 8 , wherein the information handling system is configured to perform operations:
identifying coupling of the information handling system with the docking station; and in response to identifying the coupling, storing, at the shared memory of the docking station, i) an identifier of the information handling system coupled with the docking station and ii) the user credentials of the user of the information handling system.

11 . The computing environment of claim 8 ,
wherein registering management of the information handling system with the external computing device further includes providing, by the information handling system and to the external computing device, the identifier of the information handling system, wherein registering management of the docking station with the external computing device further includes providing, by the docking station and to the external computing device, the identifier of the docking station.

12 . The computing environment of claim 8 , wherein the information handling system is in communication with the shared memory of the docking station over a stateless out-of-band (OOB) channel.

13 . The computing environment of claim 12 , wherein the docking station is configured to perform operations:
when the docking station is online, preventing retrieval access of the shared memory by the information handling system over the OOB channel.

14 . The computing environment of claim 13 , wherein the docking station is configured to perform operations:
when the docking station is offline, exposing the shared memory to the information handling system over the OOB channel.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Vajravel Gokul Thiruchengode
• H V Ramanaa
• Rajagopalan Srinivasa Ragavan

Classifications

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• G06F1/1632 Primary

  External expansion units, e.g. docking stations · CPC title