Server information handling system wireless management and topology

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9807728-B2
Application number	US-201514755284-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2015
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A datacenter server information handling system topology is determined from Bluetooth Low Energy beacon signals communicated with a mobile information handling system that provides multiple ranges temporally related as the mobile information handling system moves through the datacenter. Server information handling system positions are determined and mapped relative to each other and also relative to position information detected in the datacenter, such as with a camera or accelerometer disposed in the mobile information handling system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile information handling system comprising:
a portable housing;
a processor disposed in the portable housing and operable to execute instructions to process information;
a memory disposed in the portable housing and interfaced with the processor, the memory operable to store the information;
a display disposed in the portable housing and interfaced with the processor and memory, the display operable to present the information as visual images;
a wireless networking interface card interfaced with the processor and operable to determine a range to an external transmitter sending a wireless signal having a predetermined protocol; and
a topology module stored in the memory and having instructions operable to execute on the processor, the topology module operable to track plural ranges to each of plural external transmitters and present a map of the relative positions of the plural external transmitters to each other on the display, the plural external transmitters coupled to plural server information handling systems, the map depicting a topology of the server information handling systems in a data center.

2. The mobile information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
a location sensor disposed in the portable housing and interfaced with the topology module to provide location information of the portable housing;
wherein the topology module applies the location information to map the relative positions in relation to the location information.

3. The mobile information handling system of claim 2 wherein the location sensor comprises a camera operable to capture an image having the location information.

4. The mobile information handling system of claim 3 wherein the location information comprises location marks disposed on a floor of the data center.

5. The mobile information handling system of claim 2 wherein the location sensor comprises an accelerometer operable to detect motion of the housing relative to a known location fix in the data center.

6. The mobile information handling system of claim 1 wherein the plural external transmitters comprise a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon at each of plural server information handling systems, each beacon having a defined signal strength and a unique identifier.

7. The mobile information handling system of claim 6 wherein the beacon transmits only and does not respond to received transmissions.

8. The mobile information handling system of claim 6 wherein the beacon responds to received transmissions associated with a ranged of less than a predetermined distance.

9. A method for mapping plural server information handling systems in a datacenter, the method comprising:
communicating wireless personal area network signals between each of the plural server information handling systems and one or more mobile information handling systems to detect plural ranges for each of the plural server information handling systems at plural times as the one or more mobile information handling system moves through the datacenter;
relating the plural ranges temporally to map relative positions of the plural server information handling systems to each other; and
presenting the map at a display of the one or more mobile information handling systems.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein communicating wireless personal area network signals further comprises:
transmitting the wireless personal area network signals from the one or more mobile information handling systems as a beacon received by each of the plural server information handling systems;
sending the plural ranges from each of the server information handling systems to a topology tool through a management network; and
relating the plural ranges temporally at the topology module.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
transmitting the wireless personal area network signals from the plural server information handling systems to the one or more mobile information handling systems as beacons received by each of the one or more mobile information handling systems; and
relating the plural ranges temporally with a topology module executing on the mobile information handling system.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:
presenting instructions on the one or more mobile information handling systems indicating a movement vector for movement of the one or more mobile information handling systems to aid the gathering of relative positions; and
moving the one or more mobile information handling systems responsive to the movement vector.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein presenting instructions further comprises:
detecting accelerations at the one or more mobile information handling systems with an accelerometer disposed in the one or more mobile information handling systems; and
applying the accelerations to determine the movement vector.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
capturing position information with a camera disposed in the one or more mobile information handling systems; and
applying the position information with the plural ranges to map the relative positions of the plural server information handling systems.

15. A system for mapping a data center server information handling system topology, the system comprising:
a mobile information handling system having a wireless personal area network device operable to communicate wireless personal area network signals;
plural server information handling systems, each server information handling system having a wireless personal area network device operable to communicate wireless personal area network signals; and
a topology module operable to retrieve plural ranges determined from the wireless personal area network communications at plural times for plural of the server information handling systems to map the relative positions of the server information handling systems to each other.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the wireless personal area network communications comprise a beacon transmitting from the mobile information handling system and received by the plural server information handling systems, the plural server information handling systems forwarding the plural ranges determined from the beacon to the topology module.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the wireless personal area network communications comprise a beacon transmitting from the plural server information handling systems and received by the mobile information handling systems, the mobile server information handling systems executing the topology module to analyze the plural ranges determined from the beacon.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the wireless personal area network communications comprise Bluetooth Low Energy beacon signals.

19. The system of claim 15 further comprising a camera disposed in the mobile information handling system, the camera operable to capture one or more images having one or more position markers in the datacenter, the topology module mapping the server information handling systems relative to the one or more position markers.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising an accelerometer disposed in the mobile information handling system, the accelerometer operable to capture motion information indicating the relative position of the mobile information handling system to a position marker, the topology module mapping the server information handling systems relative to the one or more position makers based upon the motion.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Barrett Robert
• Shrestha Saurav

Classifications

• H04L41/12 Primary

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04W64/003 Primary

  locating network equipment · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/043

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic