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US 2004/0002877 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for using a MAC address as a unique machine parameter to identify equipment
OwnerMichael F. Angelo, E. David Neufeldinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosed embodiments relate to verifying whether equipment is within a promised warranty period before warranty service is performed on the equipment. In one embodiment, the MAC address of a computer system is used to verify whether the computer system is covered by a promised warranty.
Claims20
A system for determining if a piece of equipment is covered by a warranty, the system comprising:
- a registration database adapted to store registration information identifying the piece of equipment;
- at least a portion of a MAC address corresponding to the piece of equipment, the at least a portion of the MAC address being adapted to create an identifier to be stored in the registration database as part of the registration information;
- and
- whereby the registration database may be accessed responsive to a request for warranty services on the piece of equipment and the identifier used to determine whether the piece of equipment is covered by a promised warranty.
1 more element
A method of verifying whether a piece of equipment is covered by a promised warranty, the piece of equipment having a MAC address, the method comprising the acts of:
- using at least a portion of the MAC address to create an identifier for the piece of equipment;
- storing the identifier in a registration database;
- and
- responding to a request for warranty services on the piece of equipment by accessing the registration database and using the identifier to determine if the piece of equipment is covered by a promised warranty.
1 more element
A registration database, comprising:
- a plurality of identifier entries, each of the identifier entries comprising at least a portion of a MAC address, the at least a portion of the MAC address corresponding to a piece of equipment;
- a plurality of configuration entries, each of the configuration entries associated with one of the plurality of identifier entries;
- and
- whereby the registration database may be accessed responsive to a request for warranty services on the piece of equipment and a corresponding identifier entry and configuration entry used to determine whether the piece of equipment is covered by a promised warranty.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.