Addition of slot, backplane, chassis and device parametric properties to vital product data (VPD) in a computer system
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsPaul Edward Movall, Thomas James Osten
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an electrical system having a chassis with at least one chassis slot for receiving a chassis electrical device, and at least one connector board with at least one board slot thereon for receiving a connector board electrical device therein, respective memory is provided for storing vital product parametric data associated with the at least one chassis slot, the at least one connector board slot, and the respective electrical devices. The stored vital product parametric data can be accessed by the electrical system to check compatibility.
Claims30
In an electrical system having a connector board with at least one electrical connector thereon for receiving an electrical device therein, a method comprising:
- storing vital product parametric data in memory associated with the connector board;
- and
- accessing the stored vital product parametric data with the electrical system.
In an electrical system having a connector board with at least one electrical connector thereon for receiving an electrical device therein, a method comprising:
- storing vital product parametric data in memory associated with the connector board;
- and
- accessing the stored vital product parametric data with the electrical system;
- wherein the storing vital product parametric data comprises:
- storing information about characteristics of the connector board and the at least one electrical connector;
- wherein the storing information comprises:
- storing physical and electrical characteristics of the connector board and the at least one connector;
- wherein there are a plurality of connectors on the connector board, and wherein the storing physical characteristics comprises:
- storing a respective associated available connector clearance for each of the plurality of connectors, the available connector clearance being dependent on characteristics of the connector board and one or more electrical device connected thereto.
In an electrical system having a connector board with at least one electrical connector thereon for receiving an electrical device therein, a method comprising:
- storing vital product parametric data in memory associated with the connector board;
- and
- accessing the stored vital product parametric data with the electrical system;
- wherein there is at least one electrical device coupled to a connector on the connector board, and wherein the method further comprises:
- storing vital product parametric data associated with the electrical device in memory associated with the electrical device;
- wherein the stored vital product parametric data associated with the electrical device can be accessed when needed;
- wherein the storing vital product parametric data associated with the electrical device comprises:
- storing information about characteristics of the electrical device;
- wherein the storing information about characteristics of the electrical device comprises:
- storing physical and electrical characteristics, including operational capabilities, of the electrical device;
- wherein the storing operational capabilities of the electrical device comprises:
- storing concurrent maintenance information.
An apparatus comprising:
- at least one electrical connector for receiving an electrical device;
- and
- first memory associated with the at least one connector for storing vital product parametric data.
In a computer system having an operating system and having a chassis with at least one chassis slot for receiving a chassis electrical device, at least one backplane having at least one backplane slot for receiving a backplane electrical device, an apparatus which provides respective chassis, backplane, and device parametric data, comprising:
- chassis specific memory for storing chassis slot vital product data;
- backplane slot vital product data memory disposed on the at least one backplane;
- and
- device vital product data memory disposed on a respective electrical device received in one of the respective slots;
- wherein each respective memory stores respective parametric data accessible by the computer system to check compatibility.
In a computer system having an operating system and having a chassis with at least one chassis slot for receiving a chassis electrical device, at least one backplane having at least one backplane slot for receiving a backplane electrical device, an apparatus which provides respective chassis, backplane, and device parametric data, comprising:
- chassis specific memory for storing chassis slot vital product data;
- backplane slot vital product data memory disposed on the at least one backplane;
- and
- device vital product data memory disposed on a respective electrical device received in one of the respective slots;
- wherein each respective memory stores respective parametric data accessible by the computer system to check compatibility;
- wherein the computer system operating system stores hard-coded chassis, backplane, and device parametric data;
- and
- wherein parametric data from an external data source can be accessed and compared with the computer to check compatibility using one of:
- the hard-coded chassis, backplane, or device parametric data stored in the operating system;
- or
- parametric data accessed from respective chassis slot vital product data memory, respective backplane slot vital product data memory, and respective device vital product data memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.