# US 8,751,412 B2 · Method of manufacturing an information handling system

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- Number: US 8,751,412 B2
- Document ID: US8751412B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/457,794
- Filed: 2012-04-27
- Published: 2012-08-16
- Granted: 2014-06-10
- Earliest claimed: 2004-01-23
- Assignees: Dell Products L.P.
- Applicants: Roy Meaney; Philip Brisky; Eric Hoxworth; Joseph Tallieu
- Inventors: Roy Meaney; Philip Brisky; Eric Hoxworth; Joseph Tallieu
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8751412B2

## CPC

- G06Q 90/00: Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
- G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
- G06Q 10/063: Operations research, analysis or management
- G06Q 99/00: Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A method of manufacturing an information handling system having at least one hardware component, e.g. motherboard, bearing a unique identifier (component ID) in software-readable form. The method comprises generating a digital identifier (system trackcode) which defines the hardware and software configuration of the item, storing the system trackcode in association with the component ID in a manufacturing database such that the component ID can be used as a key to retrieve the associated system trackcode. During manufacture the component ID is read from the motherboard and used to retrieve the associated system trackcode from the database.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for manufacturing an information handling system (IHS), comprising:
providing an IHS including a plurality of components;
generating a first signature using the plurality of components at a first stage of manufacture of the IHS;
storing the first signature in a database;
generating a second signature using the plurality of components at a second stage of manufacture of the IHS that is subsequent to the first stage of manufacture of the IHS; and
comparing the second signature to the first signature;
wherein in response to the second signature not matching the first signature, determining that a component change in the IHS has occurred, and wherein in response to the second signature matching the first signature, determining that a component change in the IHS has not occurred.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
halting the manufacture of the IHS in response to determining that the component change in the IHS has occurred.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, further comprising:
replacing the first signature with the second signature in the database.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
continuing the manufacture of the IHS in response to determining that the component change in the IHS has not occurred.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of components include hardware components, and wherein the component change includes a hardware component change.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein each of the first signature and the second signature are generated using computer-readable, component-unique information included on each of the hardware components.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
storing a trackcode that defines a configuration of the IHS in the database and on the IHS.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising:
associating the first signature with the trackcode in the database.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
retrieving the trackcode from the IHS;
using the trackcode to retrieve the first signature from the database for comparison with the second signature.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising:
associating an identifier for at least one of the plurality of components with the trackcode in the database.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the storing the trackcode on the IHS further comprises:
retrieving the identifier from the at least one of the plurality of components; and
using the identifier to retrieve the trackcode from the database such that the trackcode may be stored on the IHS.

### Claim 12

A method for manufacturing an information handling system (IHS), comprising:
manufacturing an IHS including a plurality of hardware components;
generating, at a point during the manufacture of the IHS, a current hardware signature using the plurality of hardware components;
retrieving a previous hardware signature from a database that is external to the IHS; and
comparing the current hardware signature to the previous hardware signature;
wherein in response to the current hardware signature not matching the previous hardware signature, determining that a hardware component change in the IHS has occurred, and wherein in response to the current hardware signature matching the previous hardware signature, determining that a hardware component change in the IHS has not occurred.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, further comprising:
halting the manufacture of the IHS in response to determining that the component change in the IHS has occurred; and
continuing the manufacture of the IHS in response to determining that the component change in the IHS has not occurred.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein each of the current hardware signature and the previous hardware signature are generated using computer-readable, component- unique information included on each of the plurality of hardware components.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, further comprising:
storing a trackcode that defines a configuration of the IHS in the database that is external to the IHS and on the IHS.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the previous hardware signature is associating with the trackcode in the database that is external to the IHS.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, further comprising:
retrieving the trackcode from the IHS;
using the trackcode to retrieve the previous hardware signature from the database that is external to the IHS for comparison with the current hardware signature.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
associating an identifier for at least one of the plurality of hardware components with the trackcode in the database that is external to the IHS.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the storing the trackcode on the IHS further comprises:
retrieving the identifier from the at least one of the plurality of hardware components; and
using the identifier to retrieve the trackcode from the database that is external to the IHS such that the trackcode may be stored on the IHS.

### Claim 20

A method for manufacturing an information handling system (IHS), comprising:
providing an IHS including a plurality of components;
generating an initial signature using the plurality of components at a first stage of manufacture of the IHS;
storing the initial signature in a database;
generating, at each of a plurality of manufacturing stages of the IHS that are subsequent to the first stage of manufacture of the IHS, a current signature using the plurality of components; and
comparing, at each of the plurality of manufacturing stages of the IHS, the current signature to the initial signature;
wherein, at any of the plurality of manufacturing stages of the IHS, determining that a component change in the IHS has occurred in response to the current signature not matching the initial signature, and determining that a component change in the IHS has not occurred in response to the current signature matching the initial signature.