JP2006155247A - Constituting unit information collection device, system and program for multiple information processors - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means for collecting, in an environment including a plurality of information processors composed of a plurality of component units, the ID information of the component units in a lump in association with each component unit with a system device mounted therewith, while considering customer security. <P>SOLUTION: One RF-ID tag writing ID information of each component unit is attached to each of a plurality of component units of information processors, and the ID information is collected in a lump by use of radio communication. One RF-ID tag reader and a data storage RF-ID tag is attached to each information processor, and component unit ID information in the device concerned is read by use of the RF-ID tag reader, and stored in the information storage RF-ID with the unique ID of the information processor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for collecting information on constituent units constituting an information processing apparatus in order to maintain the information processing apparatus.

  An information processing apparatus is usually composed of a plurality of replaceable constituent units. These component units have data indicating the type of the component unit, data indicating the production lot, data indicating the firmware version, and the like as ID information of the component unit. These data are marked on the surface of the component unit or recorded in an internal ROM.

These pieces of ID information of the constituent units are important information for determining a part replacement target and a firmware update target for the purpose of common defect countermeasures.
Conventionally, there have been the following two methods for collecting information on component units of an information processing apparatus.
Method 1: A method of visually reading information recorded on a component unit with stickers or markings.
Method 2: The information processing apparatus is provided with a mechanism for collecting configuration unit information, and the above-described mechanism is used by using a command interface such as an operating system operating on the information processing apparatus or a management computer incorporated in the information processing apparatus. How to collect using
Normally, the function of the information processing device such as method .2 is used, and method .1 is performed only when method .2 cannot be used.

  On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-201481, ID information of a component unit constituting a device is recorded on an RF-ID tag (Radio Frequency ID, hereinafter referred to as RF-ID tag), and this is recorded in an RF-ID reader device Is used to collect and manage the configuration units.

  Here, the RF-ID tag refers to a wireless reading type electronic tag equipped with an IC chip and an antenna. For basic information on the RF-ID tag, refer to “Survey on advanced utilization of electronic tags in the era of ubiquitous networks”. According to the Interim Report of the Study Group (URL: http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2003/pdf/030818_4_03a.pdf).

JP 2004-201481 A Interim Report of "Survey Study Group on Advanced Utilization of RFID Tags in the Age of Ubiquitous Networks"

  However, in Method 1., it is very cumbersome to collect information on all the component units in the information processing device, it is easy to make mistakes due to human copying, and it is difficult to use as a database. There was a problem. Also, in Method 2, if there are multiple information processing devices, it must be done for the number of devices, it must be collected using the customer's network environment or information processing device, etc., and data must be taken out from the customer system environment There was a problem such as having to consider security because there is.

  Furthermore, although the method shown in Patent Document 1 can be applied when there is only one target device, if a plurality of devices that can have the same configuration unit are installed close to each other, RF -There was a problem that the mounting relationship between the configuration unit and the device could not be determined based on the configuration unit ID read by the ID reader device.

  In the present invention, an RF-ID tag reader is provided in each of a plurality of information processing apparatuses, and an RF-ID tag in which ID information of the constituent unit is recorded is attached to the constituent unit in the information processing apparatus. Furthermore, the information stored in the RF-ID tag is read by the above-mentioned RF-ID tag reader, the device-specific ID is added to the information, and the information is stored in the only information storage RF-ID tag, which is maintained. The batch is read with the RF-ID reader of the external maintenance staff terminal.

  The unit information of a plurality of information processing apparatuses can be collected at once. Or it can be collected without using the customer's network environment or other resources. Alternatively, it is possible to collect data excluding the possibility of taking out data related to other than the constituent units.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the system of the present invention. The system according to the present embodiment includes information processing apparatuses A, B, and C installed in the vicinity and a maintenance staff terminal 1. The information processing apparatuses A, B, and C will be described assuming a blade server, for example.

  The information processing apparatus A is roughly divided into constituent units 13, 15, 17 and an in-apparatus reader / writer 12. The configuration units 13, 15, and 17 are, for example, a CPU, a memory, a chip set, and an HDD. As described above, when the information processing apparatus includes at least one constituent unit, one RF-ID tag 14, 16, 18 is attached to each constituent unit.

  Each RF-ID tag 14, 16, 18 stores ID information regarding the attached component unit. The ID information related to the constituent unit is information indicating which change the individual corresponds to among the changes related to the constituent unit. Recording is performed in the manufacturing process of the constituent unit. Therefore, the RF-ID tags 14, 16, and 18 are attached to the information processing apparatus in a state where the ID information of the constituent units is written. A typical example of ID information to be recorded is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows six types of information as examples of ID information. That is, configuration unit type information # 1, configuration unit individual ID information # 2, manufacturing lot information # 3, revision information # 4, change history information # 5, and firmware information # 6.

  The type information # 1 is a character string indicating the type of the constituent unit, and specifically uses a part number assigned for each product model number. The individual ID information # 2 uses a production number (serial number) assigned to each product. Therefore, the product can be specified by the type information # 1 and the individual ID information # 2.

  The product lot information # 3 uses a lot number. The lot number is a unit for producing the same product together, and can be used to identify products of the same quality. The revision is a number that is updated when there is a change in one model number. Firmware information # 6 is information indicating the version of the firmware stored at the time of factory shipment. By having these pieces of information in the constituent units, it becomes possible to appropriately grasp each constituent unit and its state during maintenance.

  Returning to FIG. 1 for further explanation, the information processing apparatus A has an in-apparatus RF-ID reader / writer 12. The in-device RF-ID reader / writer 12 includes a storage device 21 that stores a device-specific ID 22, a control device 19, an RF-ID reader 20, an RF-ID writer 23, and an information storage RF-ID tag 24.

  The storage device 21 is a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM, and stores a device ID 22 that identifies an individual device. The device ID 22 is, for example, a combination of model number information (part number) and serial number of the information processing device An itself. The timing at which the device ID is written is, for example, when the device is manufactured.

  The control device 19 controls the RF-ID reader 20, the RF-ID writer 23, and the information storage RF-ID tag 24 to perform a predetermined operation. A flow of reading the ID information of the constituent units by the control device 19 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The RF-ID reader 20 reads ID information of each constituent unit from the RF-ID tags 14, 16, and 18 attached to the constituent unit inside the information processing apparatus by wireless communication. The RF-ID writer 23 writes data to the information storing RF-ID tag 24 by wired communication or wireless communication.

  The information storage RF-ID tag 24 stores the collected ID information, update flag, and value indicating the end of data. An example of typical information stored in the information storage RF-ID tag is shown in FIG. # 1 is a flag indicating whether or not the content of the information storage RF-ID tag has been updated. For example, 0 indicates no update and 1 indicates update. In FIG. 3, # 2 to # n + 1 indicate ID information for each of the constituent units 13, 15, and 17 included in the information processing apparatus A. This is information acquired from each component unit using the reader 20. “N + 2” is a value indicating the end of data.

  Note that it is desirable to use an RF-ID tag of a frequency for the information storing RF-ID tag and the RF-ID tag of each of the above-described constituent units even if they are different communication methods or the same communication method. This is to prevent crosstalk by using different frequencies inside and outside the device.

  Next, the maintenance staff terminal 1 will be described. The maintenance staff terminal 1 is a device used for collecting ID information of constituent units from the outside of the information processing device.

  The reader terminal 1 for maintenance personnel of the present embodiment has the following devices. That is, an interface 2 such as an RF-ID reader 4, an RF-ID writer 5, a data storage device 6 for storing the ID information of the component unit of the read information processing apparatus, and a button for instructing the maintenance staff to read the ID information. An interface 2 such as an LED indicating that reading has been completed, and a control device 3 for controlling them. In addition to this, it may be configured to have a display for displaying the read information and ID information of the constituent units stored in the data storage device, a keyboard for performing input processing, and the like.

  The RF-ID reader 4 reads the contents of the information storing RF-ID tags 14, 16, 18 in the plurality of information processing apparatuses. The control device 3 receives a reading instruction from the maintenance staff through the interface 2 such as a button, and controls the RF-ID reader 4 to read and read the contents of the RF-ID tags for storing information of a plurality of information processing devices. Data is stored in the data storage device 6. Further, the control device 3 controls the RF-ID writer 5 to write necessary data in the information storage RF-ID tag 24 of the information processing device. For example, when there is a change in the configuration of the information processing apparatus A, it may be configured to perform a writing process as necessary. Note that the RF-ID writer 5 may not be included.

  The above is the configuration for reading the ID information of the constituent units of the information processing apparatus in the maintenance staff terminal. A flow of processing for collecting ID information of component units mounted in a plurality of information processing apparatuses using these mechanisms will be described below with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows a flow of collecting ID information of the constituent units in the in-device reader / writer 12. The process of FIG. 4 is executed as an application program of the information processing apparatus A.

  At the start of processing, the control device 19 is in a waiting state for a read command (step 401). When the read command is input, the control device 19 controls the RF-ID reader to start from the RF-ID tag of the component unit in the information processing device A. Reading of the ID information of the constituent unit is started (step 403). The device ID information read from the storage device storing the device-specific ID is added to the ID information of the first component unit read (step 405). That is, the model number and serial number of the information processing apparatus A itself are added to each piece of information shown in FIG. The control device controls the RF-ID writer mechanism and writes this information in the information storing RF-ID tag (step 407). Further, “1” is written in the update flag in the information storing RF-ID tag (step 409). Next, the same operation is performed for the ID information of the second component unit. This is performed on the ID information of all the constituent units that have been read. When the ID information of the last component unit is written (step 411), the control device 19 writes a value indicating the end of the data in the information storing RF-ID tag (step 413). Through these series of operations, ID information of all the constituent units in the information processing apparatus is stored in the information storage RF-ID tag in the information processing apparatus.

  As described above, when the information processing apparatus A acquires information from the constituent units in the own apparatus, the information processing apparatus A adds the ID of the own apparatus and stores it in the information storage RF-ID tag 24. With such a configuration, even when a plurality of information processing apparatuses are densely adjacent to each other, it is possible to distinguish them from constituent units of other information processing apparatuses.

  In this embodiment, when acquiring information from the configuration unit, the ID of the own device is added in advance. However, for example, when a read request is received from the maintenance worker reader terminal, the ID is added. Also good. Furthermore, instead of adding an ID to the information of each component unit, the ID information of one component unit is one unit, or the ID information of all the component units constituting the information processing apparatus A is one unit. The device unique ID 22 may be added. In the latter case, the process of step 405 is performed between step 411 and step 413.

  FIG. 5 shows a flow of collecting ID information of the constituent units of a plurality of information processing apparatuses using a maintenance worker reader terminal. The process of FIG. 5 is executed as a program on the maintenance worker leader terminal.

  When the control device 3 of the reader terminal for maintenance personnel receives a read command through the interface 2 such as a button (step 501), the control device 3 controls the RF-ID reader to receive data from the information storage RF-ID tags of a plurality of information processing devices. Read (step 503). In order to classify the acquired ID information for each information processing device as described later, first, in step 503, the device unique ID of each information processing device is acquired. Thus, by acquiring the device unique ID in advance, the maintenance quoting terminal can grasp what kind of device unique ID the configuration information is collected for the information processing device having the device unique ID. Therefore, it is possible to deal with devices having different device unique ID formats by acquiring the device unique ID during processing.

  When the update flag of the data read in step 503 is confirmed and it is “1” (step 505), the read data is stored in the data storage device (step 507). If the data update flag is not “1”, it is determined that the data has not been updated and is not stored in the data storage device. Each time a value indicating the end of data is read in the read data (step 509), “0” is written to the data update flag of the information storage RF-ID tag of the information processing device having the device ID included in the data ( In step 511, it is further checked whether the data is the last information processing apparatus (step 513). If it is not the last, the same processing is executed for the data of the next information processing device, and the processing continues until the data of the last information processing device is processed. Through a series of these operations, the ID information of all the constituent units in the plurality of information processing devices is collected in the data storage device in the maintenance worker reader terminal.

  The ID information collected in this way, for example, the ID information of the constituent units 13, 15, and 17 has the device unique ID 22 of the information processing device A. Therefore, the maintenance citation terminal device can identify whether the information processing device is a unit by sorting using this ID information. Note that this is the same in FIG. 4 when the device unique ID is attached as a unit of the constituent unit or when all the constituent units are assigned as a unit.

  In the ID information collection operation of the above constituent units, it is not necessary to use a customer network or other resources related to the information processing apparatus in order to collect ID information by wireless communication means using an RF-ID tag. Further, only the ID information recorded in the RF-ID tag of each component unit can be collected using the mechanism of the present invention, and any customer system information built using the target information processing apparatus is collected. I can't. For this reason, consideration about a customer's security can be reduced.

  In a situation where not only the information processing device is targeted but also a plurality of objects are each composed of a plurality of component units, and it is not possible to explicitly distinguish which object the component units are in. Using the tag, the ID information of the constituent units can be collected separately for each object. As described above, the information processing apparatus and its constituent units can be collected in association with each other based on the ID information unique to the apparatus in the read data.

  In the above embodiment, the configuration unit and the reader / writer in the apparatus, the reader / writer in the apparatus, and the terminals for maintenance personnel are connected by RF-ID communication. However, the configuration unit and the reader / writer in the apparatus may be wired. That is, it may have a configuration similar to that of JP 2004-201481 A. However, even in that case, the apparatus unique ID 22 is assigned to the ID information collected from each component unit, as in the above embodiment. With such a configuration, it is possible to collect configuration information in a batch operation for a dense information processing apparatus.

It is a block diagram which shows the block diagram of a system. It is a figure which shows ID information of a configuration unit. It is a figure which shows the content of the RF-ID tag for information storage. It is a configuration unit ID information collection flow diagram inside the information processing apparatus. It is a configuration unit ID information collection flow diagram by the maintenance personnel leader terminal.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... Maintenance personnel terminal, 2 ... Operation interface provided for maintenance personnel terminal, 3 ... Control device for controlling functions of maintenance personnel terminal, 4 ... Maintenance personnel terminal RF-ID reader, 5 ... RF-ID writer provided in maintenance personnel terminal, 6 ... Data storage device provided in maintenance personnel terminal, 7 ... 3 controls 4, 5, 6 , 8... 4 and 5 and 24 wireless communication, 9... 4 and 5 and 30 wireless communication, 10... 4 and 5 and 32 wireless communication, 11 ... Information processing device (A), 12 ... 11 internal RF-ID reader / writer, 13 ... 11 internal component units, 14 ... 13 RF-ID tag storing information, 15 ... 11 internal component units, 16 ... RF-ID tags storing 15 information, 17 ... 11 internal component units, 18 ... RF-ID tags storing 17 information, 19 ... 12 internal control device, 20 ... 12 internal RF-ID 21 ... 12 internal storage device, 22 ... 21 unique ID information stored in 21, 23 ... 12 internal RF-ID writer, 24 ... 12 internal information storage RF-ID, 25... 19 controls 20, 21, 23, 24, 26... 20 and 14 wireless communication lines, 27... 20 and 16 wireless communications , 28... 20 and 18 wireless communication lines, 29... Information processing device B (device having hardware equivalent to 11), 30... 29 information storage RF-ID 31 ... Information processing device C (device having hardware equivalent to 11), 32 ... 31 information storage RF-ID,

Claims (3)

A storage device for storing the device unique ID;
A plurality of constituent units each having ID information;
A reader for extracting information from the constituent units;
A control device for adding the device unique ID to the ID information read by the reader;
An information processing apparatus that outputs ID information to which an apparatus unique ID is added to an external terminal apparatus via wireless communication. Obtaining each ID information from a plurality of constituent units;
Adding a device unique ID stored in a storage device to each acquired ID information;
A program comprising a step of outputting ID information with the device unique ID added to an external terminal device via wireless communication. A reader for acquiring configuration information from a plurality of information processing apparatuses via wireless communication;
A control device that classifies ID information related to a configuration unit for each of a plurality of information processing devices using a unique ID of the information processing device from the configuration information;
An external terminal device comprising a storage device for storing classified ID information.

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