Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Intrasystem connection – Bus interface architecture
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-06
2003-10-21
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Intrasystem connection
Bus interface architecture
C710S047000, C710S062000, C710S067000, C710S104000, C710S300000, C710S305000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06636929
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a management system for a personal computer or server. More particularly, the invention relates to a management system that facilitates the transfer of input/output signals from a remotely-located management console to the computer being managed, so that input devices and peripheral devices at the remote management console can be used to provide data to the computer being managed as if those devices were connected as peripherals of the computer being managed. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system in which a personal computer or server couples to a management sub-system via a Universal Serial Bus (“USB”), and the management sub-system couples to a management console via a suitable connection, so that input/output devices and peripherals at the management console appear as input/output devices and peripherals of the personal computer or server being managed.
2. Background of the Invention
This invention involves the controlling of a personal computer or server using a virtual management console that is remotely located from the computer or server being managed (also referred to as “managed server” or “host computer”). The concept of controlling a computer from a virtual remote terminal is of great interest in many applications, especially in computer networks and in other situations where a user may not be able to physically access the computer. Computer networks such as LAN's (local area networks) have become one of the most important devices for storing and sharing data in a business, and thus, computer networks are one of the most critical pieces of equipment in a business office. A failure in the computer network can cause business operations to grind to a halt. Computer networks typically comprise a plurality of personal computers and other data processing devices connected together for information exchange. At the heart of the computer network is one or more file servers. In most computer networks, file servers are responsible for administrating and storing the documents generated by each of the personal computers (PC's) in the system. In addition to managing the network, file servers also preferably include the capability to monitor faults in the computer network. If a fault or security breach is detected, the file server provides a warning of the fault and in certain instances may, also provide diagnostic operations and may even implement corrective measures.
Files and data are maintained by a host processing system within the server. Servers are designed to provide work stations with fast access to files stored by the server. Accordingly, file servers embody a computer which responds to an operating system program (a popular operating system being, for example, WINDOWS NT®, or NETWARE®) to not only orchestrate the files but also to maintain file security, file backup, or other file management features. One important aspect which flows from maintaining these functions within a server is the capability to manage the server from a remote site, and to even permit management of the server from sites remote from the network. Recently there has been a steady increase in the number of servers that are used in businesses. The trend is to place one or more servers at each location of a business, rather than using a single main frame computer at a centralized location. Typically, a company has an individual or department responsible for administering all of the file servers. In many instances, the administrator or administration department is headquartered at one site. Thus, each of the servers must either be maintained and administrated remotely or else personnel must be transported to remote offices to permit on-site management.
Numerous monitoring systems are available to automatically alert designated persons when a PC, server or software application has failed. When such a failure occurs, the persons being notified may be in a remote location and not able to directly access the failed PC. In such an instance, the person may have access to a computer that is remotely connected to the failed computer or server, but may be unable to access the failed device. These may arise either because the processor in that device has failed and will no longer respond, the application running on the failed computer does not support remote PC access, or the failed computer not have the necessary software installed to permit a remote PC to access it. Various systems exist to permit a PC to be remotely or automatically rebooted, which in many cases restores the PC to normal operation. However, network administrators are reluctant to use such systems without first determining what may have caused the failure, so that similar failures can be prevented in the future.
Operating systems may permit access to the computer or server being managed from a remote site, often call a “virtual terminal.” A virtual terminal, while not physically connected to the computer or server, nonetheless allows remote control of certain operations. Products such as Compaq Server Manager® and Compaq Insight Manager®, obtainable from Compaq Computer Corp., have attempted to address some of the issues involved in managing a network of distributed servers from a single, remote site. These products permit an administrator to be notified of a remote server failure, to reset the server from the remote site, and to access certain information provided on the server. Compaq's Insight Manager® permits remote maintenance of the file server as well as local and remote notification of errors. In addition, Insight Manager® permits the file server to be re-booted from a remote location or from any system on the network. Insight Manager® also provides control facilities including diagnostic capabilities to analyze the condition of the server system configuration and to update system firmware. Insight Manager® collects and monitors server data as well as data from each client in the network and allows the network manager to act on the data from a remote location or any work station on the network. In addition, Insight Manager® includes the capability to set user defined thresholds which permit the server to monitor system parameters and to alert the network manager when an error occurs. Notification in the event of an alert or a failure is delivered in many possible ways including on-screen messages, a pager, e-mail, fax and SNMP.
It is certainly beneficial to allow remote control of certain server functions, especially those needed to reset one or more servers within a network of servers. Downtime caused by server failure may be the most costly expense incurred in running a distributed computer system. The causes of server failure or “crash” are numerous. Any number of malfunctions or design flaws associated with the server hardware, server operating system or application programs running on a server may cause a server to crash. If a server crashes, then file access is often lost and business records are temporarily inaccessible until the cause of failure is fixed.
Various other software systems have been developed that link one PC with other PC's using modems connected over standard telephone lines either directly or via the Internet. These systems permit a host PC to be controlled by a remote PC. Function keys and menus are used in these systems to permit the remote PC to operate the host PC, as if the remote user was physically sitting at the host PC. Some examples of computer packages that function in this manner are Citrix, developed by Citrix Systems, Inc.; Crosstalk, developed by Digital Communications Associates, Inc; Procomm Plus, developed by Datastorm Technologies Inc.; or Unicom, developed by Data Graphics. In commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/775,819, filed Dec. 31, 1996, entitled, “Diagnostic Board With System Video And Keyboard For
Brown Andrew
Frantz Christopher
Hascall Doug
Neufeld E. David
Farooq Mohammad O.
Gaffin Jeffrey
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