Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Peripheral monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-23
2004-12-14
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Peripheral monitoring
C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C709S223000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832271
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to computer-implemented methods and apparatus for monitoring I/O status in a computer system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a USB status monitoring utility for monitoring status information pertaining to USB devices, hubs, and adapters in a computer system.
In the modern computer system, many different I/O devices may be connected to the system bus via a variety of hubs and adapters. By way of example, there exists in the industry a protocol known as USB (Universal Serial Bus), which governs how different devices in compliance therewith may be interconnected in a computer system. USB devices have rapidly gained wide acceptance in the market place because of their plug-and-play capability, as well as their hot-swappable capability. Consequently, there exists in the market place a wide variety of printers, disk drives, smart card readers, CD ROM's, computer mice, joysticks, and other I/O devices utilizing the USB protocol.
From the hardware perspective, the USB protocol vastly improves user-friendliness since devices employing the USB protocol require very little technical expertise to configure and to set up. In fact, many popular operating systems such as Windows™ by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. and Mac-OS™ by Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif. are even pre-loaded with USB drivers for a large number of USB devices, making the task of configuring a USB device for use even simpler for users.
From a software perspective, however, the same level of user-friendliness has not been found. Although the USB devices are easy to interconnect and set up, users often desire the ability to efficiently monitor, via software, the various USB devices connected to the computer system, to obtain easy-to-understand information regarding how the various USB devices are connected to the various hubs and adapters of the computer system (such as which USB device is connected to which port of which hub), and to obtain performance information pertaining to the connected USB devices.
To obtain status information pertaining to the connected USB devices, users nowadays typically resort to software utilities provided with the operating system, which are typically designed to provide operating system-level information for all classes of I/O devices. However, there are many shortcomings associated with these built-in utilities.
To further elaborate, consider the built-in utilities associated with two dominant operating systems: Windows Device Manager under the Windows™ operating system and Apple Systems Profiler under Apple Computer's Mac-OS9 and Mac OSX operating systems.
FIG. 1
is a prior art illustration of a window
100
for displaying I/O device status information in a Windows-based computer system. The Device Manager utility implemented by window
100
is typically activated through a series of steps starting with the user clicking on the START button under Windows, which brings up a menu from which the user can select the selection “SETTINGS.” Selecting the selection “SETTINGS” brings up another list of selections from which the user may choose the selection “CONTROL PANEL,” which further brings up another list of selections from which the user may choose the selection “SYSTEM PROPERTIES.” By selecting the selection “SYSTEM PROPERTIES,” yet another list of selections will appear from which the user may choose the selection “DEVICE MANAGER,” thereby causing window
100
to appear.
Using the Windows-based Device Manager utility of
FIG. 1
, the user may click on individual selections to obtain more detailed information. For example, the user may select the “HID-compliant mouse” selection
102
to obtain further information about this human interface device mouse. The selection of HID-compliant mouse will bring up yet another window from which the user may view either the general information pertaining to HID-compliant mouse
102
(such as device type, manufacturer, hardware version) or driver information (such as driver provider, driver date, and digital signer, if any).
As can be appreciated from the foregoing, by drilling down the various selections under the Windows-based Device Manager utility, a lot of technical information pertaining to the I/O devices may be obtained. Although the Windows-based Device Manager utility of
FIG. 1
appears to give quite detailed information about the various I/O devices attached to the associated Windows-based computer system, there are several drawbacks. For example, it is very difficult, if possible at all, to obtain the answer to questions such as how many USB devices are currently attached to this Windows-based computer system, which USB device is connected to which port of which hub, whether data transfer is currently taking place vis-à-vis a particular USB device, and whether the interconnection between USB devices and hubs are such that performance is optimized.
Furthermore, a user delving into the details of the various selections presented in window
100
may be provided with information that is redundant from selection to selection. For example, the information contained in HID-compliant mouse
102
is also shown under a Mouse selection, which is listed under selection Human Interface Devices
104
, since HID-compliant mouse
102
is both a mouse (which causes it to be listed under the selection “MICE AND OTHER POINTING DEVICES”
106
as well as a human interface device, which causes that mouse
102
to also be listed under the selection “HUMAN INTERFACE DEVICES”
104
.
The listing of a device under multiple tabs in window
100
makes the navigation confusing and the task of monitoring and obtaining information about the I/O devices connected with the associated Windows-based computer system logically difficult for the user to follow. Ironically, this is exactly counter to what the USB protocol was trying to provide: a simple, intuitive, user-friendly way to work with I/O devices.
The situation is a little better with Apple Computer's Mac-OS built-in utilities, but some fundamental problems remain.
FIG. 2
shows a prior art window
200
, which implements the utility Apple System Profiler for computers running Apple's MAC OS9 and MAC OSX operating systems. Using the Apple System Profiler utility, it is easier to obtain information pertaining to USB devices since they are displayed in a hierarchical tree format showing hubs and the various USB devices connected to each hub. Although the Apple System Profiler is navigationally and visually more user-friendly than the Windows Device Manager utility of
FIG. 1
, it is still very difficult, if possible at all, to obtain answers to some basic questions, such as which USB device is connected to which port of which USB hub, whether data transfer is currently taking place with respect to a particular USB device, and whether the interconnection between the USB devices and USB hubs in the associated computer system is optimal from a performance perspective.
These issues are important to computer users as USB devices become more available and accepted. Many computers already have multiple built-in USB adapters, and a power user may daisy-chain multiple USB hubs to each USB adapter, with multiple USB devices connected to each USB hub. In the absence of a software utility that can furnish information regarding which USB device is connected to which port of which hub, the only alternative for users is to crawl behind the computer desk and to physically trace each wire. This lack of information partially negates the hot-swappable and plug-and-play advantages provided by the USB devices.
Further, USB devices and hubs may come in different versions, each of which may have different levels of performance. For example, a hub or device conforming to USB specification 2.0 is expected to handle data 40 times faster than hubs and devices that conform to USB specification 1.1. When a fast USB device (e.g., one implementing USB 2.0) is plugged into a hub implementing USB 1.1, the performance of that fast USB device is e
Ivan Jason
Lim Wai-Loong
Schure Pamela
Truesdell Claudia
Zhou James
Adaptec, Inc.
Chen Alan
Gaffin Jeffrey
IP Strategy Group PC
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