Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention
Claims1, 9-10, & 15-16 are rejected under 35 USC § 112 (b) due to the use of the word “and/or" that makes the claim unclear (indefinite).
Claims 2-7 are also rejected under 112b due to their dependencies on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 1 & 4-7 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1)
An apparatus comprising: circuitry to, during a boot of a power supply unit (PSU) connected to a computer platform, receive a ( [0010] The genuine battery 101 is a battery manufactured by a manufacturer of the electronic device 100 (hereinafter, referred to as a device manufacturer), or a battery manufactured by a manufacturer (hereinafter, referred to as a genuine battery manufacturer) authorized by the device manufacturer to manufacture the battery. The genuine battery 101 is labeled with the same brand name as that given on the electronic device 100. The genuine battery 101 includes an authentication IC 104. The authentication IC 104 is an information device storing information for performing authentication between the authentication IC 104 and the paired authentication IC 105. [0009] The control portion 106 controls the operation of the power supply portion 107 based on the authentication result sent from the authentication IC 105. Specifically, when the battery is authenticated successfully in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 permits the operation of the power supply portion 107. On the other hand, when the battery is not authenticated in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 does not permit the operation of the power supply portion 107.]
based on, at least, failure to authenticate the (firmware identifier) or manufacturer identifier of the PSU, the circuitry is to deny access to data and/or power from the PSU. [0009] The control portion 106 controls the operation of the power supply portion 107 based on the authentication result sent from the authentication IC 105. Specifically, when the battery is authenticated successfully in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 permits the operation of the power supply portion 107. On the other hand, when the battery is not authenticated in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 does not permit the operation of the power supply portion 107.]
Although, Iwai teaches authentication of PSU/Battery based on Manufacturer Identifier, as shown above, he does not teach explicitly, however, Liedtke teaches receive a firmware identifier associated with the PSU and determine whether the PSU is approved to utilize, wherein: based on, at least, authentication of the firmware identifier of the PSU, the circuitry is to permit access to data and/or power from the PSU. [[0067] In the scenario of FIG. 7C, Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 attempts to authenticate PRoT 702 based on the received certificate. If the certificate or a calculation (e.g., hash) based on the certificate matches an expected certificate or value, Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 assembles a complete firmware (FW) image for one or more of: BMC, CPU, CPU socket (e.g., CSME, Authenticated Code Modules (ACMs), etc.) and any other programmable devices with pre-configured settings. A firmware image can include components such as runtime BMC firmware, SPS/ME and BIOS firmware images as well as firmware/configuration for various platform components including power supply units (PSU), voltage regulators (DigVR) and programmable backplane (HSBP). Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 can use a pre-stored firmware template to create a firmware image (IFWI) based on hardware configuration of platform 700. A firmware template could define components such as executable binary, configuration parameters, upgrade/downgrade policies (including reset requirements), external ingredient dependencies, and security/execution flow policies (e.g., keep out regions based on reset/power flows). Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 can transmit the firmware image to platform 700. PRoT 702 can authenticate the firmware image using unique hardware IDs, computed hashes or other security authentication approaches. If the firmware image is authenticated or verified, PRoT 702 loads the firmware image into firmware memory (e.g., encrypted volatile memory). PRoT 702 can reconfigure BMC 706 using the authenticated firmware image and allow CPU 708-0 or 708-1 to power-up and boot using firmware. For example, the firmware can be received from Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710.]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai with the disclosure of Liedtke. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques managing booting operation based on firmware of devices including power sources. (abstract, para 0001 & 0055, Liedtke)
Regarding claim 4, although Iwai does not explicitly teach, however, Liedtke teaches wherein the determine whether the PSU is approved to utilize is based on access to an encrypted database of approved firmware and device identifiers. [paragraphs 0085-0086: Security database 530 may also store information about servers or various other network devices of BMS 400 such as data about which version of software the network devices are operating on, IP addresses and other identifiers for the network devices, online/offline statuses, protocols that the network devices are implementing, and various network characteristics of BMS 400. Other examples of data associated with network devices may include, but are not limited to, allow HTTP (e.g., allow the network devices to access insecure websites), advanced security, issue severity levels, anti-spyware software version number, device diagnostic attributes (e.g., battery condition, CPU usage, flash usage, object memory, memory usage, CPU temp, estimated flash available, etc.), firewall settings, and firmware versions. The data defining characteristics of various network devices may be associated with values that can be updated by a user and/or an administrator. The characteristics or attributes of the data can be associated with a look-up table indicating if the values of the data are associated with issues and, if they are, the severity of the issues. Each issue may be associated with a policy recommendation for how to resolve it so malicious parties cannot exploit the issue to gain access to BMS 400. Evaluator 522 may be configured to identify issues and information about user accounts and network devices of BMS 400 by comparing the settings and/or configurations of each user account or network device with the issues stored in security database 530 of cyber health management system 504. For a user account or a network device, evaluator 522 may compare each individual setting of the user account or network device to the critical issues of security database 530 and determine if a setting matches a critical issue or a potential risk. If a setting does not match a critical issue or a potential risk, evaluator 522 may otherwise determine the setting to be informational. In some cases, evaluator 522 may identify multiple critical issues and/or potential risks for a single user account or server. In some cases, evaluator 522 may identify multiple user accounts or servers that are associated with the same critical issue or potential risk. It is obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the art that security database could also be an encrypted one] ]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai with the disclosure of Liedtke. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques managing booting operation based on firmware of devices including power sources. (abstract, para 0001 & 0055, Liedtke)
Regarding claim 5, Iwai teaches comprising the computer platform and wherein the computer platform comprises the circuitry. [0090] The authentication IC 22 executes authentication processing between the battery charger and the battery mounted in the battery mounting portion (not shown). Specifically, the authentication IC 22 requires the battery to provide its authentication information, compares the authentication information sent from the battery with authentication information stored in the authentication IC 22, and outputs a comparison result (authentication result) to the control portion 21. Although in Embodiment 2, the authentication IC 22 is realized by an IC (integrated circuit), the present invention is not limited thereto, as long as it can store at least the authentication information.
Regarding claim 6, Iwai teaches wherein the PSU comprises a power distribution unit for multiple platforms. [0006] The electronic device 100 includes an authentication IC 105, a control portion 106, and a power supply portion 107. The electronic device 100 is not limited particularly, as long as it can be operated by electric power supplied by a battery. The electronic device 100 is preferably a portable device such as a video camera, a digital camera, and a mobile phone terminal.
Regarding claim 7, Liedtke teaches wherein the server comprises the circuitry. [0016] Computing platform 100 can use at least processors 102-0 and memory 104-0 to execute operating system 108-0, applications, or virtualized execution environments (VEEs). A virtualized execution environment can include at least a virtual machine or a container. A virtual machine (VM) can be software that runs an operating system and one or more applications. A VM can be defined by specification, configuration files, virtual disk file, non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) setting file, and the log file and is backed by the physical resources of a host computing platform. A VM can be an operating system (OS) or application environment that is installed on software, which imitates dedicated hardware. The end user has the same experience on a virtual machine as they would have on dedicated hardware. Specialized software, called a hypervisor, emulates the PC client or server's CPU, memory, hard disk, network and other hardware resources completely, enabling virtual machines to share the resources. The hypervisor can emulate multiple virtual hardware platforms that are isolated from each other, allowing virtual machines to run Linux®, Windows® Server, VMware ESXi, and other operating systems on the same underlying physical host.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai with the disclosure of Liedtke. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques managing booting operation based on firmware of devices including power sources. (abstract, para 0001 & 0055, Liedtke)
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1) and Jenne (US 20190227616 A1)
Regarding claim 2, although Iwai and Liedtkle teach PSU they do not teach explicitly, however, Jenne teaches wherein the data comprises one or more of: rated power capacity, average output power level over a time period, current level, average current level over a time period, line voltage, average line voltage over a time period, platform temperature, or average platform temperature over a time period. [0027] FIG. 7 illustrates an initial operation. When the blade server ecosystem 200 initially inventories the electrical power 210 (perhaps at a power on or reset), the chassis management controller 208 may first establish how much of the electrical power 210 is consumed by the blade server ecosystem 200 infrastructure (e.g., fans, chassis I/O modules, and inefficiencies). After the blade server ecosystem 200 accounts for its infrastructure power consumption, the chassis management controller 208 may send commands (perhaps via the interface 214, as FIG. 4 illustrates) to the baseboard management controllers 206a and 206b to allow them to request electrical power for operation at a minimum performance state (illustrated as P.sub.min 260a and P.sub.min 260b). The chassis management controller 208 may then check this power request against the remaining available sustained power capacity of the power supply unit(s) 210. If sufficient electrical power is available, the chassis management controller 208 may grant or authorize the requesting baseboard management controller 206a and 206b to proceed to the boot up operation 230. Once the baseboard management controller 206 receives a message, grant, and/or command to proceed or enter the boot up operation 230, the baseboard management controller 206 enters a minimum power booting state (illustrated as P.sub.min 260) while constraining the power consumption of the corresponding blade or sled 204 (such as the host processor 102/104 illustrated in FIG. 1 and any other significant power consuming components) to fit within, or consume below, the power value requested to the chassis management controller 208. If any blade or sled 204 and/or its processor lacks support for the minimum performance state 260 by default, then exemplary embodiments may configure a basic input output system (BIOS) to set the minimum performance state as early as possible (such as at initial power on). Regardless, once the BIOS initializes a power control (illustrated as 262a-c, such as CPU power consumption is capped at a running average power limit and the processor hot interrupt (PROCHOT#) is enabled), the BIOS may increase performance to a maximum performance state (illustrated as P.sub.min 264a-c). However, if at any time the chassis management controller 208 and/or the power supply unit 212 determines that the sustained power consumption 210 is exceeding the specified power supply limits, power controls such as running average power limits or PROCHOT# interrupts may be sent to all the blades or sleds 204 to reduce their individual and/or cumulative power consumption to the minimum performance state (illustrated as P.sub.min 260a and P.sub.min 260b). Because the BIOS flow may change with different processor generations, the check point (such as Intel's current privilege level CPL3 where power controls are initialized) may move in or out. BIOS will flow and timings may also be different, especially between different vendors of central processing units. Exemplary embodiments may thus be configured to provide input parameters that conservatively enforce and hold any processor to its minimum performance state 260a-c.]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai and Liedtke with the disclosure of Jenne. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques for, the chassis management controller compares the electrical power predicted for this information handling system node plus the power capacity already in use to a threshold value such as a safe or maximum operating power condition. If the power supply unit can provide the electrical power predicted to be required during the run time operation, then the chassis management controller may permit or authorize the baseboard management controller to allow the information system to transition from the boot up operation to the run time operation. However, if the power supply unit cannot provide the electrical power predicted to be required during the run time operation, then the chassis management controller may deny the transition to the run time operation, in which case the baseboard management controller will halt the transition to run time operation by the information handling system. The chassis management controller and baseboard management controller(s) thus work together to safely confine or hold a computer, server, or other information handling system in the boot up operation without overtaxing the power supply unit.(abstract, para 0001-0003, Jenne)
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1) and Liu (US 20210402954 A1)
Regarding claim 3, although Iwai and Liedtkle teach PSU they do not teach explicitly, however, Liu teaches wherein the computer platform is coupled to at least one processor, a management controller, and the PSU. [0042] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary integration of a battery pack into a host platform (e.g., EV) according to conventional techniques. Although the host platform/EV is illustrated in FIG. 1 as a scooter, this is only used to exemplify any type of EV, such as others described herein. As shown in FIG. 1, the host platform includes a host controller and the battery pack includes a BMS. The host controller can include one or more processors, memories, communication interfaces, etc. can be integrated into the host platform, e.g., as an electronics module. The host controller and BMS can communicate via a wired communications interface, such as any type of wired communications bus known to skilled persons to be suitable for this application.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai with the disclosure of Liedtke. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques for battery management systems (BMS) and particularly relates to using authentication via a short-range wireless connection to manage communication between BMS and host platform (e.g., vehicle) and energy flow between battery and host platform. (abstract, para 0001-0003, Liedtke)
Claims 8-10, 14-16. are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1) and Farhan (US 10311224 B1)
Regarding claim 8, Iwai teaches a method comprising:
permitting usage of the PSU based on the manufacturer identifier matching an approved entry; [0010] The genuine battery 101 is a battery manufactured by a manufacturer of the electronic device 100 (hereinafter, referred to as a device manufacturer), or a battery manufactured by a manufacturer (hereinafter, referred to as a genuine battery manufacturer) authorized by the device manufacturer to manufacture the battery. The genuine battery 101 is labeled with the same brand name as that given on the electronic device 100. The genuine battery 101 includes an authentication IC 104. The authentication IC 104 is an information device storing information for performing authentication between the authentication IC 104 and the paired authentication IC 105. [0009] The control portion 106 controls the operation of the power supply portion 107 based on the authentication result sent from the authentication IC 105. Specifically, when the battery is authenticated successfully in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 permits the operation of the power supply portion 107. On the other hand, when the battery is not authenticated in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 does not permit the operation of the power supply portion 107.]
denying usage of the PSU based on either the (firmware identifier) or the manufacturer identifier not matching an approved entry. [0009] The control portion 106 controls the operation of the power supply portion 107 based on the authentication result sent from the authentication IC 105. Specifically, when the battery is authenticated successfully in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 permits the operation of the power supply portion 107. On the other hand, when the battery is not authenticated in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 does not permit the operation of the power supply portion 107.]
Although, Iwai teaches authentication of PSU/Battery based on Manufacturer Identifier, as shown above, he does not teach explicitly, however, Liedtke teaches
permitting usage of the PSU based on the firmware identifier matching an approved entry; [[0067] In the scenario of FIG. 7C, Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 attempts to authenticate PRoT 702 based on the received certificate. If the certificate or a calculation (e.g., hash) based on the certificate matches an expected certificate or value, Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 assembles a complete firmware (FW) image for one or more of: BMC, CPU, CPU socket (e.g., CSME, Authenticated Code Modules (ACMs), etc.) and any other programmable devices with pre-configured settings. A firmware image can include components such as runtime BMC firmware, SPS/ME and BIOS firmware images as well as firmware/configuration for various platform components including power supply units (PSU), voltage regulators (DigVR) and programmable backplane (HSBP). Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 can use a pre-stored firmware template to create a firmware image (IFWI) based on hardware configuration of platform 700. A firmware template could define components such as executable binary, configuration parameters, upgrade/downgrade policies (including reset requirements), external ingredient dependencies, and security/execution flow policies (e.g., keep out regions based on reset/power flows). Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710 can transmit the firmware image to platform 700. PRoT 702 can authenticate the firmware image using unique hardware IDs, computed hashes or other security authentication approaches. If the firmware image is authenticated or verified, PRoT 702 loads the firmware image into firmware memory (e.g., encrypted volatile memory). PRoT 702 can reconfigure BMC 706 using the authenticated firmware image and allow CPU 708-0 or 708-1 to power-up and boot using firmware. For example, the firmware can be received from Platform Firmware Configuration Service 710.]
Although, Iwai and Liedtke teach authentication of PSU/Battery based on Manufacturer and Firmware Identifier, as shown above, they do not teach explicitly, however, Farhan teaches generating a firmware identifier of firmware executed by a power supply unit (PSU); pairing the firmware identifier with a manufacturer identifier of the PSU; [Col 2 & 3, lines 50-65 & 1-15 respectively: A digital seal of the rack can be generated. The digital seal can include a unique identifier (called a configuration ID) that is a concatenation of a plurality of identifiers retrieved from components on the rack. The components can include hardware (CPUs, memory, FPGAs, add-in cards, etc.), or software (firmware, drivers, kernel, applications, etc.). The identifiers of the components can include one or more of the following: a class or type of device (e.g., CPU, memory, etc.), a manufacturer, a model number, a version number, a date, a serial number, a release version of software, etc. Other identifiers can also be used. For example, if the rack component runs firmware, such as Solid-State Drives (SSDs), Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) controllers, PCIe, Network Interface Controller (NIC) controller, etc., then the version or release associated with the firmware can be part of the configuration ID. The concatenation can be a string that has been processed by an algorithm, such as a hashing function, an encryption algorithm, or a checksum. During a survey and discover phase, one or more software agents can interrogate rack components and discover existing hardware and software within the rack. The hardware can include, but is not limited to, one or more processors, memory, network, storage, management cards, host bus adaptors, power supplies, etc. Additionally, the hardware can include any Integrated Circuit (IC) that is located within the rack component. In one embodiment, a management software agent executes on one of the rack components and gathers identifiers from its own rack component as well as other rack components within the rack.]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai and Liedtke with the disclosure of Farhan. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques generating plurality of device identifiers and for securing these identifiers as well as verification of any temperament with these identifiers. (abstract, Col 1 & 2, lines 65-67 & 1-20 respectively, Farhan)
Regarding claim 9, Iwai teaches wherein the permitting usage of the PSU comprises permitting access to data and/or power from the PSU, [0010] The genuine battery 101 is a battery manufactured by a manufacturer of the electronic device 100 (hereinafter, referred to as a device manufacturer), or a battery manufactured by a manufacturer (hereinafter, referred to as a genuine battery manufacturer) authorized by the device manufacturer to manufacture the battery. The genuine battery 101 is labeled with the same brand name as that given on the electronic device 100. The genuine battery 101 includes an authentication IC 104. The authentication IC 104 is an information device storing information for performing authentication between the authentication IC 104 and the paired authentication IC 105. [0009] The control portion 106 controls the operation of the power supply portion 107 based on the authentication result sent from the authentication IC 105. Specifically, when the battery is authenticated successfully in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 permits the operation of the power supply portion 107. On the other hand, when the battery is not authenticated in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 does not permit the operation of the power supply portion 107.]
Regarding claim 10, Iwai teaches wherein the denying usage of the PSU comprises denying access to data and/or power from the PSU; [0009] The control portion 106 controls the operation of the power supply portion 107 based on the authentication result sent from the authentication IC 105. Specifically, when the battery is authenticated successfully in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 permits the operation of the power supply portion 107. On the other hand, when the battery is not authenticated in the authentication IC 105, the control portion 106 does not permit the operation of the power supply portion 107.]
. Regarding claim 14, this claim is interpreted to be similar to claim 8 and rejected for the same reasons as set forth for claim 8.
Regarding claim 15, this claim is interpreted to be similar to claim 9 and rejected for the same reasons as set forth for claim 9.
Regarding claim 16, this claim is interpreted to be similar to claim 10 and rejected for the same reasons as set forth for claim 10.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1), Farhan (US 10311224 B1) and Belesiu (US 8935774 B2)
Regarding claim 11, although Iwai, Liedtke and Farhan teaches PSU, they do not teach explicitly, however, Belesiu teaches wherein the denying usage of the PSU comprises causing a platform to remain in a reduced power usage state. [Col 07, lines 35-65: Generally speaking, the authentication of an accessory device as described above and below is a prerequisite to power exchange between an accessory device and host computing device. When either the computing device 102 or accessory device 104 has little or no available power (e.g., battery drained and no connection to an external source), though, a limited amount of power exchange may be allowed to enable interactions for authentication and/or subsequent power management decisions. For example, enough power to operate the power controller 112 and/or authentication module 114 may be supplied by an accessory device when the host device otherwise does not have sufficient power. Likewise, the host device may supply power sufficient to run a microcontroller 406 of an accessory device 104 to obtain credentials from the accessory device 104 used for authentication of the device. The amount of power exchanged during such interactions may be limited in various ways including restricting power to a designated power level (e.g., voltage/current) and/or setting a time limit on the power exchange. In one particular example, a maximum of approximately five hundred milliwatts at five volts is designated for initial authentication/power management interactions between a host device and accessory. A relatively small time limit such as thirty seconds or one minute may also be imposed. In this manner, unauthorized devices may exchange a limited amount of power initially to enable authentication and at least some basic power management tasks. Accordingly, the techniques for accessory device authentication may be employed in cold boot situations in which either the host or accessory is in a drained battery state and therefore may be inoperable without supplemental power.]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai, Liedtke and Farhan with the disclosure of Belesiu. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques for Power exchange between a host device and an authorized accessory that may be managed in accordance with capabilities of the accessory device that are identified during authentication. (abstract, Col 1, lines 15-60, Belesiu)
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1), Farhan (US 10311224 B1) and Jenne (US 20190227616 A1)
Regarding claim 12, although Iwai and Liedtke and Farhan teach PSU they do not teach explicitly, however, Jenne teaches wherein the usage of the PSU comprises access to data comprising one or more of: average output power level over a time period, current level, average current level over a time period, line voltage, average line voltage over a time period, platform temperature, or average platform temperature over a time period. [0027] FIG. 7 illustrates an initial operation. When the blade server ecosystem 200 initially inventories the electrical power 210 (perhaps at a power on or reset), the chassis management controller 208 may first establish how much of the electrical power 210 is consumed by the blade server ecosystem 200 infrastructure (e.g., fans, chassis I/O modules, and inefficiencies). After the blade server ecosystem 200 accounts for its infrastructure power consumption, the chassis management controller 208 may send commands (perhaps via the interface 214, as FIG. 4 illustrates) to the baseboard management controllers 206a and 206b to allow them to request electrical power for operation at a minimum performance state (illustrated as P.sub.min 260a and P.sub.min 260b). The chassis management controller 208 may then check this power request against the remaining available sustained power capacity of the power supply unit(s) 210. If sufficient electrical power is available, the chassis management controller 208 may grant or authorize the requesting baseboard management controller 206a and 206b to proceed to the boot up operation 230. Once the baseboard management controller 206 receives a message, grant, and/or command to proceed or enter the boot up operation 230, the baseboard management controller 206 enters a minimum power booting state (illustrated as P.sub.min 260) while constraining the power consumption of the corresponding blade or sled 204 (such as the host processor 102/104 illustrated in FIG. 1 and any other significant power consuming components) to fit within, or consume below, the power value requested to the chassis management controller 208. If any blade or sled 204 and/or its processor lacks support for the minimum performance state 260 by default, then exemplary embodiments may configure a basic input output system (BIOS) to set the minimum performance state as early as possible (such as at initial power on). Regardless, once the BIOS initializes a power control (illustrated as 262a-c, such as CPU power consumption is capped at a running average power limit and the processor hot interrupt (PROCHOT#) is enabled), the BIOS may increase performance to a maximum performance state (illustrated as P.sub.min 264a-c). However, if at any time the chassis management controller 208 and/or the power supply unit 212 determines that the sustained power consumption 210 is exceeding the specified power supply limits, power controls such as running average power limits or PROCHOT# interrupts may be sent to all the blades or sleds 204 to reduce their individual and/or cumulative power consumption to the minimum performance state (illustrated as P.sub.min 260a and P.sub.min 260b). Because the BIOS flow may change with different processor generations, the check point (such as Intel's current privilege level CPL3 where power controls are initialized) may move in or out. BIOS will flow and timings may also be different, especially between different vendors of central processing units. Exemplary embodiments may thus be configured to provide input parameters that conservatively enforce and hold any processor to its minimum performance state 260a-c.]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai and Liedtke with the disclosure of Jenne. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques for, the chassis management controller compares the electrical power predicted for this information handling system node plus the power capacity already in use to a threshold value such as a safe or maximum operating power condition. If the power supply unit can provide the electrical power predicted to be required during the run time operation, then the chassis management controller may permit or authorize the baseboard management controller to allow the information system to transition from the boot up operation to the run time operation. However, if the power supply unit cannot provide the electrical power predicted to be required during the run time operation, then the chassis management controller may deny the transition to the run time operation, in which case the baseboard management controller will halt the transition to run time operation by the information handling system. The chassis management controller and baseboard management controller(s) thus work together to safely confine or hold a computer, server, or other information handling system in the boot up operation without overtaxing the power supply unit.(abstract, para 0001-0003, Jenne)
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai (US 20090256717 A1) in view of Liedtke (US 20200257518 A1), Farhan (US 10311224 B1) and Riley (CN 117013107 A-translated English copy and original is attached.)
Regarding claim 13, wherein a management controller performs the generating a firmware identifier of firmware executed by the PSU. [please see page 11, paragraph 4th of the attached translated copy: The user interface 190 may include at least one battery pack level 510 that provides a value indicative of the energy level (e.g., kilowatt hour (kWh)) of the battery pack 110. The user interface 190 may include at least one battery management system version identifier 515. The battery management system version identifier 515 may indicate the current version of the battery management system 120. The version may be a manufacturing or product version associated with the battery management system 120. The user interface 190 may include at least one hash value 520. The hash value 520 may be a hash of software or a portion of software run by the battery management system 120. The battery management system 120 may generate a hash value 520 by performing a hash (e.g., MD5, SHA-2, or CRC32) on the software or a portion of the software. The user interface 190 may include at least one battery management firmware identifier 525. The battery management firmware identifier 525 may be a software or software number that identifies a version of the software or firmware running by the battery management system 120.]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Iwai. Liedtke and Farhan with the disclosure of Riley. The motivation or suggestion would have been to implement a system that will provide efficient techniques for data processing system that may select a decoding scheme associated with the identifier based on the identifier associated with the battery pack. The data processing system may decode the data packet using the decoding scheme to generate a message. The data processing system may cause a computing device to display the message indicative of the characteristic of the battery pack (abstract, Riley)
Examiner’s Note: The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure are followings:
1.Lee (US 11455211 B2), discloses a power control system for a server is disclosed. The power control system includes a power supply device, configured to provide a main power source and a standby power source; at least a hot swap controller, coupled to the power supply device; at least a peripheral unit, coupled to the power supply device via the hot swap controller; and a motherboard, coupled to the power supply device via the hot swap controller, and includes a logic unit, configured to disable or enable the hot swap controller; and a baseboard management controller, coupled to the logic unit, configured to transmit an AC power cycle signal to the logic unit to disable the hot swap controller, and to transmit a reboot signal to the logic unit to enable the hot swap controller.
2. Ewing (US 20090234512 A1), teaches managing electrical power usage in a power distribution system. Power usage data indicative of electrical current flow through electrical outlets in the system are collected and displayed for a user. The user may select an outlet and issue a command to control current flow through that outlet. Environmental data may also be collected and displayed. Outlets in different Cabinet Power Distribution Units (CDUs) in different locations may be clustered for reporting and control. A database structure provides a "system" table for data descriptive of the system, a "tower" table for data descriptive of outlets and other elements in the system, an "infeed" table for data descriptive of input electrical power, and an "outlet" table for data descriptive of electrical power flowing through the outlets.
3. Bailey (US 20120246495 A1,.), discloses a power bus monitor for use in an electronic product is coupled to receive power from an external power supply. The power bus monitor includes a signal detector coupled to an output of the external power supply to receive and demodulate information encoded on the output of the external power supply into a sequence of bits. A decoder is coupled to receive the sequence of bits from the signal detector and decrypt the sequence of bits. A logical comparator is coupled to receive the sequence of bits decrypted by the decoder. The logical comparator is coupled to assert an authentication signal indicating the external power supply is authorized to provide power to the electronic product when the logical comparator recognizes the sequence of bits decrypted by the decoder as a key.
Special Note: Although few prior are mentioned above, in fact, the prior arts made of record and listed on the PTO-892 and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Conclusion
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/SHER A KHAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2497
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