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Network power administration system

1. internal personality 12C bus 12C bus module RJ12 power 4 port IPM cee terminal server 4 port IPM personality 12C bus an module ule 4 port IPM power power supply network RS 232 personality TCP IP module SNMP AC input power power U S Patent Jul 16 2013 Sheet 8 of 8 US 8 489 667 B2 Fig 10 1000 a AC hot Input day enam LS1 serial bus LS2 fuse 1004 LS3 ye L54 1002 1010 1030 output 1 input 1038 Vcc output 2 1039 7 LS2 N 1027 1044 di 1020 1012 NO ae ee 1032 ouiput 3 opto iso E ala x 1040 c e 1016 1024 1036 x 7 1028 1045 1021 N NO D s r xfmr 10337 opto iso load sensor 1006 ie 12C serial bus N x 1029 daisy chain US 8 489 667 B2 1 NETWORK POWER ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PATENTS This application is a continuation of U S patent applica tion Ser No 10 313 314 filed Dec 6 2002 and titled NET WORK REMOTE POWER MANAGEMENT OUTLET now U S Pat No 7 171 461 issued Jan 30 2007 which is a continuation in part of U S patent application Ser No 09 930 780 filed Aug 15 2001 published as US 2002 0002593 Al on Jan 3 2002 and titled VERTICAL MOUNT NETWORK REMOTE POWER MANAGEMENT OUTLET STRIP now U S Pat No 7 043 543 issued May 9 2006 both of which are incorporated herein by reference BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The invention relates generally to remote power manage
2. Jul 16 2013 246 Sheet 2 of 8 J 246 US 8 489 667 B2 U S Patent Jul 16 2013 Sheet 3 of 8 US 8 489 667 B2 US 8 489 667 B2 Sheet 4 of 8 Jul 16 2013 U S Patent 91 gt syndino gt 1OU DV gt 9 Bij g Mdu yoo_Y z09 Z 104 3Y w 009 Ajowaw Wv 90S snq wajsAs sng wa sds sossazo0id OS LIN gaxy WAXY GK DSX DS gax VQX1 OXL was X vas os vi 97S 310 30 OOL OL pya DTI w pow osuO2 j uJ u j jewajka 220 oos A p Dif U S Patent Jul 16 2013 Sheet 5 of 8 US 8 489 667 B2 36 38 fo 44 i htt user operating system i Fi ig 7 34 NC 732 i 700 WAA A pee TCPAP network packet gt l 718 NIC 7221 protocol stack 30 i display power manager 14 keypad lj 28 724 operating power U S Patent 800 4 Jul 16 2013 Sheet 6 of 8 user terminal 808 Gi non volatile memory oe Y serial 1 0 power control relays and sensors Rw ew ee ecw ne WAA APAA TAA AA OA AOA AAA AOA ODA SAA DA AAA WEE US 8 489 667 B2 ae USER table CONNECT table PCR table U S Patent Jul 16 2013 Sheet 7 of 8 US 8 489 667 B2 Fig 9 900 902 gt 916 communications SENTRY slave personality control 12C personality enuy module module R12 E power I2C peripheral board 918 chained slave external
3. 03 0101 010x 0x54 a 5 30 35 40 50 60 65 12 continued 12C Address 12C Address Device binary hex 12C 04 0101 011x 0x56 IPT PS 0101 111x OxSE IPM 01 0110 000x 0x60 IPM 02 0110 001x 0x62 IPM 03 0110 010x 0x64 IPM 04 0110 011x 0x66 IPM 05 0110 100x 0x68 IPM 06 0110 101x Ox6A IPM 07 0110 110x 0x6C IPM 08 0110 111x Ox6E IPM 09 0111 000x 0x70 IPM 10 0111 0013 Ox72 IPM 11 0111 010x 0x74 IPM 12 0111 011x 0x76 IPM 13 0111 100x 0x78 IPM 14 0111 101x Ox7A IPM 15 0111 110x Ox7C IPM 16 0111 111x Ox7E The prototype required several major software compo nents to be constructed for use with the NetSilicon NET 50 device The configuration and operational control blocks used in the prototype were described in the following tables All of the control blocks were readable by all components in the system The configuration control blocks were written by the user interface tasks When the configuration control blocks were modified the modifications were mirrored in EEPROM where copies of these control blocks were stored The opera tional control blocks were also accessible to all components for read access but each operational control block has an owner that performs all writes to the operational control blocks If a non owner wishes to change an operational control block a signal or message was used to let the owner know the control block
4. ment systems and more particularly to electrical power dis tribution devices and methods for conserving the primary rack mount spaces in a standard RETMA rack 2 Description of the Prior Art Network server farms and other network router equip ment have settled on the use of equipment bays in 19 stan dard RETMA racks Many of these server and router farms are located at telephone company TelCo central equipment offices because they need to tie into very high bandwidth telephone line trunks and backbones So each TelCo typically rents space on their premises to the network providers and such space is tight and very expensive The typical network router server or other appliance comes in a rack mount chassis with a standard width and depth Such chassis are vertically sized in whole multiples of vertical units U Each rented space in the TelCo premises has only so much vertical space and so the best solution is to make best use of the vertical space by filling it with the network appliances and other mission critical equipment Two kinds of operating power are supplied to such network appliances alternating current AC from an uninterruptable power supply UPS or direct from a utility the second kind is direct current DC from TelCo central office battery sets Prior art devices have been marketed that control such AC or DC power to these network appliances For example Server Technology Inc Reno Nev provides operati
5. 15 2011 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 USPTO Office Action dated Jan 15 2011 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 USPTO Office Action dated Oct 20 2010 U S Appl No 11 548 175 USPTO Office Action dated Feb 1 2011 U S Appl No 12 763 137 USPTO Office Action dated Jan 31 2011 U S Appl No 11 548 201 USPTO Office Action dated Jan 10 2011 U S Appl No 11 548 187 USPTO Office Action dated Nov 2 2010 U S Appl No 11 458 988 USPTO Office Action dated Jan 25 2011 U S Appl No 11 459 011 USPTO Office Action dated Dec 29 2010 U S Appl No 11 370 489 USPTO Office Action dated Nov 3 2010 U S Appl No 11 243 823 USPTO Office Action dated Aug 10 2010 U S Appl No 11 243 701 USPTO APC s Amended Answer Affirmative Defenses and Counterclaims to STI s Second Amended Complaint for Patent Infringement Demand for Jury Trial and Exhibits A F Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 88 pp Jan 18 2011 Plaintiff Server Technology Inc s Answer to Amended Counter claims Jury Demand Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 23 pp Feb 1 2011 American Power Conversion Corporation s Final Invalidity Conten tions and Exhibits A D Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 16
6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG 1 represents a network remote power management outlet strip embodiment of the present invention and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 100 The outlet strip 100 provides independently managed power to each of sixteen AC output receptacles 101 116 A power sup ply IPT PS module 118 senses and totalizes the combined current delivered to all the AC output receptacles 101 116 from its AC power input Peripheral integrated circuits IC s that have to commu nicate with each other and the outside world can use a simple bi directional 2 wire serial data SDA and serial clock SCL bus for inter IC 12C control developed by Philips Semiconductor The I2C bus has become a worldwide indus try standard proprietary control bus The IPT PS module 118 digitally encodes the total AC current information onto an internal I2C bus 119 The IPT PS module 118 supplies DC operating power for the internal 12C bus 119 which is derived from the AC power input Each of four intelligent power modules IPT IPM 120 123 have four relays K1 K4 that switch AC power from the IPT PS module 118 to respective ones of the sixteen AC output receptacles 101 116 Such relays K1 K4 are controlled by a single I2C transceiver daisy chain connected to others along the internal I2C bus 119 Each such I2C transceiver is inde pendently addressable on the I2C bus 119 and provides a digitally encoded
7. 4 1013 to be sensed by logic level digital inputs to micro controller 1002 These are read as status and encoded onto the 12C bus in response to read commands A local user is also provided with a LED indication 1034 1037 of the AC Line outputs A set of load sensors 1038 1041 sense any current flowing through the primaries of respective isolation trans formers 1042 1045 A logic level LS1 LS4 is respectively provided to microcontroller 1002 to indicate if current is flowing to the load Tn general remote power management embodiments of the present invention are configurable and scaleable Such pro vides for maximum fabricator flexibility in quickly configur ing modular components to meet specific customer requests without overly burdening the manufacturing process The following list of various customer requirements can all be met 5 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 20 with minimal hardware and no software changes Vertical or Horizontal enclosure mounting Variable controllable outlet configurations 4 8 12 16 outlets enclosure Variable num ber of power input feed configurations to support redundant power to critical network equipment up to 4 input feeds Option of displaying one or more input load currents ona dual 7 segment LED display s Ability to reorient the enclosure without having to invert the 7 segment LED display s Mea suring per outlet load current for individual appliance load
8. KE IPM US 8 489 667 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 814 941 A 3 1989 Speet et al 4 918 562 A 4 1990 Pulizzi et al 5 424 903 A 6 1995 Schreiber 5 506 573 A 4 1996 Ewing et al 5 534 734 A 7 1996 Pugh et al 5 563 455 A 10 1996 Cheng 5 642 002 A 6 1997 Mekanik et al 5 949 974 A 9 1999 Ewing et al 6 008 805 A 12 1999 Land et al 6 011 329 A 1 2000 McGovern 6 160 873 A 12 2000 Truong et al 6 229 691 Bl 5 2001 Tanzer et al 6 266 713 Bl 7 2001 Karanam et al 6 381 700 B1 4 2002 Yoshida lt vv c 726 4 6 388 854 B1 5 2002 Berstis et al 6 408 334 B1 6 2002 Bassman etal 709 223 6 476 729 B1 11 2002 Liu 6 480 964 Bl 11 2002 Oh 6 507 273 Bl 1 2003 Chang et al 6 557 170 Bl 4 2003 Wilder et al 6 684 343 BI 1 2004 Bouchier et al 6 711 163 Bl 3 2004 Reid et al 6 711 613 Bl 3 2004 Ewing et al 6 741 442 BI 5 2004 McNally et al 6 826 036 B2 11 2004 Pereira 6 968 465 B2 11 2005 Freevol et al 7 010 589 B2 3 2006 Ewing et al 7 043 543 B2 5 2006 Ewing etal 709 223 7 099 934 B1 8 2006 Ewing etal 709 223 7 119 676 B1 10 2006 Silverstrim et al 7 141 891 B2 11 2006 McNally et al 7 162 521 B2 1 2007 Ewing et al 7 171 461 B2 1 2007 Ewing etal 709 223 7 171 542 Bl 1 2007 Alfano et al 7 349 956 B2 3 2008 Anderson etal 709 219 7 702 771 B2 4 2010 Ewing etal 709 223 2002 000
9. addressed on the 12C with its primary address not the secondary address The I2C IPT I2C microcontroller commands include the STAT command which sets the IPT I2C microcontroller to a read type to STAT This means that an 12C Read will send four bytes address type data checksum in which the data byte represents the status of the IPT I2C microcontroller The RBTN command sets the IPT I2C microcontroller read type to RBTN This means that an I2C Read will send four bytes address type data checksum in which the data byte represents the status of the button The RPRB command sets the IPT I2C microcontroller read type to RPRB This means that an I2C Read will send five bytes address type data data checksum in which the data bytes represent the type of 1 wire bus probe and the probe data The CRST command clears the Reset Flag RSTF Power On Reset Flag PORF Brownout Reset Flag BORF and WatchDog Reset Flag WDRF bits of the IPT I2C microcon troller status byte The WDSP command sets the values for the dual seven segment display At power up the dash dash blinks until a valid WDSP command is received After that if ten seconds pass without receiving a valid WDSP command the display reverts back to the blinking dash dash A read command is started by the master addressing the slave with the R W bit set A read command to the slave IPT I2C microcontroller results in a fixed number of bytes repeatedly being transmitted by
10. and at what address was done by reading the 8 bit I O port of the power supply The eight bits were configured as Bit 0 gt Undefined Bit 1 gt Display Orientation 1 Upside Up 0 Upside Down Bit 2 gt Number of quad IPM s per power input Bit 3 gt Number of quad IPM s per power input Bit four gt overload point 1 30 5 A 244ADC 0 16 5 A 132ADC Bit 5 gt Undefined Bit 6 gt Number of power inputs Bit 7 gt Number of power inputs Bits 2 amp 3 together determine how many quad IPM s there were per power input Bits 6 amp 7 together determine how many power input feeds there were 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 The I2C address of the quad IPM s were determined by the version of LPC code on the IPT PS board as determined by a read of the STATus byte of the of the IPT PS Version 3 gt quad IPM s start 0x60 and were 0x60 0x62 0x64 0x66 0x68 Ox6A 0x6C Ox6E 0x70 0x72 0x74 0x76 0x78 Ox7A Ox7C Ox7E quad IPM s start 0x40 and were 0x40 0x42 0x44 0x46 0x48 Ox4A 0x4C Ox4E 0x50 0x52 0x54 0x56 0x58 OKSA 0x5C OxSE Version 2 gt Up to four IPT I2C peripheral display boards were sup ported at I2C addresses 0x50 0x52 0x54 and 0x56 There was a direct mapping relationship between power inputs IPT I2C peripheral display boards I2C addresses and the IPT IPM boards I2C addresses Power IPT I2C IPT IPM v3 addresses I
11. current operational values All software has read access to all of the data structures The data in these control blocks was operational data and was changed to reflect the current operational status of devices in the system Each of these control blocks has an owner task that performs updates by writing to the control block There were six global operational control blocks as illustrated below Complete descriptions of each control block structure follows Intelligent Power Module IPMO Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an IPM defined to the system There was room for 32 entries in this array The entries in this array correspond directly to the IPM configuration control block These control blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly The relay coordination task TskPCntl owns this array Power Control Relay PCRO Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an PCR defined to the system There was room for 128 entries in this array The entries in this array correspond directly to the PCR configuration control block These control blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly The relay coordination task TskPCntl owns this array 12C I2CO Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an I2C connection There was room for 2 entries in this array The entries in this array correspond directly to the
12. equipment loads in the rack An advantage of the present invention is that a network remote power management outlet strip is provided that frees up vertical rackmount space for other equipment Another advantage of the present invention is that a net work remote power management outlet strip is provided for controlling the operating power supplied to network appli ances over computer networks such as TCP IP and SNMP A further advantage of the present invention is that a net work remote power management outlet strip is provided that allows a network console operator to control the electrical power status of a router or other network device A still further advantage of the present invention is that a network remote power management outlet strip is provided for reducing the need for enterprise network operators to dispatch third party maintenance vendors to remote equip ment rooms and POP locations simply to power cycle failed network appliances These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the various drawing figures IN THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a functional block diagram of a network remote power management outlet strip embodiment of the present invention FIG 2A is a front diagram of an implementation of the network remote power managem
13. relays on the target enclosure Power actions could be applied to only one target at a time The target could be an outlet or a group of outlet A wakeup state determined the default power up state of each outlet Power on sequencing occurred independently on each vertical power manager and power feed with each outlet being initialized to its wakeup state two seconds after the previous outlet e g starting with outlet 1 Outlet names could be up to 24 characters These were stored and displayed case sensitive but were compared case insensitive as com mand parameters Group names could be up to 24 characters These were stored and displayed case sensitive but were compared case insensitive as command parameters A 24 character vertical power manager enclosure name could be user defined This were stored and displayed case sensi tive but was compared case insensitive as acommand param eter A 32 character location name could be user defined This were stored and displayed case sensitive Usernames could be 1 16 characters and were case insensitive Pass words also could be 1 16 characters and were case sensitive Variable length command parameters were length checked for validity An error was displayed if too short or too long as opposed to and automatic behavior such as truncating a string that was too long Prototype I2C Address Map I2C Address 12C Address Device binary hex DC 01 0101 000x 0x50 DC 02 0101 001x 0x52 DPC
14. 16 A Philips Semiconductor type P87LPC767 microcontroller could be used for uC 616 Such includes a built in four channel 8 bit multiplexed A D converter and an I2C communication port When a READ ADC command is received on the I2C communication port US 8 489 667 B2 9 the AO input is read in and digitally converted into an 8 bit report value which is sent for example to LED display 126 in FIG 1 A prototype of the devices described in connection with FIGS 1 6 was constructed The prototype was a combination of new hardware and software providing for a 4 outlet 8 out let or 16 outlet vertical strip power manager that could be accessed out of band on a single RJ45 serial port or in band over a 10 100Base T Ethernet connection by Telnet or an HTML browser An RJ12 port was connected to a second nearly identical vertical strip power manager that was almost entirely a slave to the first e g it could only be controlled by via the first master vertical power manager Vertical power manager hardware and software was used for the IPT PS power supply board the IPT IPM quad outlet boards and IPT I2C peripheral display board For the master vertical power manager new personality module hardware and software was developed This personality module trade marked SENTRY3 was based upon the NetSilicon NetARM 20M microprocessor and provided all of the con trol and user interface UI On the slave vertical power man ager a preexisting
15. 4913 Al 1 2002 Fung 2002 0120676 Al 8 2002 Biondi et al 2004 0059903 Al 3 2004 Smith etal w lt 713 1 2005 0203987 Al 2005 0223090 Al 2006 0031453 Al 2006 0031454 Al 2006 0072531 Al 2006 0186739 Al 2007 0016664 Al 2007 0050443 Al 2007 0130243 Al 9 2005 Ewing et al 10 2005 Ewing et al 2 2006 Ewing et al 2 2006 Ewing et al 4 2006 Ewing et al 8 2006 Grolnic et al 1 2007 Ewing et al 3 2007 Ewing et al 6 2007 Ewing et al 2007 0136453 Al 6 2007 Ewing et al 2007 0140238 Al 6 2007 Ewing et al OTHER PUBLICATIONS Server Technology Inc s Motion for Leave to File Instanter Second Amended Complaint Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 112 pp May 5 2010 APC s Motion for Summary Judgment of Non Infringement and Invalidity Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 2pp Nov 4 2010 APC S Memorandum of Law in Support of Its Motion for Summary Judgment of Non Infringement and Invalidity and Exhibits 1 21 Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 708 pp Nov 4 2010 Detailed Request for Inter Partes Reexamination Under 35 U S C 3 11 318 and 37 C F R 1 902 et Seq dated Nov 12 2010 Reex amination Control No 95 001 485 60 pp Order Granting Request for Inter Partes Reexamination dated Jan
16. 5 pp Feb 4 2011 Interworking Labs Releases New Extended SNMP Test Suite with Windows NT and Windows 95 Support Interworking Labs pp 1 2 Jul 15 1996 2T HALOF CD 3 6 kVA Uninterruptible Power System Operating information Digital Equipment Corp Order No EK HALOF OP B01 pp 1 1 to 5 4 Aug 1992 A Software managing Clustered Multi Vender Uninteruptible Power Supply on Network IBM Tech Disclosure Bulletin vol 42 No 419 Mar 1 1999 p 1 Touch Pad Code Actuated Electrical Outlet IBM Tech Disclosure Bulletin vol 33 No LA 143 147 Jun 1 1990 pp 143 147 UPS MIB Merling Gerin DAM Division www exploits org nut library protocols snmp mgeups mib pp 1 41 Oct 11 1995 Liebert SiteNet SNMP MIBs The Latest MIBs Available for Down load _ http www liebert com products english products software snmp intro asp ID 921 pp 1 2 Jul 2 2003 Newman J Enterprise Power Protection Don t Get UPSet Get the Right UPS Instead Network Computing vol 7 No 2 pp 1 10 Feb 15 1996 Expert Witness Report of Douglas Bors PE Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 87 pp May 27 2011 Expert Witness Report of Dr Mark Horenstein Regarding Invalidity of STI s Patents Server Technology Inc v American Power Con version Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 137 pp May 27 2011 Expert Report of KC Mares Server Te
17. Cntl for power control requests and from the external user interface task TskEUI for LED control requests This task communicates power control status updates received from the IPM s to TskPCntl and external button status updates to TskEUI using system signals or messages as necessary version them to the correct I2C task internal or external signals or messages This task receives status upd the I2C tasks via signals or messages TskPCntl IPMO and PCRO arrays and it updates the status entries in these arrays as necessary TskPCntl This was the power control coordinating task There was one instance of this task This task receives power control request from the user interface tasks TskUSR and TskWEB via system provided signals or messages and passes using ates from owns the fields in TskEUI This was the external user interface task that handles the push button functions and the LED display functions for the system This task communicates with the local TskI2C via signals or messages to update the LED TskI2C sends signals or messages to this task when the s ate of the external push button changes TskUSR This command line user interface task was spawned by TskSER and TskTELNET when a user connection was detected This task verifies the user login and then implements the command line interface This routine communicates power control commands via signals or
18. FG This means that an I2C Read will send four bytes address type data checksum The data byte represents the 1 0 configuration of the eight I O pins The RADC command sets the microcontroller read type to RADC This means that an I2C Read will send eight bytes address type ADCE status ADCO data ADCI data ADC2 data ADC3 data checksum in which the data bytes represent the value of the four ADC channels For ADC channels that are disabled a value of OxFF is returned For enabled ADC channels the value represents the average of the last eight averages of 64 A D conversions during the last four AC cycles All four channels are converted once during each 1 042 ms about 260 us apart After four AC 60 Hz cycles each channel has be converted 64 times For each channel these 64 conversions are averaged and stored The most recent eight stored averages are then again averaged making the reported value the truncated average over 64x8 512 AC cycles which spans just over a half second The CRST command clears the ReSeT Flag RSTF Power On Reset Flag PORF BrownOut Reset Flag BORF and liiatchDog Reset Flag WDRF bits of the I O Expander status byte The WCFG command sets the microcontroller I O con figuration of the eight I O pins The WCFG command also sets the read type to RCFG The WPRT command sets the state of the eight I O pins that are configured as outputs The WPRT command also sets the read type to RPRT The ADCE comm
19. I2C configuration control block These control blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly The I2C task TskI2C owns this array Serial Port SERO Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing a serial port that can be used by the system There was room for two entries in this array The entries in this array correspond directly to the serial port configuration control block These control blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly The serial port task TskSER owns this array Active Command Line User UCLI Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing a current active command line user of the system The SCT was room for 5 entries in this array These control blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly The user interface task TskUSR owns this array There were multiple instances of TskUSR so locks were used for this array US 8 489 667 B2 15 continued Active HTTP Interface User UHTP Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing a WEB user There was room for 5 entries in this array These control blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly The WEB task TskWEB owns this array In FIG 7 a network remote power management system 700 includes a host system 702 connected over a network 704 to aremote system 706 A power manager 708 e g like outlet strips 100 a
20. IPT Slave personality module was modi fied slightly to bridge the external and internal 12C buses This allowed the master to control the slave vertical power manager exactly the same as the master vertical power man ager with no software or microprocessor needed on the slave New software could be included to run in a microprocessor on the slave vertical power manager personality module to act as a backup master for load display and power up sequencing only A new SENTRY3 personality module was developed to support an HTML interface for Ethernet and a command line interface for Telnet and serial Multiple users were supported up to 128 One administrative user ADMN existed by default and will default to having access to all ports Outlet grouping was supported with up to 64 groups of outlets There were two 12C buses that can support up to sixteen quad IPM IPT IPM boards across four power inputs with at most four quad IPM s per input and with each input having its own load measurement and display Each power input was required to have the same number of quad IPM s that it powered There was one I2C peripheral display IPT I2C board for each power input Each bus had only one smart power supply IPT PS board at 12C address 0x5E Each bus had at least one I2C peripheral display IPT I2C board at 12C address 0x50 and at least one quad IPM IPT IPM board at I2C address 0x60 or 0x40 Determining what was present on an I2C bus
21. R 1 132 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 May 29 2012 9 pp KC Mares Second Declaration of KC Mares Under 37 CFR 1 132 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 May 29 2012 5 pp Michael R Henson Declaration of Michael R Henson Under 37 CFR 1 132 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 May 29 2012 30 pp American Power Conversion Corporation Notice of Second Office Action in Reexamination Proceedings Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC Apr 10 2012 87 pp Server Technology Inc STI s Response to APC s Notice of Second Office Action in Reexamination Proceedings Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC Apr 18 2012 5 pp TPC 4000 MTD World s First 1U 38 16A or 32A Distribution Unit Pulizzi Engineering Inc 2 pp Dec 1999 PC 5585 Voltage Selectable for 120V or 240V 1 50 60 Hz Up to 30A Pulizzi Engineering Inc 3 pp Dec 1999 Complaint for Patent Infringement Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case no 3 06 CV 58 pp Dec 18 2006 First Amended Complaint for Patent Infringement Server Technol ogy Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 83 pp Feb 20 2007 Defendant s Answer and Affirmative Defenses to Plaintiffs Com plaint for Patent Infringem
22. and enables or disables any or all four ADC channels The ADCE command also sets the read type to RADC A read command is started by the master addressing the slave with the R W bit set A read command to the slave IPT I2C microcontroller results in a fixed number of bytes repeatedly being transmitted by the slave address type US 8 489 667 B2 7 datal dataN checksum The first byte is the address of the slave The second byte indicates the type of data in the data bytes that follow The last byte is a checksum of all the previous data bytes A write command is started by the master addressing the slave with the R W bit cleared This is followed by the master transmitting multiple bytes to the slave followed by a stop or restart The IPT PS module 218 digitally encodes the total AC input current information onto the internal I2C bus 219 The IPT PS module 218 derives DC operating power from the AC power input for modules on the internal I2C bus 219 Each of the IPT IPM modules 220 223 has four relays K1 K4 that switch the AC Line from the IPT PS module 218 to respective ones of the AC Line connections on each of the sixteen AC output receptacles 201 216 Such relays K1 K4 are controlled by a single I2C transceiver located on each IPT IPM 220 223 For example such I2C transceiver could be implemented with a Philips microcontroller type 87LPC762 Each such I2C transceiver is independently addressable on the 12C bus 219 and pr
23. ar to the IPT NetworkPM module 128 of FIG 1 and 228 of FIGS 2A and 2B A NetSilicon Waltham Mass type NET 50 32 bit Ethernet system on chip for device networking is preferably used to implement a communications processor 502 A flash memory 504 pro vides program storage and a RAM memory 506 provides buffer and scratchpad storage for the communications pro cessor operations A local 12C bus is implemented in part with a pair of 2N7002 transistors for example It connects into the 12C daisy chain with a J1 connector CON4 510 An external 2C bus is implemented in part with a pair of 2N7002 transistors for example It connects into an external 12C system with an RJ12 type J7 connector 510 Such external I2C system can expand to one additional outlet strip that shares a single IPT NetworkPM module 500 and a single network connection An Ethernet 10 100 BaseT interface with the media access controller MAC internal to the communications processor 502 is provided by a physical layer PHY device 516 An Intel type LXT971A fast Ethernet PHY transceiver for example could be used together with an RJ45 connector 518 A pair of RS 232 serial interfaces are implemented in part with an SP3243E transceiver 520 an RJ45H connector 522 another SP3243E transceiver 524 and an IDC10 connector 526 The flash memory 504 is preferably programmed with an operating system and HTML browser function that allow web page type access and control over the Et
24. ated to reflect the status of the serial port Once a TsKUSR was spawned this task performs serial port monitoring functions and if modem status signal indicate a lost connection this task will signal TskUSR via an OS interface of this event US 8 489 667 B2 13 continued skTELNET One instance of this task was spawned to listen or telnet connections When a connection was detected this ask spawns TskUSR for the connection skFTP One instance of this task was spawned to listen for FTP connections The function of this task was to provide field software updates for the system The mechanism used was etermined based on the developer kit capabilities TskWEB This task was to provide WEB access via the system provided WEB server The mechanism and number of instances of eveloper ki his task was determined based on the capabilities TskI2C There were two versions of this task the local hat controls internal I2C connections and the global version that controls external I2C connections For the first implementation there were two instances of this task one to control the single I2C internal connection and one to control the single I2C external connection These tasks implement the protocol for communicating control requests from the system to the I2C connected devices Control requests were received via system signals or messages depending on the OS capabilities from the power control coordinating task TskP
25. ation is retained In general embodiments of the present invention provide power on sequencing of its complement of power outlet sockets so that power loading is brought on gradually and not all at once For example power comes up on the power outlet sockets 2 4 seconds apart An exaggerated power up in rush could otherwise trip alarms and circuit breakers Embodi ments display or otherwise report the total current being delivered to all loads and some embodiments monitor indi vidual power outlet sockets Further embodiments of the present invention provide individual remote power control of independent power outlet sockets e g for network opera tions center reboot of a crashed network server in the field The power on sequencing of the power outlet sockets pref erably allows users to design the embodiments to be loaded at 80 of full capacity versus 60 of full capacity for prior art units with no sequencing In some situations the number of power drops required in a Data Center can thus be reduced with substantial savings in monthly costs FIG 9 represents a power distribution unit PDU embodi ment of the present invention and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 900 The PDU 900 allows a per sonality module 902 to be installed for various kinds of con trol input output communication For an Ethernet interface a NetSilicon type NET 50 system on a chip is preferred oth US 8 489 667 B2 19 erwise a Phil
26. az United States Patent Ewing et al US008489667B2 10 Patent No US 8 489 667 B2 45 Date of Patent Jul 16 2013 54 75 73 21 22 65 63 51 52 NETWORK POWER ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM Inventors Carrel W Ewing Reno NV US Brian P Auclair Reno NV US Andrew J Cleveland Reno NV US James P Maskaly Sparks NV US Dennis W McGlumphy Sun Valley NV US Mark J Bigler Eugene OR US Assignee Server Technology Inc Reno NV US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 1504 days This patent is subject to a terminal dis claimer Appl No 11 126 092 Filed May 9 2005 Prior Publication Data US 2005 0203987 Al Sep 15 2005 Related U S Application Data Continuation of application No 10 313 314 filed on Dec 6 2002 now Pat No 7 171 461 which is a continuation in part of application No 09 930 780 filed on Aug 15 2001 now Pat No 7 043 543 Int Cl HO2B 1 04 2006 01 GO6F 15 173 2006 01 U S CI USPC 709 201 709 223 361 601 361 622 713 340 439 652 307 11 307 18 307 31 307 32 307 36 307 37 307 43 307 149 line power neutral input ground K1 K2 K3 K4 IPT IPM 58 Field of Classification Search USPC stess 709 201 223 361 601 622 713 340 439 652 307 11 18 31 32 36 37 43 149 See application file for complete s
27. chnology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 204 pp May 27 2011 Rebuttal Expert Witness Report of Douglas Bors PE Server Tech nology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 19 pp Jun 29 2011 Expert Report of B Michael Aucoin D Engr PE PMP Consoli dated Rebuttal of APC S Expert Invalidity Reports Server Technol ogy Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 152 pp Jun 29 2011 Expert Report of KC Mares in Rebuttal to APC S Invalidity Reports Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 33 pp Jun 29 2011 American Power Conversion Motion for Summary Judgment Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 cv 00698 LRH VPC 4 pp Aug 30 2011 US 8 489 667 B2 Page 3 APC s Memorandum of Law in Support of Its Motion for Summary Judgment and Exhibits Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 cv 00698 LRH VPC 75 pp Aug 30 2011 STI s Response to APC s Motion for Summary Judgment Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 cv 00698 LRH VPC 85 pp Sep 26 2011 APC s Reply in Support of Summary Judgment and Exhibits Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversi
28. ck contains global configuration information There was a single instance of this control block Username Password Array UNP This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing a user defined to the system System locks were used to serialize access to this array when adding deleting users There was room for sixty four entries in this array Intelligent Power Module IPM Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an IPM defined to the system There was room for 32 entries in this array Power Control Relay PCR Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an PCR defined to the system There was room for 128 entries in this array Group Power Control Relay GRP Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an Group of PCRs There was room for 64 entries in this array Serial Port SER Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing a serial port that can be used to access the system There was room for two entries in this array I2C Array This was an array of control blocks with each entry representing an I2C connection There was room for two entries in this array The Global RAM Operational Control Block Structures were globally addressable by all software in the system These data structures exist only in RAM and are lost during a system restart They were constructed during system initial ization using
29. d the target I2C is known and is compared to the IPT I2C microcontroller s own module address If different the I2C interface processing stops and waits for another start to begin again If the same the last bit of the first byte is read which is the R W bit If a Read then the IPT I2C microcon troller acknowledges the byte and repeatedly sends a fixed number of response bytes an address byte a type byte one or more data bytes and a checksum If a Write then the IPT I2C microcontroller acknowledges the byte and then will read up to four more bytes a command byte one or more data bytes and a checksum As received the bytes are acknowledged and compared to expected valid commands and data As soon as a valid command any data parameters and a valid checksum are received and acknowledged the command is acted upon Without a valid checksum the command is not acted upon If an unexpected command or data is received or more bytes are received than expected then a negative acknowledge occurs after the next byte is received and the 12C interface is stopped and another start is needed to begin again Through out the I2C processing loop a bus timeout by Timer 1 inter rupt resets the I2C interface to idle and the I2C processing loop to the appropriate states Timer U also guards the 12C interface with a 5 millisecond inter clock timeout and a 15 second total I2C timeout The total I2C timeout is reset when the IPT I2C microcontroller is
30. d by two alphabet characters and then one or two numeric characters e g enclosure_id input_feed_id 1 The first alphabet character represented the Enclosure ID CA to Z The second alphabet character represented the Input Feed ID A to D The third and fourth number characters represented the Relay ID 1 to 16 e g hao gas The input feed ID was optional If not specified A was assumed With an absolute ID scheme a period letter and number must always be entered making it very similar to our current scheme but allowing for future multiple input feeds For displaying IDs the optional input feed ID should only be shown when the port was in an enclo sure with 2 or more input feeds A vertical power manager ID could be specified with just a period and letter An input feed ID could be specified with a period and two letters US 8 489 667 B2 11 Existing outlets were determined by reading the power supply I O port of the master and slave vertical power man ager One administrative user exists by default and has access to all outlets and groups This administrator ADMN could be removed but only if one or more other users with admin istrative privileges exist Additional users could be created or removed Administrative privileges could be given to or removed from added users The administrative privilege allows access to all currently detected outlets and groups witho
31. ead then the microcontroller acknowledges the byte and repeatedly sends a fixed number of response bytes an address byte a type byte one or more data bytes and a checksum If a Write then the microcontroller acknowl edges the byte and then will read up to three more bytes a command byte a data byte and a checksum As received the bytes are acknowledged and compared to expected valid commands and data As soon as a valid command any data parameters and a valid checksum are received and acknowl edged the command is acted upon If an unexpected com mand or data is received or more bytes are received than expected then a negative acknowledge occurs after the next byte is received and the I2C interface is stopped and another start is needed to begin again Throughout the I2C processing loop a bus timeout by Timer 1 interrupt resets the I2C inter face to idle and the I2C processing loop to the appropriate state Timer 0 also guards the I2C interface with a 5 millisec ond inter clock timeout and a 15 second total I2C timeout The total 12C timeout is reset when the I O Expander is addressed on the I2C with its primary address not the sec ondary address The I2C microcontroller commands include the STAT command which sets the I O Expander read type to STAT An I2C Read will send four bytes address type data checksum The data byte represents the status of the I O Expander The RCFG command sets the I O Expander read type to RC
32. earch history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 638 175 A 1 1987 Bradford et al 4 674 031 A 6 1987 Siska Jr 4 719 364 A 1 1988 Pequet et al 4 729 375 A 3 1988 Jegers et al 4 769 555 A 9 1988 Pequet et al 4 777 607 A 10 1988 Maury et al Continued OTHER PUBLICATIONS Claim Construction Order Server Technology Inc v American Power Conversion Corporation Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 41 pp Apr 19 2010 Continued Primary Examiner Haresh N Patel 57 ABSTRACT A vertical mount network remote power management outlet strip embodiment of the present invention comprises a long thin outlet strip body with several independently controllable power outlet sockets distributed along its length A power input cord is provided at one end and this supplies AC operating power to relays associated with each of the power outlet sockets The relays are each addressably controlled by a microprocessor connected to an internal 12C bus serial communications channel The power on status of each relay output to the power outlet sockets is sensed and communi cated back on the internal 12C bus A device networking communications processor with an embedded operating sys tem translates messages status and controls between the internal 12C bus and an Ethernet port and other external networks 9 Claims 8 Drawing Sheets y 100 105 108 109 112 113 jy K 2 K2 3 sl K2 I l J KE K2 I K4 Coe IPT TEE
33. easured passing through IPT PS 118 In one embodiment the power applied to AC output recep tacles 101 116 is not allowed by the individual IPT IPM modules 120 123 to be simultaneously applied Instead each is allowed to turn on in succession so any instantaneous load in rush currents can not combine to exceed the peak capabili ties of the AC power input source The total input current display 126 could be used to advan tage by a technician when installing or troubleshooting a RETMA equipment rack by watching how much current change is observed when each network appliance is plugged in and turned on Unusually high or low currents can indicate particular kinds of faults to experienced technicians FIGS 2A and 2B represent a network remote power man agement outlet strip embodiment of the present invention which is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 200 These illustrate one way the network remote power management outlet strip 100 of FIG 1 could be physically implemented and arranged The outlet strip 200 provides independently managed power to each of sixteen AC output receptacles 201 216 These have AC neutral and AC ground bussed through two sets of eight e g with 12 gauge wire A power supply IPT PS module 218 is daisy chained in an internal I2C bus 219 to a series of four intelligent power modules IPT IPM 220 223 The IPT PS module 218 has for example a Philips microcontroller type 87LPC762 that senses and tota
34. ent Counterclaims for Declaratory Judg ment of Patent Noninfringement and Patent Invalidity and Patent Infringement Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 37 pp Apr 2 2007 Defendant s First Amended Answer and Affirmative Defenses to Plaintiffs Complaint for Patent Infringement Counterclaims for Declaratory Judgment of Patent Noninfringement and Patent Inval idity and Patent Infringement Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 36 pp Apr 13 2007 Plaintiff Server Technology Inc s Reply to Defendant s First Amended Counterclaims for Declaratory Judgment of Patent Noninfringement and Patent Invalidity and Patent Infringement Case No 3 06 CV 00698 LRH VPC 8 pp Apr 30 2007 cited by examiner US 8 489 667 B2 Sheet 1 of 8 Jul 16 2013 U S Patent 9EL vel CEL ache eiesuo gt wepow 18 001 01 a an Jel DZi Ldl jeu1a U GTA Z bZL WdJ0MI9N II ICI EZL IZL ral Su Wdi Ldl Wdl Ld Wdi Ldl Wdl Ldl ty EX OH LY PA EA ZY TIC ey ZJ LJ CET mtu Iba es eee El L LIT P T ee mina cl Lab he r OLL ELL TLL 601 801 SOL vOL LOL ty OH LY HoE punolb d parau Te aul U S Patent 228 223 222 221 220 226 va i ka i buss PS Pe Pel Pe 1 k JAAR Fe Fl Ee I t 1 re eee ee ee ee eee oe Ul 44 224 216 215 214 213 212 211 210 209 208 207 206 205 204 203 202 N WA
35. ent outlet strip of FIG 1 FIG 2B is an assembly diagram of the network remote power management outlet strip of FIG 2A without the sheet metal enclosure and shows the interwiring amongst the AC receptacles the power input plug and the various printed circuit board modules FIG 3 is anon component side diagram ofa printed circuit board PCB implementation of an intelligent power module US 8 489 667 B2 3 IPT IPM similar to those of FIGS 1 2A and 2B and further illustrates an insulating sheet that is fitted to the back FIG 4 is a component side diagram of a printed circuit board PCB implementation of an intelligent power module IPT IPM similar to those of FIGS 1 2A 2B and 3 and further illustrates the bus connections of the power outlet receptacles it sockets onto FIG 5 is a functional block diagram of an IPT NetworkPM module embodiment of the present invention FIG 6 is a schematic diagram ofa circuit that could be used in an implementation of the IPT PS of FIGS 1 2A and 2B FIG 7 is a functional block diagram of a network remote power management system embodiment of the present inven tion FIG 8 is a functional block diagram of an expandable power management system embodiment of the present inven tion FIG 9 is a functional block diagram of a power distribution unit embodiment of the present invention and FIG 10 is a schematic diagram of one way to implement the IPT IPM s in any of FIGS 1 9
36. ety of power control products can be constructed in many differ ent enclosure forms each with a variety of power input feed and outlet arrangements Lower cost power control products can be linked to amore expensive master controller using an IPT Network PM to configure a large scale power control network that needs only a single IP address and user interface Such would require a US 8 489 667 B2 21 high level high bandwidth multi drop communications pro tocol such as industry standard Controller Area Network CAN The CAN bus supports 1 Mbit sec data transfers over a distance of 40 meters This would enable serial sessions from a user to serial ports on the device being controlled to be virtualized and thus avoid needing costly analog switching circuitry and control logic Although the present invention has been described in terms of the present embodiment it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting Various alter ations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure Accordingly it is intended that the appended claims be inter preted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention What is claimed is 1 A method of remotely managing a power distribution system comprising in combination A with a power manager system running at least in part on a power manager compu
37. han that it could include a discrete network firewall and data encryption The protocol stack 722 interfaces to a remote power man ager 724 and it converts software commands communicated in the form of TCP IP datapackets 726 into signals the remote power manager can use For example messages can be sent from the host 702 that will cause the remote power manager 724 to operate the relay switch 712 In reverse voltage cur rent and temperature readings collected by the sensor 710 are collected by the remote power manager 724 and encoded by the protocol stack 722 into appropriate datapackets 726 Locally a keyboard 728 can be used to select a variety of readouts on a display 730 and also to control the relay switch 712 The display 730 and keyboard 728 can be connected as a terminal through a serial connection to the power manager 724 Such serial connection can have a set of intervening modems that allow the terminal to be remotely located The display 730 and keyboard 728 can also be virtual in the sense that they are both emulated by a Telnet connection over the network 704 The host 702 typically comprises a network interface con troller NIC 732 connected to a computer platform and its operating system 734 Such operating system can include Microsoft WINDOWS NT or any other similar commercial product Such preferably supports or includes a Telnet appli cation 736 a network browser 738 and or an SNMP appli cation 740 with an app
38. hernet channel A complete OS kernel NET Management simple network management protocol SNMP MIBII and proxy agent NET Protocols including TCP IP NET Web HTTP server and XML microparser are commercially available from Net Silicon for the NET 50 32 bit Ethernet system on chip FIG 6 represents a circuit 600 that could be used in an implementation of the IPT PS 118 of FIG 1 and IPT PS 218 of FIGS 2A and 2B An AC Line input 602 from the AC power source is passed through the primary winding of an isolation transformer 604 A set of four AC Line outputs 606 are then connected to the four IPT IPM s e g 120 123 in FIG 1 and 220 223 in FIGS 2A and 2B The voltage drop across the primary winding of isolation transformer 604 is relatively small and insignificant even at full load So the line voltage seen at the AC Line outputs 606 is essentially the full input line voltage A voltage is induced into a lightly loaded secondary wind ing that is proportional to the total current being drawn by all the AC loads e g AC receptacles 101 116 in FIG 1 and 201 216 in FIGS 2A and 2B An op amp 608 is configured as a precision rectifier with an output diode 610 and provides a DC voltage proportional to the total current being drawn by all the AC loads and passing through the primary of trans former 604 An op amp 612 amplifies this DC voltage for the correct scale range for an analog to digital converter input AO of a microcontroller uC 6
39. intelligent power module IPT IPM 300 similar to those of FIGS 1 2A and 2B On the component side of the PCB the IPT IPM 300 has a two position connector 302 for AC Neutral and on the non component side screw connector 304 for the AC Line A PCB trace 306 distributes AC Line power input to a series of four power control relays as shown in FIG 4 An insulator sheet 310 screws down over the IPT IPM 300 and protects it from short circuits with loose wires and the sheetmetal outlet strip housing For example insulator sheet 310 can be made of MYLAR plastic film and may not necessarily have a set of notches 312 and 314 that provide for connector tabs 302 and 304 Con nector tabs 302 and 304 can alternatively be replaced with a two position connector with screw fasteners FIG 4 illustrates the component side of a PCB implemen tation of an IPT IPM module 400 e g the opposite side view of the IPT IPM module 300 in FIG 3 The IPT IPM module 400 comprises a pair of 12C daisy chain bus connectors 402 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 and 404 a PCB trace 406 distributes AC Line power input from AC Line screw connector 304 connect at a via 408 to a series of four power control relays 410 413 A microcontrol ler 414 processes the I2C communications on the internal 12C bus e g 12C bus 119 in FIG 1 and 219 in FIGS 2A and 2B FIG 5 shows the basic construction of an IPT NetworkPM module 500 and is simil
40. ips Semiconductor type P89C644 microcontrol ler could be used in personality module 902 The PDU 900 further comprises an I2C peripheral board 904 and a set of four IPM s 906 908 910 and 912 Such provide sixteen power outlets altogether A power supply 914 provides 5 volt logic operating power anda microcontroller with a serial connection to an inter IC control 12C bus 917 Such I2C bus 917 preferably conforms to industry standards published by Philips Semiconductor The Netherlands See www semiconductor philips com Philips Semiconductor type microcontrollers are preferably used throughout PDU 900 because I2C bus interfaces are included ASENTRY slave personality module 916 could be substi tuted for personality module 902 and typically includes a Server Technology Inc Reno Nev SENTRY type interface and functionality through a standard RJ12 jack See e g website at www servertech com A slave personality module 918 could be substituted for personality module 902 and provides a daisy chain I2C interface and functionality through a standard RJ12 jack A terminal server personality module 920 could be substituted for personality module 902 and provides a display terminal interface e g via I2C through a standard RJ12 jack or RS 232 serial on a DIN connector A network personality module 922 preferably pro vides a hypertext transfer protocol http browser interface e g via 100Base T network interface and a CAT 5 connecto
41. itch VM Power Distribution Unit Installation and Quick Start Manual 2000 20 pp Dec 31 American Power Conversion Corporation PowerNet SNMP Man agement Information Base MIB v3 1 0 Reference Guide 1999 48 pp Dec 31 Bay Technical Associates Inc download of www BayTech net from web archive org 1997 8 pp Dec 31 Bay Technical Associates Inc Owner s Manual for BayTech Remote Power Control Unit for Models RPC 2 RPC 2A RPC 2 MD01 RPC3 15 Amp RPC3 20 Amp RPC 3A RPC 4 RPC S5 RPC 7 RPC 21 Jan 2000 80 pp M2 Communications Ltd M2 Presswire BayTech s vertically mounted power strip helps network managers keep equipment up and running Nov 19 1999 1 p Systems Enhancement Corporation Power Administrator 800 User s Manual 1996 50 pp Dec 31 Office Action dated Jan 31 2011 U S Appl No 11 548 201 USPTO 30 pp Office Action dated Mar 29 2012 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 USPTO 103 pp Server Technology Inc Patent Owner s Response to Non Final Office Action Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 May 29 2012 56 pp Carrel W Ewing Second Declaration of Carrel W Ewing Under 37 CFR 1 132 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 May 29 2012 140 pp Michael B Aucoin Second Declaration of B Michael Aucoin Under 37 CFR 1 132 Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 May 29 2012 58 pp Chris Hardin Second Declaration of Chris Hardin Under 37 CF
42. kets D with the power manager system monitoring a subordi nate power distribution unit through the power distribu 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 22 tion unit the subordinate power distribution unit com prising at least a second plurality of power outlet sockets E with the power manager system creating one or more subsets of the power outlet sockets among the second plurality of power outlet sockets and F with the power manager system establishing a power on sequence for one or more of the power outlet sockets in one or more of the subsets of the first plurality of power outlet sockets and a power on sequence for one or more of the power outlet sockets in one or more of the subsets of the second plurality of power outlet sockets 2 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 1 also including G with the power manager system administratively restricting the level of access by another user to one or more of the subsets of the second plurality of power outlet sockets 3 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 1 wherein the power distribution housing comprises a relatively long thin outlet strip vertically mount able in an electrical equipment rack 4 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 2 wherein the power distribution housing comprises a relatively long thin outlet strip vertically mount able in an electrical equipment
43. lizes the combined current delivered on the AC Line leads to all of four intelligent power modules IPT IPM 220 223 The Philips 87LPC762 7 microcontroller is programmed as an I2C 8 bit I O Expander with an 8 bit 4 channel A D converter Eight pins are individually selectable as either an Input quasi bidirectional or Output open drain Four address lines determine the I2C slave address Eight com mands are supported STAT Status RCFG Read Config RPRT Read Port RADC Read ADC CRST Clear Reset WCFG Write Config WPRT Write Port and ADCE ADC Enable A checksum is used on received sent bytes for data integrity across the I2C bus Without a valid checksum a command will not be acted upon The microcontroller starts up with the 12C interface in idle slave mode Main waits in a loop until the I2C interface is flagged as non idle After an I2C start occurs and the rising edge of SCL sets DRDY and thus ATN an I2C interrupt occurs The I2C ISR disables the I2C interrupt and sets a 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 global I2C non idle flag The main loop then proceeds to read in the first byte from the I2C bus When seven bits are received the target I2C is known and is compared to the 1 0 Expander s own module address If different the I2C inter face processing stops and waits for another start to begin again If the same the last bit of the first byte is read which is the R W bit Ifa R
44. lves only with their private resources e g port names During a user configuration file upload power controller board 802 begins a complete message for all the power con troller boards in the string with the user table Such is fol lowed by the first outlets configuration block from power controller board 802 and the other outlet configuration blocks from power controller boards 804 and 806 The power controller board 802 tells each when to chime in Each block carries a checksum so transmission errors could be detected Each block begins with a header that identifies the source or destination then the data then the checksum During a user configuration file download power control ler board 802 receives a command from a user that says a configuration file is next The user name table and the serial name table is received by power controller board 802 along with its private outlets configuration block and checksum The next section is steered to power controller board 804 and it receives its outlets configuration block and checksum If good an acknowledgement is sent to the top power controller board 802 The power controller boards further down the string do the same until the whole download has been received If all power controller boards returned an acknowl edgement the power controller board 802 acknowledges the whole download Operation then commences with the con figuration Otherwise a fault is generated and the old configu r
45. messages to TskPCntl This routine owns the active command line user array Because there were multiple instances of this task locks were used to serialize access to the active user array TskSYS This was the general system task Specific functions for this task were defined as development progressed The control blocks were globally addressable by all soft ware in the system Such data structures exist in RAM and were mirrored in EEPROM memory They were constructed during system initialization using the non volatile versions in EEPROM memory If the EEPROM memory was empty the control blocks were built using defaults and the EEPROM memory was initialized using defaults as well All software has read access to all of the data structures The data in these control blocks was configuration data and was only changed as a result of configuration updates The data was mostly static and was written during initialization and when configu ration changes occur during an authorized user session All write access to this data consists of a two step process where the Global RAM copy of the data was updated followed by an update of the EEPROM copy of the data There were seven global configuration control blocks as illustrated below The following Tables describe each control block structure used in the prototype 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 SENTRY Configuration Table SCT This control blo
46. n program Commercial embodiments of the present invention that have been constructed use a variety of communications access methods For modem access the communication software is launched that supports ANSI or VT100 terminal emulation to dial the phone number of the external modem attached to the power manager When the modems connect a user should see a CONNECT message A user then presses the enter key to send a carriage return For direct RS 232C access a user preferably starts any serial communication software that supports ANSI or VT100 terminal emulation The program configures a serial port to one of the supported data rates 38400 79200 9600 4800 7400 7200 and 300 BPS along with no parity eight data bits and one stop bit and must assert its Device Ready signal DTR or DSR A user then presses the enter key to send a carriage return For Ethernet network connections the user typically con nects to a power manager 708 through a modem or console US 8 489 667 B2 17 serial port a TELNET program or TCP IP interface The power manager 708 preferably automatically detects the data rate of the carriage return and sends a username login prompt back to a user starting a session After the carriage return a user will receive a banner that consists of the word power manager followed by the current power manager version string and a blank line and then a Username prompt A user logged in with an adminis
47. nd 200 of FIGS 1 2A and 2B is used to monitor and control the operating power supplied to a plurality of computer based appliances 714 associated with a network interface controller NIC 716 Such computer based appliances 714 are subject to soft ware freezing or crashing and as such can become unrespon sive and effectively dead It is also some mission critical assignment that suffers during such down time It is therefore the role and purpose of the network remote power manage ment system 700 to monitor the power and environmental operating conditions in which the computer based appliance 714 operates and to afford management personnel the ability to turn the computer based appliance 714 on and off from the host system 702 Such power cycling allows a power on rebooting of software in the computer based appliance 714 to be forced without actually having to visit the site The oper ating conditions and environment are preferably reported to the host 702 on request and when alarms occur The power manager 708 further includes a network inter face controller NIC 718 and this may be connected to a security device 720 If the network 704 is the Internet or otherwise insecure it is important to provide protection of a protocol stack 722 from accidental and or malicious attacks that could disrupt the operation or control of the computer based appliance 714 At a minimum the security device 720 can be a user password mechanism Better t
48. ng power con trol equipment that is specialized for use in such TelCo pre mises RETMA racks Some of these power control devices can cycle the operating power on and off to individual net work appliances Such cycling of operating power will force a power on reset of the network appliance and is sometimes needed when an appliance hangs or bombs Since the network appli ance is usually located remote from the network administra tion center Server Technology has been quite successful in marketing power managers that can remotely report and con trol network appliance operating power over the Internet and other computer data networks Conventional power management equipment has either been mounted in the tops or bottoms of the server farm RETMA racks and thus has consumed vertical mounting space needed by the network appliances themselves So what is needed now is an alternate way of supplying AC or DC operating power to such network appliances without having to consume much or any RETMA rack space SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION Briefly a vertical mount network remote power manage ment outlet strip embodiment of the present invention com 20 25 30 35 40 50 55 60 65 2 prises a long thin outlet strip body with several independently controllable power outlet sockets distributed along its length A power input cord is provided at one end and this supplies AC operating power to relays associated with each
49. nput address subtract 0x20 for v2 A 0x50 0x60 0x62 0x64 0x66 B 0x52 0x68 Ox6A Ox6C Ox6E Cc 0x54 0x70 0x72 0x74 0x76 D 0x56 0x78 Ox7A Ox7C Ox7E Considering that each input power feed can support up to four quad IPM s sixteen ports and that each bus can have four input feeds and that there were two 2C buses an addressing scheme for a port must include three fields a Bus ID b Input Feed ID and c Relay ID The Bus ID could be regarded as vertical strip power man ager enclosure ID since one 2C bus were for the internal local I2C vertical power manager components and the other 12C bus were for the external remote vertical power manager Other implementations could use a CAN bus in place of the external I2C bus Each enclosure had an address on the bus e g an Enclosure ID Thus the three address fields needed were a Enclosure ID b Input Feed ID and c Relay ID The Enclosure ID was represented by a letter starting with A with a currently undefined maximum ultimately limited to Z Only A and B existed for the prototype The Input Feed ID was represented by a letter with a range of A to D The Relay ID was represented by a decimal number with a range of 1 to 16 An absolute identifier was needed for the user to enter commands A combination of Enclosure ID Input Feed ID and Relay ID must be expressed in the absolute ID This were done with a period followe
50. ns Each power controller board is preferably identical in its hardware and software construction and yet the one placed at the top of the serial daisy chain is able to detect that situation and take on a unique role as gateway Each power controller board is similar to power controller 208 FIG 2 Each power controller board communicates with the others to coordinate actions Each power controller board independently stores 0 20 35 40 45 55 60 18 user configuration data for each of its power control ports A typical implementation had four relay operated power con trol ports Part of the user configuration can include a user assigned name for each control port A resynchronization program is executed in each micro processor of each power controller board 802 804 and 806 that detects where in the order of the daisy chain that the particular power controller board is located The appropriate main program control loop is selected from a collection of firmware programs that are copied to every powers controller board In such way power controller boards may be freely added replaced or removed and the resulting group will resynchronize itself with whatever is present The top power controller board 802 uniquely handles inter active user log in user name tables its private port names and transfer acknowledgements from the other power con troller boards All the other power controller boards concern themse
51. of the power outlet sockets The relays are each addressably con trolled by a microprocessor connected to an internal 12C bus serial communications channel The power on status of each relay output to the power outlet sockets is sensed and com municated back on the internal I2C bus A device networking communications processor with an embedded operating sys tem translates messages status and controls between exter nal networks the internal 12C bus and other ports In alternative embodiments of the present invention a power manager architecture provides for building block con struction of vertical and horizontal arrangements of outlet sockets in equipment racks The electronics used in all such variants is essentially the same in each instance Each of a plurality of power input feeds has a monitor that can provide current measurements and reports on the internal 12C bus Each of the power input feeds could be independently loaded with a plurality of addressable controllable outlets Each out let is also capable of measuring the respective outlet socket load current and reporting those values on the internal 12C bus Separate digital displays are provided for each monitored and measured load and infeed current The internal I2C bus logic power supply network interfaces power control mod ules and relays etc could be distributed amongst several enclosures that have simple plug connections between each the infeed power source and the
52. on Corporation Case No 3 06 cv 00698 LRH VPC 90 pp Oct 14 2011 Patent Owner s Revised Response to Non Final Office Action and Exhibits Reexamination Control No 95 001 485 615 pp Jun 20 2011 Requestor s Revised Comments on Office Action of Jan 15 2011 and Patent Owner s Revised Response and Exhibits Reexamina tion Control No 95 001 485 380 pp Sep 29 2011 Betty Yuan Remote Control Equals Power Teleconnect Feb 2000 pp 60 66 New York NY USA Office Action dated Jun 10 2010 U S Appl No 11 125 963 USPTO Office Action dated Dec 19 2011 U S Appl No 11 243 823 USPTO Office Action dated Oct 13 2011 U S Appl No 11 459 011 USPTO Office Action dated Oct 13 2011 U S Appl No 11 548 187 USPTO Office Action dated Jun 8 2010 U S Appl No 11 738 417 USPTO Office Action dated Jun 22 2012 U S Appl No 12 853 193 USPTO 11 pp Office Action dated May 3 2012 U S Appl No 13 214 050 USPTO 12 pp Office Action dated Mar 13 2012 U S Appl No 13 091 082 USPTO 47 pp Office Action dated Mar 16 2012 U S Appl No 12 963 538 USPTO 50 pp Office Action dated Jul 6 2012 U S Appl No 11 243 823 USPTO 31 pp Office Action dated Mar 6 2012 U S Appl No 12 965 563 USPTO 20 pp American Power Conversion Corporation Masterswitch VM Power Distribution Unit User Guide 1999 51 pp Dec 31 American Power Conversion Corporation MasterSw
53. ormat errors detected These commands to upload and download configuration files are preferably implemented as an extension to an already existing repertoire of commands and behind some preexisting password protec tion mechanism HyperTerminal and other terminal emula tion programs allow users to send and receive files Ina minimal implementation the power manager configu ration files are not directly editable because they are in a concentrated format It would however be possible to imple ment specialized disassemblers editors and assemblers to manipulate these files off line FIG 8 is a diagram of an expandable power management system 800 that could be implemented in the style of the outlet strip 100 FIG 1 In one commercial embodiment of the present invention a first power controller board 802 is daisy chain connected through a serial cable 803 to a second power controller board 804 In turn the second power con troller board 804 is connected through a serial cable 805 to a third power controller board 806 All three power controller boards can communicate with a user terminal 808 connected by a cable 809 but such communication must pass through the top power controller board 802 first Alternatively the user terminal could be replaced by an IP address interface that provided a web presence and inter active webpages If then connected to the Internet ordinary browsers could be used to upload and download user configu ratio
54. ovides a digitally encoded power on status indication for all four relays K1 K4 An 12C module IPT I2C 224 receives digital messages on the internal I2C bus 219 and decodes and displays the totalized combined current e g in AC amperes on an LED readout 226 The internal I2C bus 219 terminates at a IPT NetworkPM 228 Preferably IPT NetworkPM 228 includes an operating system an HTML webpage and a network interface Such can connect a remote user or command console with the internal I2C bus 219 an external 12C bus that interconnects with other outlet strips through a RJ 11 socket 230 an Eth ernet 10 100 BaseT RJ 45 type socket 232 etc The IPT NetworkPM 228 preferably uses Internet protocols like TCP IP and supports simple network management protocol SNMP The modular construction of outlet strip 200 allows a fam ily of personality modules to be substituted for IPT Net workPM 228 Each such would be able to communicate with and control the IPT IPM s 220 223 via the internal 12C bus 219 The manufacturability and marketability of IPT IPM 220 223 could be greatly enhanced by making the hardware and software implementation of each the same as the others When a system that includes these is operating it preferably sorts out for itself how many IPM s are connected in a group and how to organize their mutual handling of control and status data in and out FIG 3 illustrates a printed circuit board PCB implemen tation of an
55. power on status indication for all four relays K1 K4 An I2C module IPT I2C 124 receives digital messages on the internal 12C bus 119 and decodes and displays the totalized combined current e g in AC amperes on an LED readout 126 A user is thus able to see the effect on the total current caused by plugging or unplugging a load from any or all of the AC output receptacles 101 116 The Philips 87LPC762 microcontroller is used as an I2C interface to a dual seven segment display Port 0 pins select the illuminated segments of a seven segment display Pin P1 7 selects which of the two seven segment displays is being driven and alternates between the two seven segment dis plays fast enough to avoid flicker The I2C slave address is configurable Five commands are supported STAT status RBTN Read button RPRB Read probe CRST Clear 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 reset and WDSP Write display A checksum is used on received sent bytes for data integrity across the I2C bus The IPT I2C microcontroller starts up with the I2C inter face in idle slave mode Main waits in a loop until the 12C interface is flagged as non idle After an I2C start occurs and the rising edge of SCL sets DRDY and thus ATN an I2C interrupt occurs The I2C ISR disables the I2C interrupt and sets a global I2C non idle flag The main loop then proceeds to read in the first byte from the I2C bus When seven bits are receive
56. r The on board microcontroller provides all these basic person alities through changes in its programming e g stored in EEPROM or Flash memory devices All of PDU 900 is pref erably fully integrated e g within power distribution outlet strip 100 in FIG 1 FIG 10 illustrates an intelligent power module IPT IPM 1000 and represents one way to implement IPT IPM s 120 123 of FIG 1 IPT IPM s 220 223 of FIGS 2A and 2B IPT IPM 300 of FIG 3 IPT IPM 400 of FIG 4 power con troller boards 802 804 and 806 of FIG 8 and 4 port IPM s 906 908 910 and 912 of FIG 9 The IPT IPM 1000 com prises an I2C microcontroller 1002 connected to communi cate ona daisy chain I2C serial bus with in and out connectors 1004 and 1006 An AC Line input 1008 e g from IPT PS 118 in FIG 1 is independently switched under microcontrol ler command to AC Line output 1 1010 AC Line output 2 1011 AC Line output 3 1012 and AC Line output 4 1013 A set of four relays K1 K4 1014 1017 provide normally open NO contacts 1018 1021 DC power to operate the relays is respectively provided by relay power supplies 1022 1025 Optical isolators 1026 1029 allow logic level outputs from the microcontroller 1002 to operate the relays in response to I2C commands received from the I2C bus Similarly optical isolators 1030 1033 allow the presence of AC Line voltages at AC Line output 1 1010 AC Line output 2 1011 AC Line output 3 1012 and AC Line out put
57. rack 5 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 1 also including G with the power manager system generating a user inter face on a user terminal associated with the power man ager computing system 6 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 1 also including G with the power manager system generating a user inter face on a user terminal associated with the at least one remotely located power distribution unit 7 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 1 also including G with the power manager system generating a value indicative of current flow through the at least one power input and displaying the value on a display associated with the at least one remotely located power distribution unit 8 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 7 wherein generating a value indicative of current flow comprises averaging current values over a plu rality of AC cycles 9 The method of remotely managing a power distribution system of claim 1 also including G executing a resynchronization program in the at least one remotely located power distribution unit housing UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 8 489 667 B2 Page of 1 APPLICATION NO 11 126092 DATED July 16 2013 INVENTOR S Carrell W Ewing et al It is certified that error appears in
58. reporting and a Variety of user interfaces that can be substi tuted at final product configuration time A modular component concept allows for communications and automated detection of any included modular compo nents over a common communications channel So a multi drop addressable and extensible bus architecture is used The Inter IC 12C bus developed by Philips semiconductor is preferred Each modular component contains a microproces sor capable of interpreting and responding to commands over 12C bus An application layer enhancement on top of the standard I2C protocol allows for data integrity checking A checksum is appended to all commands and responses Such checksum is validated before commands are acted upon and data responses are acknowledged Each module on the 12C power control bus has either a hard coded or configurable address to enable multiple components to communicate over the same two wires that comprise the bus Configuration jumpers on the power supply module are used to select opera tional items e g Power input feeds four port Intelligent Power Modules IPM attached to each input feed Input feed overload current threshold and Display inversion The main components used in most instances are the power supply board IPT PS that supplies DC voltage on the inter connection bus and monitors and reports input feed load and enclosure configuration information the intelligent power module IPM IPT IPM which con
59. ropriate MIB 742 A terminal emula tion program or user terminal 744 is provided so a user can manage the system 700 from a single console 20 25 40 45 55 65 16 If the computer based appliance 714 is a conventional piece of network eguipment e g as supplied by Cisco Sys tems San Jose Calif there will usually be a great deal of pre existing SNMP management software already installed e g in host 702 and especially in the form of SNMP 740 In such case it is usually preferable to communicate with the protocol stack 722 using SNMP protocols and procedures Alternatively the Telnet application 736 can be used to con trol the remote site 706 An ordinary browser application 738 can be implemented with MSN Explorer Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape NAVIGATOR or COMMUNICATOR The protocol stack 722 preferably includes the ability to send hypertext transfer protocol HTTP messages to the host 702 in datapackets 726 In essence the protocol stack 722 would include an embed ded website that exists at the IP address of the remote site 706 An exemplary embodiment of a similar technology is represented by the MASTERSWITCH PLUS marketed by American Power Conversion West Kingston R I Many commercial network devices provide a contact or logic level input port that can be usurped for the tickle signal Cisco Systems routers for example provide an input that can be supported in software to issue the necessa
60. ry mes sage and identifier to the system administrator A device inter rupt has been described here because it demands immediate system attention but a polled input port could also be used Network information is generally exchanged with protocol data unit PDU messages which are objects that contain variables and have both titles and values SNMP uses five types of PDU s to monitor a network Two deal with reading terminal data two deal with setting terminal data and one the trap is used for monitoring network events such as terminal start ups or shut downs When a user wants to see ifa terminal is attached to the network for example SNMP is used to send out a read PDU to that terminal If the terminal is attached a user receives back a PDU with a value yes the terminal is attached If the terminal was shut off a user would receive a packet informing them of the shutdown with a trap PDU In alternative embodiments of the present invention it may be advantageous to include the power manager and intelligent power module functions internally as intrinsic components of an uninterruptable power supply UPS In applications where it is too late to incorporate such functionally external plug in assemblies are preferred such that off the shelf UPS systems can be used Once a user has installed and configured the power man ager 708 a serial communications connection is established For example with a terminal or terminal emulatio
61. should be updated The major design tasks for the prototype included design ing and documenting the external I2C protocol that was used to communicate to chained SENTRY boxes and the new command line interface commands to support features that were previously available only via the SENTRY SHOW Screen interface The HTML code was developed for the prototype as well as the slave SENTRY code to run in a personality module ofa chained SENTRY Further discrete design efforts were required to code the system initialization the local 12C task the external 12C task the serial port control task the telnet control task the user interface task the power coordination task the extern user interface button LED control task and the WEB control task The major software components developed for the proto type are listed in the following Tables SenINIT SENTRY initialization procedure This software was the first SENTRY software that executes It performs hardware software builds the Configuration and Operational global control blocks and OS initialization This code spawns the SENTRY operational tasks that provide the system services TskSER One instance of this task was spawned for each active serial port In the initial product there was one instance of this task This task spawns TskUSR when a logon was detected This task owns the serial port operational array control block in global memory This control block was upd
62. the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below In the Specifications In column 5 line 64 delete Main and insert Main therefor In column 6 line 53 delete JiiatchDog and insert WatchDog therefor In column 10 line 3 delete STATus and insert STATUS therefor In column 10 line 3 delete of the of the and insert of the therefor In column 18 line 10 delete powers and insert power therefor Signed and Sealed this Twenty fifth Day of March 2014 VOR FO Z Michelle K Lee Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
63. the slave address type datal dataN checksum The first byte is the address of the slave The second byte indicates the type of data in the fol lowing data byte s The last byte is a checksum of all the previous bytes US 8 489 667 B2 5 A write command is started by the master addressing the slave with the R W bitcleared This is followed by the master transmitting multiple bytes to the slave followed by a stop or restart The internal 12C bus 119 is terminated at a network per sonality module IPT NetworkPM 128 Such provides an operating system HTTP server and network interface between the internal 12C bus 119 an external I2C bus 130 an Ethernet 10 100 BaseT 132 a modem 134 and a local opera tor s console 136 The IPT NetworkPM 128 preferably uses Internet protocols like TCP IP and supports simple network management protocol SNMP In one application the outlet strip 100 could be used in the remote power management environment described by the present inventors in their U S Pat No 5 949 974 issued Sep 7 1999 Such Patent is incor porated herein by reference Network messages e g using TCP IP and SNMP are communicated over the Ethernet 10 100 BaseT interface 132 Such messages are able a to independently control the power on off to each of AC output receptacles 101 116 b to read the power on status of each and c to report load current supplied by each outlet or simply the total combined current m
64. ting system communicatingly connected to a communications network monitoring at least one remotely located power distribution unit installed ina RETMA equipment rack having a network appliance stack mounting area the power distribution unit having i a power distribution unit housing mounted in a portion of the RETMA equipment rack externally of the net work appliance stack mounting area ii at least one power input disposed in the power distri bution unit housing iii a first plurality of power outlet sockets disposed in the power distribution unit housing at least one power outlet socket being connected to a first appliance installed in the rack and a second power outlet socket being connected to a second appliance installed in the rack iv power output control apparatus disposed in the power distribution unit housing and being controllably con nected to the at least one power outlet socket and the second power outlet socket among said first plurality of power outlet sockets and v a network communications system i supporting a transfer control protocol Internet Protocol and ii communicatingly connected to the communications network B with the power manager system creating one or more subsets of the power outlet sockets among the first plu rality of power outlet sockets C with the power manager system administratively restricting level of access by another user to one or more of the subsets of said power outlet soc
65. trative username can control power and make configuration changes A user logged in with a general username can control power on off cycling Users logged in administrative usernames can control power to all intelligent power modules a user logged in with a general username may be restricted to controlling power to a specific intelligent power module or set of intelligent power modules as configured by the administrator A parent case U S patent application Ser No 09 732 557 filed Dec 8 2000 titled NETWORK CONNECTED POWER MANAGER FOR REBOOTING REMOTE COM PUTER BASED APPLIANCES includes many details on the connection and command structure used for configuration management of power manager embodiments of the present invention Such patent application is incorporated herein by reference and the reader will find many useful implementa tion details there Such then need not be repeated here Referring again to FIG 7 a user at the user terminal 744 is able to send a command to the power manager 724 to have the power manager configuration file uploaded The power man ager 724 concentrates the configuration data it is currently operating with into a file The user at user terminal 744 is also able to send a command to the power manager 724 to have it accept a power manager configuration file download The download file then follows Once downloaded the power manager 724 begins operating with that configuration if there were no transfer or f
66. trols the source of power to each outlet based on 12C commands from the master control ler personality module PM and that reports whether the outlet is in the requested state and the outlet load current back to the master controller the display board IPT I2C used to display load current as supplied by the master controller and to monitor user requested resets and that can communicate with sensors attached to its Dallas Semiconductor type wire bus to the master controller and the personality modules that act as an 12C bus master e g IPT Serial PM IPT Slave PM and IPT Network PM Such personality module can initialize issue commands to and receive responses from the various components on the bus It also is responsible for executing user power control and configuration requests by issuing commands on the bus to the various modules that perform these functions These person ality modules support several user interfaces and can be swapped to provide this functionality The IPT Serial PM is used for serial only communications The IPT Slave PM is used to connect to an earlier model controllers and allows for a variety of user interfaces e g Telnet Http SNMP serial modem The IPT Network PM has much of the same func tionality as a previous model controller but has all that func tionality contained on the personality module itself and requires no external enclosure By combining and configuring these components a vari
67. ut those outlets or groups actually being in the user s outlet or group tables Lists of outlets or groups for administrative users should include all currently detected outlets and groups This allowed adminis trative privileges to be given or taken away without affecting the users outlet and group tables Groups of outlets could be created or removed Outlets could be added or removed from groups Outlets or groups of outlets could be added or removed from users An outlet may belong to multiple groups All user defined outlet and groups names were unique This were enforced at the time names were defined by the user All user defined names also cannot be the same as any KEYWORDS For example they cannot be GROUP OUTLET or ALL This were enforced at the time names were defined by the user Usernames were uppercased when stored and displayed and were compared case insensitive Passwords were stored and compared case sensitive Separate tables existed for each user s outlet access and group access When an ADMN user specifies ALL it means all cur rently detected outlets For non ADMN users the ALL parameter refers to all of the outlets in the current user s outlet access table There was no all to refer to all groups All commands that specify outlet IDs need to be bounds checked against the currently detected number of enclosures number of input feeds on the target enclosure and the number of

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