Power Profile Diagnostic Engine for IHS Self-Service
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional self-diagnostic systems for information handling systems (IHS) require additional physical hardware, increasing costs and complexity, especially in low-margin devices, and often necessitate user intervention or on-site technician visits for issue diagnosis.
Innovation Solution
An IHS with a processing system and memory that includes a power profile diagnostic engine to determine and compare power consumption profiles, identifying malfunctions by comparing actual consumption to predetermined profiles, and providing a malfunction report without the need for additional hardware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional self-diagnostic capabilities are provided in the IHS, then diagnosis of issues or problems may occur prior to those issues or problems preventing proper operation of the IHS, but additional physical hardware such as loop-back pins, additional general purpose input/outputs, and other self-diagnostic capability components must be added, which increases the cost of what may be already low-margin IHSs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical/self-diagnostic hardware components (loop-back pins, additional GPIOs) with a software-based power profile analysis system. The processing system uses existing power management infrastructure to monitor, compare, and diagnose component performance by analyzing power consumption patterns, eliminating the need for additional physical diagnostic hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables the IHS to self-diagnose by automatically comparing actual power consumption profiles against predetermined profiles stored in memory. The processing system independently identifies malfunctions and generates reports without requiring external diagnostic equipment or user intervention, allowing the system to service itself using existing hardware resources.
2Reliability
If conventional self-diagnostic capabilities are provided in the IHS, then diagnosis of issues or problems may occur prior to those issues or problems preventing proper operation of the IHS, but the costs associated with providing such service increase when issues or problems with the IHS are difficult to diagnose, when diagnosis requires the user to send the IHS to the service provider or require the service provider to send a technician to the users location
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic self-diagnosis by comparing actual power consumption profiles against predetermined profiles stored in memory. The processing system independently identifies malfunctions and generates reports without requiring user action to send the device for service or requiring technician visits, thereby improving ease of operation while maintaining diagnostic reliability.
3Extent of automation
If additional physical hardware is added to provide self-diagnostic capabilities, then the IHS can perform self-diagnosis, but the cost of the IHS increases, which is problematic for low-margin devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes mechanical self-diagnostic hardware (loop-back pins, additional GPIOs) with a software-based power profile analysis system. By utilizing existing power management infrastructure and memory to store and compare power consumption profiles, the system achieves automated self-diagnosis without adding physical components, thereby maintaining ease of manufacture while enabling automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system repurposes existing power management hardware and memory for diagnostic functions. The same power monitoring infrastructure used for normal operation is leveraged to compare actual consumption against predetermined profiles, enabling self-diagnosis without dedicated diagnostic hardware, thus reducing manufacturing costs while achieving automation.
Data Source
AI summary
A power profile diagnostic system includes a power rail. At least one subsystem is coupled to the power rail. A controller is coupled to the power rail and to a power profile database. The controller is configured to monitor the power rail and determine a power consumption profile of the at least one subsystem during a predefined operation of the at least one subsystem. The controller then compares the power consumption profile to a predetermined power profile that is stored in the power profile database in association with the predefined operation, and determines whether a difference between the predetermined power profile and the power consumption profile is indicative of a malfunction of the at least one subsystem. If the difference between the predetermined power profile and the power consumption profile is indicative of the malfunction of the at least one subsystem, the controller provide a malfunction report for display.