Dell USA L P

Hewlett-packard Company

Dell Products Inc.

Damon W Broder

Reynold L Liao

Clint H O'Connor

Abdolreza Movaghar

Charles D Hood

Orin Michael Ozias

Jefferson Blake West

William H Schwiebert

W Wistar Rhoads

Shelley I Moore

Sean P O'Neal

Todd R Medin

Bryan Franklin Howell

Brent W Richtsmeier

Robert R Giles

Stephen B Witte

Robert Gregory Twiss

Peter Nils Skillman

James Don Curlee

Robert L McMahan

Steven D Gluskoter

Andrew K Moore

Gerold G Firl

Christopher M Jaggers

Christopher Cavello

David J Hernandez

Darren Burke Pav

Bryan K Hunter

Steve D Gluskoter

Corrina A Hall

Joseph P Milkovits

Richard L Eddings, Ii

William C Hilliard

Aneesa R Scandalis

Eric B Holloway

Cassius Joseph Mullen

Ed Cline

Michael Thad Collins

Ed Tinsley

A computing product is first assembled according to a predetermined hardware configuration and placed in a shipping container thus providing a containerized computer system. The computing product has a wireless communication subsystem for wirelessly receiving configuration information. The containerized computer system is fully configured before shipping the computer system to a predetermined customer by exchanging information between the wireless communication subsystem and a wireless information network in the manufacturing facility.

Method and system for configuring a computer system via a wireless communication link

A fan, a heat generating component and a shroud are mounted in a computer chassis. The shroud includes an open first end adjacent the fan and an open second end adjacent the heat generating component. An adaptor is flexibly mounted on the second open end of the shroud for movement to multiple positions along a plane perpendicular to the second open end of the shroud.

Processor shroud adaptor for multiple CPU locations

A wireless access subsystem is first attached to a peripheral port of a computing product. The computing product is further assembled with other components and goes through various testing processes while being tracked and monitored by a manufacturing control server through wireless communications with the wireless access subsystem. The wireless access subsystem has a separate power supplier incorporated therein and operates independently from the computing product.

Method and system for manufacturing and servicing a computing product with the assistance of a wireless communication subsystem attached to a peripheral port

A computer system including at least one microprocessor mounted on a printed circuit board, and at least two electrical connectors proximate to the printed circuit board, with the at least two electrical connectors spaced to attenuate at least one prespecified frequency electromagnetic energy waveform.

Printed circuit board electromagnetic energy device

A chassis bushing assembly is provided. The chassis bushing assembly includes an outer disc and an inner disc. The outer disc includes a lip and has first face and a second face. The inner disc includes a shoulder and has a third face and a fourth face. In addition, the inner disc coaxially mates with the outer disc. The chassis bushing assembly further includes a first aperture extending through the first and second faces of the outer disc and a second aperture, coaxially located with respect to the first aperture, extending through the third and fourth faces of the inner disc. The chassis bushing assembly is symmetrical so that each chassis bushing location within a chassis utilizes the same chassis bushing assembly. In addition, the chassis bushing assembly is common across different chassis types and backwards compatibly with previous chassis designs.

Chassis bushing assembly

A manufacturing process starts from installing a wireless communication subsystem on a computer system, and allows information exchanges made wirelessly by the computer system and a manufacturing control computer of the wireless information network to complete manufacturing the computer system.

Method and system for manufacturing a computer system with the assistance of a wireless information network

A system and method for detecting a mechanical component and thereby verify any warranty covering the mechanical component includes encoding a mechanical component, identifying an attribute of the mechanical component via the encoding, providing the attribute to detection logic located on a system board, the detection logic providing the attribute to a configuration diagnostic system. A method of detecting warranty violations further includes providing a mechanical component with a unique identifier and transmitting identifying data to diagnostic software that includes a log or marker capable of detecting and logging changes in the mechanical component. The method further includes transmitting the data identifying the change in the mechanical component via a network connection to warranty verification software. A computer system includes a processor coupled to a bus, at least one memory coupled to the bus, a plurality of input/output devices coupled to the bus, an operating system stored in memory, and a mechanical component encoded to identify an attribute of the mechanical component via the encoding. The computer system includes a system board including detection logic that provides the attribute to a configuration diagnostic system.

Method for internal mechanical component configuration detection

A system and method for one touch operation of a docking station for a portable computer are disclosed that provide significant advantages over prior developed techniques. The disclosed embodiments provide an easily implemented and relatively inexpensive technique for adding security to a portable computer docking station. A system incorporating teachings of the present disclosure may include a docking station that has a latching mechanism and an ejection tab. The latching mechanism may be operable to releasably secure a portable computer to the docking station by moving from an unlocked orientation into a locked orientation. The ejection tab may be operable to eject the portable computer from the docking station by moving into an eject orientation. The system may also include a lever that has an unlocked position, a locked position, and an eject position. The lever may be operable to move the latching mechanism from the unlocked orientation into the locked orientation by moving from the unlocked position to the locked position. The lever may be further operable to move the ejection tab to an eject orientation by moving into an eject position.

System and method for one touch operation of a docking station

A torsion system for a portable computer including a base and cover pivotally connected to the base for movement between a closed position and an open position. The cover has a free end and a pivotally connected end. A pair of spaced apart hinge components are mounted on the pivotally connected end of the cover between a first side and a second side of the cover. A first frame portion is mounted in the first side of the cover and a second frame portion is mounted in the second side of the cover. A torsion member interconnects the pair of hinge components and the first and second frame portions. The torsion member has a closed cross-section.

Portable computer with cover and torsion member

A computer system including an enclosure having a face with an opening formed therein. A door is pivotally mounted on the enclosure adjacent to the opening for being moved between an open position and a closed position with respect to the opening. A removable heat generating component is mounted in the enclosure adjacent to the opening and a heat extraction member is attached to the door. A remote heat dissipating body is mounted in the enclosure. A heat routing member is attached at a first end to the heat extraction member and at a second end to the heat dissipating body. The heat extraction member engages a surface of the heat generating device when the door is in the closed position. The removable heat generating component can be cooled using the heat routing member and the remotely located heat dissipating body while still permitting the heat generating component to be readily accessed through the opening in the enclosure.

Apparatus and method for cooling a heat generating component in a computer

A docking apparatus for docking selected portable computers which provides coarse and medium alignment between the docking connector of the computer system and the docking connector of a docking station mounted on a docking tray by providing rails having oppositely facing upright flat faces on a docking tray and notches formed in the underside of the chassis, the notches having corresponding oppositely facing upright flat faces and opposing sloping sidewalls for urging the flat face of the rails toward the flat faces of the notches. The notches are preferably wider at the leading edge of the chassis, away from the connector than at the trailing edge, close to the chassis and the rails are preferably spaced further apart at the leading edge of the tray than they are close to the docking station. Coarse alignment followed by finer alignment is accomplished by providing a closer spacing between the rails as they get closer to the docking station and by providing notches which are narrower closer to the docking station than away from the docking station.

Computer docking guidance system

A computer including a microprocessor, an input coupled to provide input to the microprocessor, a mass storage coupled to the microprocessor and a memory coupled to the microprocessor to provide storage to facilitate execution of computer programs by the microprocessor. A heat pipe including spaced apart condenser regions and an evaporator region disposed between the condenser regions is provided. The evaporator region is positioned adjacent the microprocessor. A first heat dissipating device is attached to the heat pipe adjacent to a first one of the condenser regions. A second heat dissipating device is attached to the heat pipe adjacent to a second one of the condenser regions. The second heat dissipating device is of a different type than the first heat dissipating device. The reliability and effectiveness of the cooling apparatus are greatly increased through the use of a heat pipe having two condenser regions that are attached to different types of heat dissipating bodies.

Apparatus for cooling a heat generating component in a computer

A housing for components of a computer system includes a portion having a material which is integral with an electrically conductive signal line. The material and the electrically conductive signal line are formed so as to physically break in response to application of a physical force on the material. Circuitry is coupled to the signal line for detecting a physical break in the material by detecting an open circuit caused by physically breaking the electrically conductive signal line. In response to the open circuit, an operation of the computer system is disabled.

System and method for securing a computer system

A monitor stand which allows placement of a computer monitor above or to the side of the base of the docking apparatus. In one embodiment, the monitor stand includes spaced-apart side channel members and adjacent transverse channel members extending between the side members. Each transverse channel member has opposing ends attached to each respective side channel member. A first one of the adjacent transverse channel members is inverted with respect to a second one of the adjacent transverse channel members. A principal advantage of the embodiments presented herein is that the monitor stand can support the sustained loading of even the largest commercially available computer monitors without exhibiting appreciable deflection.

Computer monitor stand

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

Damon W Broder