International Business Machines Corporation

Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Other

Jerry William Pearce

Thomas J Clement

Howard J Locker

Randall Scott Springfield

Richard Bealkowski

Michael Robert Turner

Carlos Munoz-Bustamante

Robert D Johnson

Donald D Williams

Charles David Bauman

J Rockland Proffit

A computer system is capable of operating with various types of fans from the same manufacturer or from different manufacturers and is capable identifying the type of fan which is presently installed in the system. The system includes a fan of the type which includes an integral optical sensor and detectable indicia such as, by way of example, a bar code label or imprint. Fan identification has a variety of uses including, for instance, adjusting system parameters to properly execute the computer system's cooling functions based on the type of fan presently installed, and reporting fan type and/or serial number to an administrator or central inventory server for quality control purposes. Particular embodiments include the derivation of tachometric information from the detectable indicia. The computer system may include an inventory program which maintains fan ID data for a plurality of fans.

Advanced fan control and identification system and method

Aspects for automated monitoring of a display are described. The aspects include utilizing gaze tracking with a display to monitor attention to information on the display. Additionally, a level of alarm is escalated for the updated information when the attention by the system operator is not detected within a predetermined time period.

Method and system for automated monitoring of a display

A motherboard is capable of accepting various types of fans from same or different manufacturers and is capable identifying the type of fan to which it is connected. In one embodiment, the motherboard is capable of decoding bar code data originating from a fan of the type which, rather than including circuitry for generating a single index pulse, includes an integral optical sensor and bar code pair for generating the bar code data, the motherboard being further capable of and identifying the fan based on the bar code data. Fan identification has a variety of uses including, for example, adjusting motherboard parameters to properly operate the fan based on the type of fan presently coupled to the motherboard. Additionally, fan speed may be calculated from pulses which are intended to identify the fan.

Motherboard having advanced fan control features

Aspects for managing print jobs for a printer are described. The aspects include an examination of a print queue of print jobs based on a level of consumable resources available in the printer. Further, an order of the print jobs in the printer is adjusted to prioritize printing of the print jobs that can be completely printed with the consumable resources available, wherein the printer realizes increased throughput and minimized downtime.

Method and system for managing print jobs for a printer to maximize throughput

Aspects for providing an out of paper indication by a printer are described. The aspects include controlling paper ejection during a print job to provide an out of paper indication with a last sheet of a paper supply in a printer. The controlling of the paper ejection further includes starting ejection of a page of the print job, determining if the page being ejected comprises the last sheet, completing ejection of the page when the page does not comprise the last sheet, and stopping ejection of the page when the page does comprise the last sheet. Additionally, the partial ejection of the last sheet is maintained until paper is added to the paper supply.

Method and system for providing an out of paper indication by a printer

A memory exhaustion condition is handled in a data processing system having first and second regions of physical memory. The memory exhaustion condition is detected while the second region is mirroring at least part of the first region. In response to the memory exhaustion condition, memory mirroring is at least partially deactivated and at least part of the second region is utilized to augment the first region, such that the memory exhaustion condition is eliminated. In an illustrative embodiment, the data processing system compresses real memory into the first region of physical memory, and the memory exhaustion condition arises when the first region lacks sufficient available capacity to accommodate current requirements for real memory. The memory exhaustion condition is eliminated by compressing at least part of the real memory into the second region.

Support for exhaustion recovery in a data processing system with memory mirroring

A security system using a security detector associated with a personal computer attached to an existing data transmission network, where the personal computer is effective to detect security breaches and transmit an alarm even if the personal computer is not in its operating mode. When a security breach is detected by the security detector, the data transmission network is used to report the incident to a monitoring station for appropriate logging and action. Because the security system is coupled to a data transmission network and computer resources, the security system can be remotely activated and can respond to historical sensing of a security detector to adjust its threshold.

Security system using existing network and personal computers

A casing board for use as an information displaying and storage device, which may be formed into a binder, a storage box or be used as a flat board includes a substrate, an opaque intermediate covering layer affixed to the substrate and a transparent outer layer affixed to at least one of the substrate and the opaque covering layer at predetermined affixation locations to define a pocket intermediate the transparent layer and the opaque layer characterized by folded flaps defining turned-edge corners.

Casing board with transparent cover

A casing board for organizing, storing, protecting and displaying communications media, such as papers, audio and video cassettes and compact discs, includes a substrate made of a relatively rigid material. The substrate includes a front cover portion, a rear cover portion and a spine portion positioned between and hingedly connected to the front cover portion and the rear cover portion. The casing board further includes an outer wrap made of a flexible, polyolefin material and sized to have longitudinal and lateral dimensions slightly greater than the longitudinal and lateral dimensions of the substrate. The outer wrap is positioned adjacent the exterior surface of the substrate with the longitudinal and lateral edges of the outer wrap turned over the periphery of the substrate and affixed, preferably with an adhesive, to the interior surface of the substrate. The casing board further includes a clear overlay made of a flexible, polyolefin material sized to have a longitudinal dimension slightly greater than the longitudinal dimension of the substrate. The clear overlay is positioned adjacent the outer wrap with the longitudinal edges of the clear overlay turned over the periphery of the substrate and affixed, preferably by thermal contact welding, to the longitudinal edges of the outer wrap. Accordingly, the clear overlay defines a transparent, exterior pocket that extends between the longitudinal edges of the casing board to display a single-sheet merchandising insert across the full width of the casing board.

Casing board including clear overlay defining exterior pocket

Disclosed is a personal computer system which includes a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to a direct access storage device (DASD) and a random access memory (RAM). A flash memory module is coupled to the CPU and an input/output (IO) bus and includes a basic input output system (BIOS) stored therein. The BIOS is effective for responding to the energization of the computer system by initiating a power on self test (POST). The BIOS is further operative on completion of the POST for transferring a portion of BIOS from the module to the RAM and for transferring control of the of the computer system to the BIOS portion. The portion of BIOS is operative to load a protected mode operating system (OS) into RAM and transfer control to the OS. The system further includes a logic circuit coupled to the flash memory module and the IO bus for allowing the BIOS in flash memory to be accessed while the protected mode OS is running.

Computer system having flash memory bios which can be accessed while

An extended PCI bus (100) accepts both standard 33 MHz (101-102) and extended 66 MHz (103-104) PCI I/O devices, and permits the intermixing and interoperability of both types of devices on the same bus. Each extended 66 MHz initiator device (103) includes a target memory (205) that is programmed at boot up to include a list of address ranges of all extended 66 MHz devices. Each extended 66 MHz device includes a clock multiplier (202) that generates an internal 66 MHz clock signal by doubling the 33 MHz bus clock frequency. This clock multiplier may be in the form of a simple edge detecting frequency doubler (FIG. 4), or a phase locked loop (FIG. 5) that can also provide for phase adjustments to alter the skew between the bus and internal clocks. To transfer data between two extended 66 MHz devices, an extended initiator device sends, during the address/control phase of the bus cycle, a fast read or write command to the extended target device over the C/BE lines of the bus. Subsequently during the data phase of the bus cycle, data is transferred over the bus at the 66 MHz rate using the 66 MHz internal clock signals.

Growing community of inventors

Apex, NC, United States of America

Jerry William Pearce