Digital Equipment Corporation

Compaq Computer Corporation, Inc.

Nec Technologies, Inc.

Aox Incorporated

Thomas J Schmidt

Simoni Ben-Michael

Michael Ben-Nun

Michael D Aronson

Arnold J Smith

Larry Huppert

Richard Atanus

Lawrence Huppert

James F Murray

In a telephone system employing a PBX server to communicate with local telephones over a local area network, fallback adapters are provided to automatically respond to a power failure and also respond to the failure of the PBX server to automatically connect the telephones directly to a telephone line. This automatic connection enables the telephones to be used as analog phones and make and receive calls directly without using the PBX server. Power failure is detected by relays which default to a position to connect the telephones directly to the telephone line. The fallback detectors have controller logic which detects the presence of a ringing signal on the telephone line and the failure of the PBX to respond to the ringing signal. In addition, the fallback detectors detect the failure of the PBX to respond when a telephone is used to attempt to make an outgoing call or a call to another one of the local telephones. When the controller logic detects a failure of the PBX server to respond, the controller logic actuates the relays to their default positions.

LAN phone system with automatic fallback for power or network failure

A method and related apparatus enables one station on a local area network (LAN) 24 to securely wake up another station on the LAN 24 although the stations may be physically remote from each other. A workstation 12, acting as a remote management console, generates a secure wake-up packet 42 intended for a desktop computer 14 on the LAN 24. The desktop computer 14 is operating in a sleep state. The data section of the secure wake-up packet has a particular sequence of data including a synchronization sequence 46, a MAC address sequence 48 and a password sequence 50. The desktop computer 14 has a network interface 64 for detecting and processing secure wake-up packets 70 when that network interface 64 is operating in a remote access control mode. The network interface 64 verifies that MAC address sequence 48 corresponds to the MAC address of the desktop computer 14 and that the password sequence 50 has a predetermined relationship with a password required to wake up the desktop computer 14. The network interface 64 issues a wake-up signal to wake up the desktop computer 14 when a valid secure wake-up packet is processed.

Method and apparatus for secure remote wake-up of a computer over a

A fault notification system detects the non-operational state of the computer, or other type of network device, and transmits network messages from the device to a monitoring system or control console in the case of a detected non-operational state. The network messages are constructed by the network device when it is operational, preferably by the operating system before any problem is detected. This message is then stored in some non-volatile storage medium, such as the BIOS memory in one embodiment. As a result, very limited operating system functionality must be replicated in the device BIOS. Only the actual transmitted message must be stored and the commands necessary to have the message sent. In some embodiments, an auxiliary processor is used to detect improper operation, preferably via a dedicated, secondary bus. It loads the relevant messages into the transport buffer for transmission to the monitoring system even where the computer's CPU may not be operational.

Fault notification system and process using local area network

A computer cabinet tamper detection system includes a switch that is responsive to the chassis being opened to expose the electronic hardware and an auxiliary state element that changes state in response to the switch. A reporting program runs on the hardware to poll the state of the auxiliary state element when the computer is operational to provide notification regarding a safe or unsafe condition of the chassis. This allows the computer operator and the organization to take steps to contain any damage associated with the possible prejudicing of the computer's security.

Cabinet security state detection

A method and related apparatus enables one station on a local area network (LAN) 24 to remotely and securely modify sensitive information of another station on the LAN 24. A workstation 12, acting as a remote management console, generates a wake-up packet 32 or 42 intended for a desktop computer 14 on the LAN 24. A network interface 64 receives and processes the wake-up packet, and issues a signal to wake up the desktop computer. In response to the signal, the desktop computer 14 bootstraps. Data indicating that the network interface 64 has issued the signal is stored in register 104. In the course of bootstrapping, the processor 78 examines the register 104 to determine that the network interface 64 has initiated the wake-up of the desktop computer 14. Once this determination is made, the write protection circuitry 76 places the BIOS ROM 74 in an unprotected state wherein the contents BIOS ROM 74 can be modified by the workstation 12.

Method and apparatus for secure remote programming of firmware and

An apparatus for determining a plurality of video signal characteristics including analog video frequency, horizontal sync frequency and vertical sync frequency produced by a graphics controller providing the video signal to a video display monitor, includes a memory storing bits which correspond to a set of operating characteristics of the video display monitor, a first circuit coupled to the memory for producing voltage fluctuations on a line based on the stored bits in response to a signal which corresponds to a command to set the characteristics of the video signal provided to the video display monitor, and a second circuit for sensing the voltage fluctuations so as to permit determination of the set of operating characteristics. The first circuit includes a switch operatively coupled between a video line and ground to allow grounding of the video line based on the bits so as to produce the voltage fluctuations. The second circuit comprises a logic element for detecting the voltage fluctuations. A method for determining the operating capabilities of the video display monitor is also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Milford, NH, United States of America

Thomas J Schmidt