Dell Assigned Four Patents

Upgradeable persistent virtual storage
Dell Products LP, Round Rock, TX, has been assigneda patent (8,732,285) developed by Timohy Lambert, Austin, TX, and Alaa Yousif, Pflugerville, TX, for an “upgradeable persistent virtual storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method to provide at least one of a scalable, a replaceable, and an upgradeable device via remote access solution virtual media includes emulating a physical plug-and-play universal serial bus device to a managed host server system as a virtual media device using firmware in a service processor and a virtual media engine of a remote access solution comprising a remote access card disposed in the managed host server system, the physical plug-and-play universal serial bus device disposed in the remote access card, proxying data communications between the physical plug-and-play universal serial bus device and the managed host server system through the service processor, and allowing remote access to the physical plug-and-play universal serial bus device by a remote management client using the firmware in the service processor and the virtual media engine via an out-of-band dedicated remote access card network interface card disposed in the remote access card.”

The patent application was filed on Jan. 18, 2006 (11/334,613).

Mapping a logical drive status to physical drive status
for multiple storage drives having different storage technologies within server
Dell Products, Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (8,738,817) developed by Timothy M. Lambert, Austin, TX, and Indrani Paul, Round Rock, TX, for a “system and method for mapping a logical drive status to a physical drive status for multiple storage drives having different storage technologies within a server.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An information handling system includes a backplane, a storage drive, and a board management controller. The board management controller is configured to discover a physical drive status of the drive from a storage enclosure processor, to receive a logical drive status of the drive, to read a backplane bay identification for the drive from a peripheral connector interface express extender or serial attached small computer system interface chipset logical drive number, and to construct a routing table for the drive to map the logical drive status with the physical drive status of the drive.”

The patent application was filed on April 16, 2013 (13/864,087).

Combined IO module and zero power optical disc drive
with advanced integration and power
Dell Products, Round Rock, TX has been assigned a patent (8,745,423) developed by Andrew T. Sultenfuss, Leander, TX, for a “system for combined input output module and zero power optical disk drive with advanced integration and power.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An information handling system includes a module bay, a voltage control switch, and a controller. The module bay configured to receive a module, and to connect the module to the information handling system. The voltage control switch is in communication with the module bay, and is configured to provide power to the module bay. The controller is in communication with the module bay and with the voltage control switch. The controller is configured to detect a type of the module connected to the module bay, and to send a power control override signal to the voltage control switch when the type is a specific type, wherein the power control override signal causes the voltage control switch to disregard a power down signal received for the module bay and continue to provide power to the module bay.”

The patent application was filed on Aug. 30, 2013 (14/015,500).

Optical disc drive with reduced noise
Dell Products, Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (8,724,307) developed by Quoc Hoai Nguyen and William Barclay, Round Rock, TX, for an “optical disk drive with reduced noise.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states:” An optical drive includes a drive chassis and a front panel. The drive chassis includes a single sleeve unit having a top panel, a first side panel, a second side panel, a bottom panel, and a back panel. The single sleeve unit is a single piece of material such that the top panel, the first side panel, the second side panel, the bottom panel, and the back panel are continuous. Additionally, the single piece of material is bent at an intersection of each of the top, first side, second side, bottom, and back panels. The front panel is snap fitted onto the top panel, the first side panel, the second side panel, and the bottom panel of the single sleeve unit of the drive chassis.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 24, 2009 (12/566,408).