IP Library Granted Patent US 12,436,899
Granted Patent B2
US 12,436,899 · App. 18/103,259 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Information handling system peripheral device health state tracking for enhanced reuse and recycling

Inventors: John Trevor Morrison (Round Rock, TX); Jace W. Files (Round Rock, TX)
Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
G06F13/102G06F3/0202G06F3/03543G06F3/03545
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,436,899
App. No.
18/103,259
Granted
Oct 7, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A peripheral device having one or more input devices tracks total inputs at the input devices locally and reports the total inputs to an information handling system to track health of the peripheral for reuse. Input device actuations and/or values are queued in batches of sufficient size so that communication to non-transitory memory and to the information handling system hides the values of the inputs made by an end user. The peripheral devices can include peripheral keyboards that track key inputs, peripheral mouse devices that track button presses and peripheral stylus devices that track battery charges, button presses and writing tip use.

Claims (22)

1. A method for tracking an information handling system peripheral health state, the method comprising:

monitoring input values performed at the peripheral, each input value made by a press at a key associated with the input value;

queueing the input values in a buffer of the peripheral until a batch of a predetermined number of input values is queued; and

storing the batch of input values in non-transitory memory of the peripheral when the predetermined number of input values is queued, the input values transferred from the buffer to the non-transient memory in an order different than an order in which the input values were made at the peripheral.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

communicating the batch of input values to an information handling system with a unique identifier of the peripheral; and

communicating the batch of input values and unique identifier from the information handling system to a network location.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the peripheral comprises a keyboard having plural keys; and

the batch of input values comprises a predetermined number of key inputs.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing a total number of key presses; and

storing key values associated with the total number of key presses for only a subset of less than all of the plural keys.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising queuing the key inputs as the batch unreadable by a processing resource until the predetermined number of key inputs are queued.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the peripheral comprises a mouse having mouse input buttons; and

the batch of input values comprises a predetermined number of mouse button inputs.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the peripheral comprises a stylus.

8. A method for tracking an information handling system peripheral health state, the method comprising:

monitoring keyboard key press input values performed at the peripheral, each input value made by a press at a key associated with the input value;

queueing the input values in a buffer of the peripheral until a batch of a predetermined number of input values is queued, the buffer inaccessible by the information handling system; and

transferring the input values as the batch of input values to non-transitory memory of the peripheral when the predetermined number of input values is queued, the transferring performed in a random order different than an order the inputs were made.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 30, 2023
From: MORRISON, JOHN TREVOR; FILES, JACE W.
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.
Reel/Frame 062537/0545 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240256471A1 · Aug 1, 2024
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