Method and apparatus for determining a physical position of a device

1. A method of determining a physical position of a rack device located within a set of racks, each rack supporting one or more power distribution units and one or more rack devices, the method comprising:

transmitting from a management device a control command to the rack device, the command instructing the rack device to change a power loading of the rack device in a periodic, repetitive pattern, the management device being constructed and arranged to communicate with each of the one or more power distribution units and the one or more rack devices supported on each rack;

receiving at the management device, from a power distribution unit that provides power supply for the rack device, a network address of the power distribution unit, the network address being transmitted by the power distribution unit in response to detecting the change of the power loading in the periodic, repetitive pattern on a power port in which the rack device changes between a first operating state that increases the power loading to a first predetermined value and a second operating state that decreases the power loading to a second predetermined value that is different from the first operating state to provide the periodic, repetitive pattern on the power port; and

determining at the management device the physical position of the rack device based at least on the network address of the power distribution unit;

wherein the power loading of the rack device, when changing in the periodic, repetitive pattern, provides a particular binary coding sequence.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control command includes the particular binary coding sequence; and wherein the particular binary coding sequence has a limited time duration.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein a digit “0” in the particular binary coding sequence indicates the rack device to be in the first operating state in a predetermined time interval, and a digit “1” in the binary coding sequence indicates the rack device to be in the second operating state that is different from the first operating state in the predetermined time interval.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the particular binary coding sequence is generated by encoding a network address of the rack device or an identifier specific to the rack device.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the physical position of the rack device comprises:

determining a physical position of the power distribution unit based on mapping between the network address of the power distribution unit and a physical position of the power distribution unit; and

determining the physical position of the power distribution unit as the physical position of the rack device.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein receiving the network address of the power distribution unit comprises receiving the network address of the power distribution unit and a serial number of the power port; and

determining the physical position of the rack device comprises determining the physical position of the rack device based on the network address of the power distribution unit and the serial number of the power port.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting the control command includes:

sending the particular binary coding sequence to the rack device as part of the control command.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the power distribution unit includes multiple power ports; and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, in a transmission from the power distribution unit, a serial number that identifies the power port among the multiple power ports of the power distribution unit.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the network address of the power distribution unit and the serial number of the power port are both received at the management device in response to detecting the change of the power loading in the periodic, repetitive pattern to enable the management device to determine the physical position of the rack device based on the network address of the power distribution unit and the serial number of the power port.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting the control command to the rack device includes:

instructing the rack device to transition to the first operating state during a first time interval and to the second operating state during a second time interval to form at least a portion of the periodic, repetitive pattern, the power distribution unit being constructed and arranged to detect the portion of the periodic, repetitive pattern as a set of square wave signals.

11. A method of determining a physical position of a rack device located within a set of racks, each rack supporting one or more power distribution units and one or more rack devices, the method comprising:

detecting at a power distribution unit that provides power supply for the rack device, power loading of the rack device; and

in response to detecting the power loading of the rack device being changed in a periodic, repetitive pattern on a power port in which the rack device changes between a first operating state that increases the power loading to a first predetermined value and a second operating state that decreases the power loading to a second predetermined value that is different from the first operating state to provide the periodic, repetitive pattern on the power port, the power distribution unit transmitting a network address of the power distribution unit to a management device so that the management device determines the physical position of the rack device based at least on the network address, the management device being constructed and arranged to communicate with each of the one or more power distribution units and the one or more rack devices supported on each rack;

wherein the power loading of the rack device, when changing in the periodic, repetitive pattern, provides a particular binary coding sequence.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein detecting the power loading of the rack device comprises:

sampling the power loading of the rack device to obtain sampled data; and

decoding the sampled data to obtain particular binary coding sequence,

wherein a digit “0” in the binary sequence indicates the rack device to be in the first operating state in a predetermined time interval, and a digit “1” in the binary sequence indicates the rack device to be in the second operating state that is different from the first operating state in the predetermined time interval.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein transmitting the network address of the power distribution unit to the management device comprises:

transmitting the network address of the power distribution unit and a serial number of the power port so that the management device determines the physical position of the device based on the network address of the power distribution unit and the serial number of the power port.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein prior to detecting the power loading of the rack device being changed in the periodic, repetitive pattern, the management device sends the particular binary coding sequence to the rack device as part of a control command.

15. An apparatus of determining a physical position of a rack device located within a set of racks, each rack supporting one or more power distribution units and one or more rack devices, the apparatus comprising:

a transmitting circuit within a management device, the management device being a processor configured to transmit a control command to the rack device, the command instructing the rack device to change power loading of the rack device in a periodic, repetitive pattern, the management device being constructed and arranged to communicate with each of the one or more power distribution units and the one or more rack devices supported on each rack;

a receiving circuit within the management device configured to receive, from a power distribution unit that provides power supply for the rack device, a network address of the power distribution unit, the network address being transmitted by the power distribution unit in response to detecting the change of the power loading in the periodic, repetitive pattern on a power port in which the rack device changes between a first operating state that increases the power loading to a first predetermined value and a second operating state that decreases the power loading to a second predetermined value that is different from the first operating state to provide the periodic, repetitive pattern on the power port; and

a determining circuit within the management device configured to determine the physical position of the device based at least on the network address of the power distribution unit;

wherein the power loading of the rack device, when changing in the periodic, repetitive pattern, provides a particular binary coding sequence.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the control command includes the particular binary coding sequence.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein a digit “0” in the particular binary coding sequence indicates the rack device to be in first operating state in a predetermined time interval, and a digit “1” in the binary coding sequence indicates the rack device to be in second operating state that is different from the first operating state in the predetermined time interval.

18. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the determining circuit is further configured to:

determine a physical position of the power distribution unit based on mapping between the network address of the power distribution unit and the physical position of the power distribution unit; and

determine the physical position of the power distribution unit as the physical position of the rack device.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the receiving circuit is further configured to receive the network address of the power distribution unit and a serial number of the power port; and

wherein the determining circuit is further configured to determine the physical position of the rack device based on the network address of the power distribution unit and the serial number of the power port.

20. The apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the transmitting circuit, when instructing the rack device to change power loading of the device in the periodic, repetitive pattern, is constructed and arranged to:

sending the particular binary coding sequence to the rack device as part of the control command.