Remote video monitoring system running on blade PC infrastructure

Abstract

The invention is to provide a centralized computer system, i.e., the so-called blade PC system. The centralized computer system according to the invention includes a plurality of centralized and bladed hosts. In particularly, the centralized computer system according to the invention enables two sets of I/O peripherals to operate the same host in a hardware-driven way.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an infrastructure of a typical centralized computer system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an infrastructure of a centralized computer system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the video signal transmitting paths for a partial infrastructure of a centralized computer system shown in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is to provide a centralized computer system and a controlling method thereof and, more particularly, under the infrastructure, the invention utilizes a hardware-driven way rather than a software-driven way to enable a display of a second set of I/O peripherals to video monitor N hosts being operated. By the descriptions of the preferred embodiments of the invention in the following, the features, spirits, advantages, and convenience of the implement are illustrated adequately.

Referred to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an infrastructure of a centralized computer system 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the centralized computer system 2 comprises a network 28, N hosts 22, N host switches 222, N first I/O peripheral switches 248, N first sets of I/O peripherals 24, a second peripheral switch 268, and a second set of I/O peripherals 26, where N is a natural number. Each of the N host switches 222 connects with one of the N hosts 22 and links to the network 28. The N first I/O peripheral switches 248 and the second peripheral switch 268 link to the network 28 respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the N first sets of I/O peripherals 24 comprises a display 242 and M first I/O peripheral devices, such as a keyboard 244, a mouse 246, and so on, wherein M is a natural number. Each of the N first sets of I/O peripherals 24 is electrically connected to one of the N first peripheral switches 248.

As shown in FIG. 2, the second set of I/O peripherals 26 comprises a display 262 and P second I/O peripheral devices, such as a keyboard 264, a mouse 266, and so on, wherein P is a natural number. The second set of I/O peripherals 26 is electrically connected to the second peripheral switch 268 and comprises the display 262.

As shown in FIG. 2, each first set of I/O peripherals 24 is assigned to operate one of the N hosts 22, such that a plurality of I/O signals transmitted, via the network 28, between the host 22 and the assigned first set of I/O peripherals 24 are encoded and decoded by the host switch 222 connecting with the host 22 and the first peripheral switch 248 connecting with the assigned first set of I/O peripherals 24.

In practical applications, referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a partial infrastructure of the centralized computer system 2 shown in FIG. 2, so as to illustrate transmitting paths of the video signals. As shown in FIG. 3, each host switch 222 utilizes a scaling module 2222 to down-sample a video signal P1 of the I/O signals, utilizes an encoder 2224 to encode the down-sampled video signal P1′, and redirects the encoded down-sampled video signal P1″ to the second peripheral switch 268 via the network 28. The host 22 connecting with the host switch 222 outputs the I/O signals.

The second peripheral switch 268 receives the N encoded down-sampled video signals P1″ transmitted from the N host switches 222 respectively, decodes the encoded down-sampled video signals P1″ to obtain the N down-sampled video signals P1′ by a decoder 2682, utilizes the N down-sampled video signals P1′ to produce a synthetic video signal by a video synthesis module 2684, and outputs the synthetic video signal to the display 262 of the second set of I/O peripherals 26. Whereby, the display 262 of the second set of I/O peripherals 26 is capable of video monitoring the N hosts 22.

In this embodiment, the video signal P1 of the I/O signals outputted by one of the N hosts 22 is down-sampled according to a rate of 1/N.

In this embodiment, the synthetic video signal is produced by utilizing the N down-sampled video signals P1′ on the basis of the physical addresses of the N host switches 222.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a controlling method for the centralized computer system shown in FIG. 2 is illustrated in the following. It should be emphasized that each first set of I/O peripherals 24 is assigned to operate one of the N hosts 22, such that a plurality of I/O signals transmitted, via the network 28, between the host 22 and the assigned first set of I/O peripherals 24 are encoded and decoded by the host switch 222 connecting with the host 22 and the first peripheral switch 248 connecting with the assigned first set of I/O peripherals 24. Particularly, the controlling method is capable of enabling the display 262 of the second set I/O peripherals 26 to video monitor the N hosts 22.

According to the controlling method of the invention, first, at each of the N host switches 222, the scaling module 2222 is used to down-sample the video signal P1 of the I/O signals. The encoder 2224 is used to encode the down-sampled video signal P1′, and the encoded down-sampled video signal P1″ is redirected to the second peripheral switch 268 via the network 28.

Afterward, at the second peripheral switch 268, the N encoded down-sampled video signals P1″ transmitted from the N host switches 222 are received respectively. The decoder 2682 is used to decode the encoded down-sampled video signals P1″ to obtain the N down-sampled video signals P1′. The video synthesis module 2684 is used to produce a synthetic video signal from the N down-sampled video signals P1′, and the synthetic video signal is outputted to the display 262 of the second set of I/O peripherals 26.

Compared to the prior art, according to the centralized computer system 2 and the controlling method thereof, obviously, the invention utilizes the hardware-driven way to enable the display 262 of the second set of I/O peripherals to video monitor the N hosts 22 being operated, so as to avoid the inconvenience of the software-driven way.

With the example and explanations above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A controlling method for a centralized computer system, the centralized computer system comprising a network, N hosts, N host switches connecting with the N hosts and linking to the network, N first I/O peripheral switches linking to the network, N first sets of I/O peripherals, a second peripheral switch linking to the network, and a second set of I/O peripherals, each first set of I/O peripherals connecting with one of the N first peripheral switches, the second set of I/O peripherals connecting with the second peripheral switch, the second set of I/O peripherals comprising a display electrically connecting with the second peripheral switch, N being a natural number, one of the N first sets of I/O peripherals being assigned to operate one of the N hosts such that a plurality of I/O signals transmitted, via the network, between the host and the assigned first set of I/O peripherals are encoded and decoded by the host switch connecting with the host and the first peripheral switch connecting with the assigned first set of I/O peripherals, the controlling method, for video monitoring the N hosts by utilizing the display of the second set of I/O peripherals, comprising steps of: at each of the N host switches, down-sampling a video signal of the plurality of I/O signals, encoding the down-sampled video signal, and redirecting the encoded down-sampled video signal to the second peripheral switch via the network; andat the second peripheral switch, receiving the N encoded down-sampled video signals transmitted from the N host switches respectively, decoding the encoded down-sampled video signals to obtain the N down-sampled video signals, producing a synthetic video signal by utilizing the N down-sampled video signals, and outputting the synthetic video signal to the display of the second set of I/O peripherals.

2. The controlling method of claim 1, wherein the video signal of the plurality of I/O signals outputted by each of the N hosts is down-sampled according to a magnification factor of 1/N.

3. The controlling method of claim 1, wherein the synthetic video signal is produced by utilizing the N down-sampled video signals on the basis of the physical addresses of the N host switches.

4. A centralized computer system, comprising: a network;N hosts, N being a natural number;N host switches, each of the N host switches connecting with one of the N hosts and linking to the network;N first peripheral switches, the N first peripheral switches linking to the network respectively;N first sets of I/O peripherals, each of the N first sets of I/O peripherals electrically connecting with one of the N first peripheral switches;a second peripheral switch, linking to the network; anda second set of I/O peripherals, electrically connecting with the second peripheral switch and comprising a display;

5. The centralized computer system of claim 4, wherein the video signal of the plurality of I/O signals outputted by each of the N hosts is down-sampled according to a magnification factor of 1/N.

6. The centralized computer system of claim 4, wherein the synthetic video signal is produced by utilizing the N down-sampled video signals on the basis of the physical addresses of the N host switches.