| US 7,538,674 B2 | ||
| Sense and respond RFID disk purge for computing devices | ||
| Steven M. Garfinkle, Cold Spring, N.Y. (US) | ||
| Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jan. 18, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/334,715. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0192869 A1, Aug. 16, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G08B 13/14 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 340—572.1 [235/375; 726/26; 726/16] | 18 Claims |

| 1. An RFID-based data purge system for a host computing device having a storage device operatively associated therewith, said
system comprising:
an RFID device provided in said host computing device and provided in other computing devices for receiving and sending RFID
signal;
means for automatically detecting a triggering event associated with said host computing device, said trigger event comprising
detection of a physical removal of said storage device from said host computing device, said detecting means initiating, without
manual intervention, automatic purging of content of said data storage device by automatically generating, via said RFID device,
an RFID activation signal including an identification code representing an instruction to purge contents of said data storage
device contents; said RFID device allows detection of a remote triggering event via wireless RF signal;
control means responsive to said RFID activation for invoking logic to initiate a physical purge of contents of said data
storage device, said control means including a purge BIOS module executing logic stored at a physical level of said storage
device to ensure a physical delete of said storage device contents; and
said RFID device at said host computer generating further RFID activation signals for communication to said other computer
devices via said RFID device of said host computing device, said further RFID activation signals for receipt by said other
computing devices to initiate purging of stored contents at said other computing devices; and,
wherein said data storage device and said other computing devices each comprise a power supply device operable for powering
said RFID device and said purge BIOS module such that said physical purge of data storage device contents is performed when
said storage device is removed from said host computing device or, is performed when said host computing device is not powered.
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