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Method and apparatus for automated testing of circuit boards

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1. J UOLIA SSVd S9Y IZLLO Z9 H Z01 89 H Nd 85 05 80 8661 80 01 Hy dolS ise eet 189 uotdunsuo J8 0d e saj sseooy AlOWaW O e a IS Asojuaau 091s yg CM A E e jndjng J9 0d jooudg GeV mmmmmmmmmmmeneneneneennnnnennnnnnnnnnnenennnnnnnnnnnnn sa PDOJUMO 8J0MULIj E 90 05 80 8661 80 01 V HOIS 8 djaH sjooj s suoydo ei xI0rF S Lajs s UOHDI jse POW 10j2euuO UOISJ8A aJompos ISOH J d Z 24 IS U S Patent Sep 17 2002 Sheet 8 of 9 278 279 US 6 453 435 B1 A 268 a FIG 8 260 262 e Value 1 goto endofmacro veryEnd Pass this is the very end of the macro if Value goto nexttest endif timetoquit return Value endofmacro Pass this is the end of the macro if valzz goto veryEnd FIC 10 Evaluate Variable Variable Name OptMeter Type Int Value 302 303 US 6 453 435 B1 Sheet 9 of 9 Sep 17 2002 d SSYd A 69 U S Patent d HOIS E mua tuod apon juua 79SH 201 891H JaquinN HO 12001 J puas Inn poog se SSVd 59Y 12001 ZILH EZOL 891H Nd 9p 1 90 80 8661 80 01 Iv dojs say DoO Casn dns oo uou oaboy 10j048dQ SG SR 4591 poojumog 8J0 jOS uouonpojd SOV pp D D DE sa uojduunsuo J8M0d
2. Set up power supply at 5V Gpibo 702 IOUT 1A Set current to 1 amp 60 65 32 TABLE 4 continued MACRO Power MAC Gpibo 702 VOUT 1 Enable power supply output else if flag OFF Gpibo 702 VSET 5V Set up power supply at 5V Gpibo 702 IOUT 1A Set current to 1 amp Gpibo 702 VOUT 0 Enable power supply output endif TABLE 5 MACRO FirmwareDownloadTest MAC int var var latprg IC34 Programming Lattice device if var PASS Firmware Download Test else if var Message Database File Read Error Possible Corrupted Table n Contact Mfg Engineering FAIL Firmware Download Test else if var Message Checksum Error Device checksum does not match database FAIL Firmware Download Test else if var 4 Message Program Error Unknown Error ocurred while programming FAIL Firmware Download Test else if var Message Lattice Programming Aborted Record not found for IC34 in database n Possible Revision Update Needed Contact Mfg Engineering FAIL Firmware Download Test else if var 10 Message Timeout Occured While Programming FAIL Firmware Download Test else Message Unknown Error Occurred FAIL Firmware Download Test endif TABLE 6 MACRO OpticalPowerTest MAC float OpticalPower OpticalPower MeasureOPticalPower if OpticalPower 0 5 Fail Optical Power Test nThe Optical p
3. lt gt lt lt value gt Other value to operate on can be a string or a number End Marks the end of the program The program will stop after this command No parameters Endif Marks the end of an if s atement block This is required to end an if block No parameters Exit This command will exit rom the validation mode or the debug mode when processed from within one or the other No parameters Fail lt message gt Forces a macro to fail and to return the specified message Parameters lt message gt Message to display describing a failure Float lt variable name gt Creates a variable with the specified variable name which can hold a floating point value Parameters lt variable name gt Variable name Ftpdnl lt identifier gt lt variable gt A board number a revisi on number and the specified identifier are used to search the Programmable Part Database for a matching record which will provide the name of a file transfer protocol FTP configuration file and checksum information The configuration file is retrieved to obtain configuration information including the name of a file containing binary information which is downloaded into a programmable device This command does not verify checksum information but instead returns the checksum information in the specified variable so that the calling routine can optionally do a verification Parame l
4. INTERFACE PORT PORT RS232 1 0 CARD r P dino AAA mm sms I i I i 1 Vcc I 217 I I SERIAL TO AS ea 86 Zz PARALLEL WOTN LIBRI V BIoIRECTIONAL 98 72 iran Ne me te CER GENERATOR DETECTION 69 7 OPERATOR I l OPTICAL TESTER CONNECTOR 36 1 I 87 POWER Km mD A lu ld ESTER CONNECTO AERE METER l 102 101 UUT CONNECTOR 37 I INSTRUMEN 1 97 103 ETHERNET PORT HEADER E UUT I OPTICAL nira l ATTENUATOR Mi St J ATTENUATOR CONNECTOR T r IV EEPROM PROCESSOR 13 vaata ne A ee ESA ala OPTICAL anses one LATTICE FLASH E CONNECTOR I DEVICE MEMORY i 10 96 104 BAR CODE LABEL Kiar UP L _ US 6 453 435 B1 Sheet 1 of 9 Sep 17 2002 U S Patent Lok DI YOLIINNOD WOlLdO zi AMOW3A 39130 d HSY13 JLN LOL A I I Fp gt AAA AAA A A A A ye el m YOSS3004d oud33 Locorum j BOLNNOD 1 Epp qned N sassa er AMIRnOMID vll 1V9l1dO zi INANYISNI 333A YIMOd woudo 4 3908 9018330 noloaiza Sea Le In i SYAO WwolldO 1 L i gg wso123W08 N T3Tiuvd 99 ME OL VINIS IOA 4 I 1 I 1 eo NG AMES PEERS VASO V IATA NAAA AI AN SERERE Quy 0 1 28788 39V3831NI NOlVIS I3 N WLI910 140d gld9 a ua VI83S NOILVIS 1 INOLIVIS 1 330438 j I l 3000 eva v e au Rotts IS3L p ep gz 113 sS3uqov om ISNON sid EN Nn Z oa 3114 901 9y 32vVJ3
5. SE OO EA ve iras E ee inen gens 459 ssaooy kiowa Z UO0ISLI A GS Tiisetcedseseartatenesarestenensesecestanensasneecesnnssnenseseeteedoseessres ise Asojuaayy Do1s yg 95 0 NN TT Indino 190d oodo MOd 0V38 O MIST 95 0 A Y 1 9y 80 8661 80 01 IV HOIS SAL MOd 0V38 950 diay sjoo sej suoydg epj MOd 0V34 IS91 uajs s uojb S IS POW J0j28UUO UOISIBA 9JOMJJOS ISOH G Mb 000SX0 MIN 1S3 1 39V170A 0V38 lt 0 80 990 LINI L YIMOd 0V38 Ads zezsy EB US 6 453 435 B1 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED TESTING OF CIRCUIT BOARDS STATEMENT REGARDING COPYRIGHT RIGHTS A portion of this patent disclosure is material which is subject to copyright protection The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to testing of units such as electronic circuit boards and more particularly to comput erized systems for automated testing of such units BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Over the years as integrated circuits have become pro gressively more complex and sophisticated electronic cir cuit boards which use these integrated circuits have also become progressivel
6. There was a memory mismatch in the following locations failmsg Fail falistr else Pass Memory Access Test endif TABLE 10 30 35 40 45 MACRO PowerConsumptionTest MAC float value Gpibo 702 ICURR ask power supply for current value Gpibvi 702 read current from power supply if value gt 1 5 Too much current 21 5 amps Fail Power Consumption TestinThe Optical board is drawing excess current endif if value 0 5 Too little current 50 5 amps Fail Power Cosumption Test nThe Optical board is drawing below average current endif Pass Power Consumption Test 50 55 TABLE 11 MACRO ProdSoftwareDownload MAC Status Downloading Production program into FLASH int checksum int var var ftpdnl IC3 IC4 checksum 60 65 34 TABLE 11 continued MACRO ProdSoftwareDownload MAC if var PASS Production Software Download Test else if var Message Database File Read error Possible Corrupted Table in Contact Mfg Engineering FAIL Production Software Downlaod Test nFTP Download else if var 4 Message Program Error Unknown Error ocurred while prgramming FAIL Production Software Download Test nFTP Download else if var 9 Message Flash Programming Aborted Record not found for IC3 IC4 in database n Possible Revision Update Needed Contact Mfg Engineering FAIL Production Software Download Test nFTP Downl
7. related alphanumeric information to an operator of the test system FIG 7 is a diagrammatic view of a display screen similar to FIG 3 but also displaying information which documents the results of tests conducted by the test system FIG 8 is a diagrammatic view of a special display screen used for certain special modes of operation of the test system of FIG 1 FIG 9 is a diagrammatic view of a special window which can be presented on the display screen by the test system of FIG 1 in order to permit an operator to observe a plurality of different variables and their values FIG 10 is a diagrammatic view of a further window which can be presented on a display screen by the test system of FIG 1 in order to display information regarding a particular variable and to permit dynamic alteration of the contents of that variable and FIG 11 is a diagrammatic view of a display screen which has several windows including a window for the operating system a window similar to FIG 7 and two additional windows which each display information passing to and from a test unit through respective ports of the test system of FIG 1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus 10 which embodies the present invention and which includes a test system 12 capable of testing a unit under test UUT one exemplary UUT being shown at 13 The exemplary UUT 13 shown in FIG 1 is a telecommunications circuit board
8. sent into the field Further it ensures that the correct test definition will be used for testing each part especially where different revisions of the same part may require different test definitions Moreover this selection of information to down load into programmable parts and selection of the correct test definition is effected automatically thereby substan tially eliminating the possibility of an operator error Although one embodiment has been illustrated and described in detail it should be understood that various 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 22 substitutions and alternations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims TABLE 1 MACRO COMMANDS lt comment gt Comment line All characters following the semi colon are ignored Parameters lt comment gt ASCII comment Optional lt label gt The colon designates a label which marks a possible destination point for a Goto command Parameters lt label gt Text word MACn Variable for Ethernet MAC address Initially MACn contains no valid value until a Serial command reads in a serial number Serial number is then translated to MAC addresses if the UUT is Ethernet associated and the MAC address es are stored in MAC1 MAC2 MAC3 etc If there is only one MAC address associated with the specified UUT then only MAC1 is valid To see
9. 228 along with an OK button 229 In the disclosed embodiment the BMP infor mation displayed in the upper portion of the window 226 is a digitized photograph but it could alternatively be a com parable diagram US 6 453 435 B1 15 In FIG 6 the BMP image displayed in the upper portion of the window 226 is an accurate view of the test station 23 and the UUT 13 as they actually appear to the operator This image shows the operator where the optical connectors 103 and 104 are physically located on the UUT 13 and shows how the optical cables 96 and 97 should properly be routed to and coupled to these connectors 103 and 104 The image itself includes a legend 232 which says Connect optical cables here and includes an arrowhead pointing to the optical connectors This image helps an inexperienced operator to remember to connect the optical cables to do so at the proper point in the test sequence and to easily and correctly connect the cables all without extensive training Given that the test station 23 is capable of testing a number of different types of units a new operator can accurately and reliably conduct tests on a wide range of units without undergoing an extensive training process While the particular BMP image message 228 and legend 232 in FIG 6 all have to do with the connection of optical cables it will be recognized that a sequence of equivalent windows containing other images and messages could be used to
10. HostSoft subdirectory 133 When this occurs it is possible for the DLL file to continue to run after it returns control to the calling PRG or MAC file such that some subsequent commands in the PRG or MAC file are interpreted in parallel with execution of the DLL file Thus two or more routines or threads can be running at the same time These threads can pass information back and forth between each other through variables This allows simulta neous testing of different parts of a unit under test As mentioned above the Test Items drop down list 169 FIG 3 can be used to select either a Normal mode of operation or a Sample Base mode of operation Table 17 shows an excerpt from a macro file which includes two groups of macro commands that are respectively designated in Table 17 as Group A and Group B The commands of Group B are located between an if command and an endif command the if command being conditional on whether the Sample Base mode is enabled The commands US 6 453 435 B1 21 of Group A will always be always be interpreted regardless of whether the system is operating in the Normal mode or the Sample Base mode In contrast the commands of Group B will be interpreted only if the Sample Base mode is enabled and will be ignored if the system is operating in the Normal mode Thus in this example more testing will be carried out in the Sample Base mode than in the Normal mode The present invention
11. and after current delete Z 0 5 and insert 0 5 Line 55 after Power delete Cosumption and insert Consumption Column 34 Lines 5 7 12 17 and 23 after var delete and insert Line 8 after Read delete error and insert Error Line 14 after while delete prgramming and insert programming Line 19 after IC3 delete Line 25 after Software delete DOwnload and insert Download Line 43 insert HostRun INI UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 453 435 B1 DATED September 17 2002 INVENTOR S Rogelio Limon Jr et al Page5 of 5 It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 35 Line 3 delete LAttice and insert Lattice Line 51 after station delete an d and insert and Line 57 delete An and insert A Signed and Sealed this Second Day of March 2004 AQ JON W DUDAS Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
12. from the screen Thereafter the PRG file carries out a call to the macro PhysicallnventoryCheck MAC which is shown in Table 8 This macro begins by retrieving from the HostSoft subdirectory 133 FIG 2 a library file PhyInv LIB which is a compiled file The system loads and in due course executes this library file which requests information from the HostSoft program regarding what board is being tested then writes physical inventory infor mation through the processor 111 to the EEPROM 114 of the UUT 13 then verifies that the information was stored correctly and then returns a result back to the HostSoft program Control returns to the PRG file of Table 2 which then calls a MemoryTest MAC macro The Memory Test MAC macro is shown in Table 9 and performs a memory test This macro includes loading and execution of a compiled library file MemTest LIB which requests information from the HostSoft program to determine what board is being tested then writes pattern information to all locations of testable memory on the UUT 13 then reads all such testable memory 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 locations and to verify that the contents are correct and then returns a result back to the HostSoft program Next the PRG file of Table 2 calls a PowerConsumption Test MAC macro which is shown in Table 10 This macro interacts with the power supply 83 in order to determine the current le
13. generic message or a generic result The format for each such command ends with one or more parameters which are disposed within square brackets in the command definition The square brackets indicate that the parameters within them are optional Depending on whether or not these parameters are present in a given command the command will be carried out in either a data mode or a measurement mode The measurement mode is in effect if the optional param eters are present The optional parameters include a test flag parameter which affects how the command operates More specifically if the test flag parameter is a P for pass then the system will display a specified message and the word PASS on the display 62 if the specified operation is successful but will display nothing if the specified opera tion fails If the test flag parameter is an F for fail then the system will display the specified message and the word FAIL if the specified operation fails but will display nothing if the specified operation is successful If the test flag parameter is an A for always then the system will always display the specified message and will also display either the word PASS or the word FAIL in dependence on whether the specified operation was successful or not If the optional parameters are not provided then the command is carried out in the data mode Data mode is used to collect inform
14. in the macro includes a reference to an identifier IC34 which may be an integrated circuit number of the part to be programmed and which will be used as a search parameter within the database file located in the Tables subdirectory 139 FIG 2 In this regard the database file in the subdirectory 139 includes a programmable device database an excerpt from which is shown in Table 14 With reference to Table 14 each record in the database includes six fields the first of which is a board part number such as H16B 1023 H362 a board revision number such as 002A an identifier such as IC34 the name of a configuration file such as OptBd LAT a first checksum 10 15 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 value such 05FE and a second checksum value such as F97D At this point in time for the particular UUT 13 which is to be tested the system has already obtained the board part number for example at blocks 206 207 in FIG 4 has already obtained the board revision number if there is one for example at blocks 213 214 in FIG 4 and has obtained an identifier for example IC34 from the macro in Table 5 The system then searches the database of Table 14 in an attempt to find a record with a matching part number revision number and identifier If the test station 23 does not find a matching record in the database of Table 14 which is stored on the local hard disk drive 52 of FI
15. languages which makes it diffi cult for one test developer to quickly comprehend a program developed by another test developer even when the source code is readily available Test definitions written in a selected language will typi cally require certain hardware specific characteristics such as device addresses to be embedded therein This limits the portability of a given test definition between various differ ent test systems that are theoretically capable of testing the same circuit board at least without significant time and effort to effect revisions Because the programs are compiled it is difficult to debug and troubleshoot the pro grams during development and it is relatively cumbersome to adjust the test definitions when faced with a uniquely elusive problem in a particular circuit board Due to the steep learning curve and the significant training time required to become proficient in a computer programming language the operators who ultimately use the test system to 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 test production boards will typically not be given such training Consequently they will simply run the specified test definitions without fully understanding what the tests are doing Another consideration is that it is difficult to train an operator to accurately conduct tests on a variety of different types of units because it becomes more and more difficult for the operator to r
16. lead an operator through the manual steps needed in order to effect testing of a particular type of unit It will also be recognized that a window similar to window 226 could be used to request an operator to provide input information For example if a particular type of circuit board has a light emitting diode LED the system could display a BMP image showing the board and the location of the LED thereon with a request that the operator actuate one of two displayed buttons in dependence on whether the LED is currently on or off It was mentioned above that the Options Menu 177 FIG 3 has a View Pictures option This option permits an operator to selectively permit or suppress the display of the BMP image in each window of the type shown at 226 in FIG 6 That is if the operator enables the View Pictures option the BMP image will be displayed in each such window in a manner similar to window 226 of FIG 6 On the other hand if the operator has disabled the View Pictures option the BMP image would not be displayed and thus the window 226 of FIG 6 would present only the message 228 and the button 229 without any BMP image When the operator has properly connected the optical cables and has thus complied with the request presented by the window 226 the operator actuates the OK button 229 in order to indicate to the system that the requested manual task has been completed The system then removes the window 226
17. might be periodically selected in order to effect more rig orous testing of a few units for quality control purposes for example once per week or once per month Alternatively if a particular unit has exhibited problems in the field but appears to pass all tests conducted under the Normal option the Sample Base option might be selected in order to effect more rigorous testing of that particular unit in an attempt to identify and localize the problem Two buttons 172 and 173 are provided below the drop down list 169 The button 172 is a Start Test button which can be actuated in order to initiate a selected test in a manner described later The button 173 is used to toggle between Log On and Log Off modes of operation in which test results are and are not saved to a log file in the LogFiles subdirectory 140 FIG 2 as discussed later US 6 453 435 B1 11 Turning now in more detail to the menu bar 148 the menu bar identifies five drop down menus which are the File Menu 176 Options Menu 177 Test Menu 178 Tools Menu 181 and Help Menu 182 The Help Menu 182 provides on line help in a generally standard manner and is not described in detail here As to the other drop down menus the most pertinent options from each menu will be described but it will be recognized that these menus may each have additional options which are not described here The File Menu 176 has an Open Macro option which ope
18. of a type commonly known as an optical board However the system 12 is also capable of testing a variety of other types of circuit boards The test system 12 includes a server 16 which is coupled through a network 17 to a network printer 19 and a plurality of test stations 21 23 The network 17 may be any of several different types of networks which are commercially available and is therefore not described here in detail The test stations 21 23 are equivalent to each other and there fore only the test station 23 is illustrated and described in detail The server 16 includes a processor 27 which in the disclosed embodiment is a commercially available micro processor The server 16 also includes a hard disk drive 28 The hard disk drive 28 stores an operating system to be executed by the processor 27 as well as application pro grams which can be executed by the processor 27 In addition and as indicated in FIG 1 the hard disk drive 28 stores a database file an archive file at least one log file and a MAC address file the operational purposes of which are addressed later The test station 23 includes a tester connector 36 to which can be releasably coupled a UUT connector 37 that is provided on tile UUT 13 The test station 23 further includes a workstation 41 which in the disclosed embodiment is a commercially available computer of the type commonly known as a personal computer It is coupled to a cathode ray US 6 453 435
19. provides a number of technical advantages One such technical advantage is that substan tially all of the test definitions are set forth in the form of uncompiled files which are processed in an interpretative mode and which include commands that are easily readable and intuitive with a high level syntax This reduces the time and effort required to develop and troubleshoot test definitions provides greater portability of a given test defi nition between different test systems and reduces the learn ing curve and amount of time involved in training a new operator or test developer Due to the portability it also permits a test developer or test operator to more easily move between different test systems without extensive cross training unique to each of the test systems As to a given test system it reduces or eliminates the use of different lan guages by different test developers A further technical advantage involves the provision of the debug mode in a test system in order to simplify the debugging of new test definitions and in order to permit quick and easy modification of existing test definitions for example for the purpose of troubleshooting a particular elusive problem in a specific unit under test Among other things the debug mode includes the capabilities to selec tively run portions of an overall test to easily set and remove breakpoints within a test definition to single step through the commands in a test definitio
20. test is being carried out This can be used to develop and or debug a PRG or MAC file or to make temporary modifications to a PRG or MAC file for the purpose of isolating an elusive problem in a particular unit being tested As soon as the debug mode is turned on a special prompt will appear in the workspace 151 of the main screen 146 FIG 3 This debug prompt is Debug gt Following the debug prompt the operator can type any proper command from the command set of Table 1 and that command will immediately be interpreted when the operator ends the command by pressing the ENTER key on the keyboard 43 Alternatively the operator can type the name of a macro file after the debug prompt and that macro file will be immediately interpreted Similarly the operator can type the name of a PRG file and the PRG file along with any associated MAC files will be immediately interpreted During the debug mode the operator can also use the Select Macro To Run option from the Test Menu to specify a macro which will be immediately interpreted The Select Macro To Run option works only when the debug mode is enabled In the debug mode the operator can alter a PRG or MAC file In particular at the debug prompt the operator may type 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 18 MACRO name where the name of macro of interest is name MAC or name PRG This causes HostSoft EXE to open a sp
21. text gt Data RS2320 lt port gt lt text gt lt port gt Seria lt text gt Data communication port to fied lt port gt This command Ime and waits until each character is echoed back before sending another communication port to which lt text gt is to be sent to be sent to lt port gt Outputs lt text gt to the specified lt port gt Parameters communication port to which lt text gt is to be sent to be sent to lt port gt US 6 453 435 B1 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 28 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS RS232L1 lt port gt lt compare gt message gt lt result gt Receives a line from the specified serial lt port gt and compares it to lt compare gt It there is a match then lt message gt is displayed A line ends at a line feed or carriage return character Parameters lt port gt Serial communications port from which to receive a line compare String value expected to be returned message Generic message result Generic result RS232Set port baud parity data stop Set the specified serial port with a new baud rate Parameters port Serial communications port baud Speed use a standard value parity O E or N for Odd Even or No parity data Number of data bits 7 or 8 stop Number of stop bits 1 or 2 RS232S1 port compare message re
22. the beginning of a new paragraph Line 63 after which delete Column 13 Line 27 after command set insert set Column 14 Line 1 after the first such insert as Column 16 Line 10 after shown delete iii and insert in Column 17 Line 13 after transfer delete Column 18 Line 37 after operator a insert not UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 453 435 B1 Page 2 of 5 DATED September 17 2002 INVENTOR S Rogelio Limon Jr et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 19 Line 12 after a delete Step Modie and insert Step Mode Line 21 after OVER insert button Column 20 Line 16 delete show and insert shows Line 17 after additional delete window and insert windows Column 21 Line 1 after always be delete always be Column 22 Line 55 after number delete seriai and insert serial Column 23 Line 14 delete and insert Line 47 after lt address gt delete and insert and after lt mask gt delete gt message gt and insert lt message gt Line 63 after for delete exampie and insert example Column 24 Line 7 after no delete conditionai and insert conditional Line 14 after are d
23. the currently stored MAC address es from the debug prompt type MAC1 To write MAC to a UUT product via RS232 RS2320 COMI1 MACI Accessing an invalid MACn Variable causes an error message No parameters Macro Name Interprets the commands in the specified macro file Parameters Macro Name Name of script file to process Char variable name Creates a variable with the specified variable name that can hold an 8 bit value between 0 and 255 Parameters variable name Name to give to variable Cls Clear the test result screen No parameters DataIn data type Specifies the numeric type af data used for input from I O sources such as RS232 GPIB I O cards etc Parameters data type Data format to interpret for example hex decimal binary DataOut data type Specifies the numeric type o I O sources such as RS232 Parameters data type data used for output to GPIB I O cards etc Data format to interpret for example hex decimal binary DBI address bit compare message result Reads a bit from the digital I O port and then compares the value to compare If the result result the message is displayed Parameters address Address of the digital port to read the bit frorn bit Specifies the individual bit compare Bit state expected message Generic message result Generic result DBLOGSN lt csn gt Used to tie a boar
24. the flowchart of FIG 4 when the system has completed interpretative processing of the PRG and MAC files of Tables 2 12 control proceeds from block 221 to block 241 where the system checks to see whether logging is enabled As discussed above the operator can selectively toggle logging on and off using either the button 173 FIG 3 or the Log Test Results option of the Options Menu 177 If logging is enabled then control proceeds from US 6 453 435 B1 17 block 241 to block 242 where the test station 23 stores certain test results in a log file which is located in the LogFiles subdirectory 140 FIG 2 of the local hard disk drive 52 FIG 1 In the disclosed embodiment the information which is logged includes at least the board number part number serial number operator name and an indication of whether or not the board passed each of the tests which were conducted on it This system could optionally log more information or less information The server 16 of FIG 1 is programmed to periodically use the network 17 to interro gate the log files located in the LogFiles subdirectory 140 and to transfer information from these files to a log file located on the hard disk drive 28 of the server 16 From blocks 241 and 242 control ultimately proceeds to block 243 where the system turns off the Test Busy indicator 153 in particular by changing this portion of the screen from a noticeable color such as red to a subdued color suc
25. the test connector 36 The workstation 41 also includes a digital input output I O card 67 which is a commercially available plug in card The test station 23 includes a plurality of electronic switches two of which are shown at 68 and 69 The test station 23 includes a plurality of the switches 68 and also a plurality of the switches 69 but for clarity and convenience only one switch 68 and one switch 69 are shown in FIG 1 The switch 69 has one end coupled to ground and the switch 68 has one end coupled to a pull up resistor 72 the other end of the resistor being coupled to a supply voltage The opposite end of each of the switches 68 and 69 is coupled to a respective terminal of the tester connector 36 The switches 68 and 69 are each operatively controlled by the digital I O card 67 as shown diagrammatically by broken lines in FIG 1 The workstation 41 includes a standard bidirectional parallel port 76 and the test station 23 includes a parallel cable 77 which is coupled at one end to the parallel port 76 and which can be releasably coupled at its other end to the UUT 13 The workstation 41 further includes standard circuitry providing a network port 78 such as that com monly known by the tradename ETHERNET The test station 23 includes a network cable 79 which has one end coupled to the ETHERNET port 78 and which can be releasably coupled at its other end to the UUT 13 The workstation 41 includes a circuit 81 which is a Gen
26. through said coupling portion said test defini tion being in the form of at least one command which is in an operator perceptible uncompiled format and a processor portion operatively coupled to said memory portion and said coupling portion said processor por tion being operative to execute said program and said program causing said processor portion to access said test file and to process commands in said test file in an interpretive manner so as to cause said test definition to be carried out 2 An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said program has a selectively actuatable mode in which said program causes said processor portion to permit an operator to edit said test definition in said test file 3 An apparatus according to claim 2 including a server which is operably coupled to said test station an d which stores a copy of said test file wherein changes made to said test definition are stored only in said test station rather than said server 4 An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said program has a selectively actuatable step mode in which said program causes said processor portion to require operator approval before initiating interpretative processing of com mands in said test file 5 An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said program maintains a variable which is used by said test definition and wherein said program causes said processor portion to permit an operator to view said variable 6 An appara
27. to start copying Copying will stop when the function reaches the end of string GetTestName Returns the test name of the macro that is currently running No parameters Global lt var type gt lt var name gt lt var value This command makes a variable declaration into a global declaration Global variables remain in memory until they are deleted or until the program ends Parameters lt var type gt Type of a variable to be declared global lt var name gt Name of a variable to be declared global lt var value gt Value to load into the specified global variable GoTo lt label gt Causes execution to begin on the line immediately following the line containing the specified lt label gt Parameters lt label gt Text label at destination line GPIBO address string Outputs specified string to the specified address of the GPIB bus Parameters address GPIB address of the device string Output string GPIBSI address compare message lt result gt Receives a string from the specified address of the GPIB bus and optionally compares it to compare If the compare result matches result then the message is displayed Parameters address GPIB address of the device compare String pattern expected to be returned message Generic message result Generic result GPIBSU address compare message lt result gt Waits for string fro
28. 3INI I ll 11 331N13d 3114 JAIHIYV davosiz gt E E 11 AYOMLIN 3114 3SV8v1vQ XSOMINN 1 ni T I ty NOLIVISXNOM I it JAYO SIO QuVH Ly YOSS3I0Ud Ch MNOMLUN IZ L EST A EE ME A E A A A A ks J Ll YJAYIS U S Patent Sep 17 2002 Sheet 2 of 9 US 6 453 435 B1 HOSTSOFT EXE FIG z BMP FILES 133 LAT FILES FTP FILES DLL FILES LIB FILES PROGRAMS MACROS PRGDEVS TABLES LOGFILES PRG FILES MAC FILES BINARY FILES DATABASE FILE LOG FILES 136 137 138 139 140 291 FIG 9 View Variables alx Gl 292 obal Variables ra Attenuator ClkSwitch FreqCounter RS ERE 293 PWI PW2 OptMeter Attenuator ClkSwitch FreqCounter US 6 453 435 B1 Sheet 3 of 9 Sep 17 2002 U S Patent eZ 691 891 91 C91 9I 191 861 LSI Es 8r HO o1 we HOS OWJON suse sa a 510113 UO COIS poNW sa Ud 1 400 epow puud Jaquiny HDd puas Inn p1DOg so abaya JojoJado A w018A4234 CL ep 55Hd 781 181 8l LLL 91 dish sioo ise suoud lj XIET y sa wajs s uoo S pow JOJD9UUO UOISIBSA 84DA JOS SOH G S m y Old U S Patent Sep 17 2002 191 192 TURN OFF PASS 193 BADGE SCANNED 201 REQUEST PASSWORD 202 PASSWORD CORRECT YES pce YES PROMPT USER TO 206 SCAN UUT BAR CODE BAR CODE S
29. B1 5 tube CRT display 42 a keyboard 43 and a mouse 46 which permit a human operator to interface with the work station 41 and to conduct tests in a manner described in more detail later A bar code reader 47 is coupled to the workstation 41 In the disclosed embodiment the bar code reader 47 is a hand held unit which is coupled to the workstation 41 by a cable that is several feet long However the bar code reader 47 could alternatively be a stationary device The workstation 41 includes a processor 51 which is a commercially available microprocessor and includes a hard disk drive 52 The directory organization of the hard disk drive 52 and certain files stored thereon are discussed in more detail later with reference to FIG 2 The processor 51 executes a commercially available operating system which in the disclosed embodiment is the operating system avail able from MicroSoft Corporation of Redmond Washington under the tradename WINDOWS 95 The operating system is not shown in the drawings but is stored on the hard disk drive 52 The workstation 41 includes a network interface card 53 which is a commercially available part and which couples the workstation 41 to the network 17 The workstation 41 has a standard RS232 serial port 61 which is coupled to a serial to parallel conversion circuit 63 disposed in the test station 23 The circuit 63 is in turn coupled to a plurality of bidirectional drivers 64 that are coupled to
30. CANNED YES PROMPT USER TO 208 PUT UUT IN SOCKET 209 RESPONSE TO PROMPT YES Sheet 4 of 9 US 6 453 435 B1 TURN ON TEST BUSY 212 SEARCH HOSTRUN INI 213 REQUIRE REVISION a YES 214 PROMPT USER FOR REVISION NUMBER AND STORE IT RETRIEVE AND RUN 217 PRG FILE 1 MAC FILES IN 221 L INTERPRETIVE MODE 241 NO PROCESS PRG AND LOGGING ENABLED YES PASSED ALL TESTS 2 US 6 453 435 B1 Sheet 5 of 9 Sep 17 2002 U S Patent 4 pud 4 u0g panog jsa L ss ojosado Q 4 UOLIA O W ssHd X 9459 ss p9p op ul 607 x JO djaH sjooj ise suoydg ei s8 JUN uollDiS IS XUD O Z UOISISA DMOS SOH G 9r G Ole US 6 453 435 B1 Sheet 6 of 9 Sep 17 2002 U S Patent 80 jeley Se Z ANA jeondo 198uuo eJnjoid au Ul UMOYS SO qpD2 Doudo y joeuuo Qeo djoH sjoo s suoydo aji IS91 uwajs s uoljpj jS8 POW JOJD3ULO UOISJ8A BIDMIJOS soy 7 dl 9 Did US 6 453 435 B1 Sheet 7 of 9 Sep 17 2002 U S Patent 2 ug Luog c9l 91 191 11 IUAC VLOH papog sa Jesn Jadns B JiAtug uow ot Boy 10 013d0
31. Connect the optical cable as shown in the picture Optical BMP TST Optical Power Output Test OpticalPowerTest run optical power test macro TST Physical Inventory Test PhysicalInventoryCheck test physical inventory EEPROM TST Memory Access Test MemoryTest TST Power Consumption Test PowerConsumptionTest TST Production Software Download Test ProdSoftwareDownload ShutDown De initialize equipment testing done Message DisConnect the optical cable as shown in the picture DisOpt BMP US 6 453 435 B1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 TABLE 3 40 MACRO InitializeEquipment MAC Initialize test equipment to a known configuration Power ON turn on power supply to test board Set up the optical power meter instrument Gpibo 712 POWER WAV 1310 Gpibo 712 POWER REF AUTO Gpibo 712 POWER ATT ODB Gpibo 712 POWER LEVEL AUTO Gpibo 712 POWER CLOCK INT Setup the optical attenuator Gpibo 713 D01 enable optical attenuator Gpibo 713 ATT 0 DB set initial attenuation 0 dB Initialize the fixture cpu Rs232set 1 9600 n 8 1 Set up serial port Rs2320 1 x1b Fail if the test fixture tails to initialize Rs232su 1 DD gt Test Fixture is not responding F 45 50 55 TABLE 4 MACRO Power MAC define Power string flag return int status if flag ON Gpibo 702 VSET 5V
32. E CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 453 435 B1 Page 4 of 5 DATED September 17 2002 INVENTOR S Rogelio Limon Jr et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 31 Line 14 delete and insert Line 26 insert before Instruct Line 49 after POWER ATT delete ODB and insert ODB Line 52 insert before Setup Line 56 after fixture delete tails and insert fails Line 64 after flag delete and insert Line 66 after LA insert Column 32 Line 6 after flag delete and insert Line 8 after 1A insert Lines 17 19 23 26 29 and 32 after var delete and insert Line 27 after programming insert Line 33 after Programming insert Line 36 after message delete and insert Line 45 after delete MeasureOPticalPower and insert MeasureOpticalPower Line 59 after define delete MeasureOPticalPower and insert MeasureOpticalPower Column 33 Lines 19 and 35 after result delete and insert Line 32 after with delete teh and insert the Line 37 delete srintf and insert sprintf Line 38 after Fail delete falistr and insert failstr Line 54 after valve delete lt and insert lt
33. G 1 then the test station 23 will interact with the server 16 in order to search the database file stored on the hard disk drive 28 of the server 16 The database file in the server 16 may be more up to date and may thus include a record that matches the search parameters In the instant example it is assumed that a match is found in the database of Table 14 so that the system obtains the lattice configuration filename OptBd LAT and the two associated checksums The system will then retrieve the OptBd LAT configura tion file from the HostSoft subdirectory 133 FIG 2 exemplary contents of which are shown in Table 15 The information in this lattice configuration file includes the term PreDevs 7503H999 jed which is an identification of a binary file named 7503H999 jed This binary file is located in the PrgDevs subdirectory 138 FIG 2 The system retrieves this binary file and supplies it through the connectors 36 and 37 FIG 1 to the processor 111 on the UUT 13 which in turn programs the contents of this binary file into the lattice device 113 It will be noted that in this manner the test station 23 ensures that the lattice device 113 on the UUT 13 is correctly programmed with the most up to date version of the firmware associated with the particular part number and revision number for the UUT 13 This is all handled automatically without operator involvement thereby substantially avoiding the possibility of er
34. a United States Patent Limon Jr et al US006453435B1 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 453 435 B1 Sep 17 2002 54 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED TESTING OF CIRCUIT BOARDS 75 Inventors Rogelio Limon Jr Mesquite TX US John T Riley Allen TX US Robert A Beasley Dallas TX US 73 Assignee Fujitsu Network Communications Inc Richardson TX US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by O days 21 Appl No 09 222 541 22 Filed Dec 29 1998 51 Int Cl acs anasu aaa G01R 31 28 52 US O uu eher 714 724 58 Field of Search 714 724 745 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 718 064 A 1 1988 Edwards et al 714 28 4 760 330 A 7 1988 Lias Jr eee 714 32 4 901 221 A 2 1990 Kodosky et al 345 348 5 045 994 A 9 1991 Belfer et al 703 25 5 432 705 A 7 1995 Severt et al 702 120 5 511 108 A 4 1996 Severt et al 379 21 5 974 257 A 10 1999 Austin 717 8 SERVER 17 FPSS PROCESSOR HARD DISK DRIVE OTHER PUBLICATIONS Measure Serial Control User Manual National Instruments Corporation Aug 1996 TestStand User Manual National Instruments Corporation Dec 1998 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Albert Decady Assistant Examiner Joseph D Torres 74 Att
35. aded at the same time As soon as the HostSoft EXE program is started 1t will generate and present on the display 42 a window containing a main screen which is shown at 146 in FIG 3 The main screen 146 is a window having at the top a title bar 147 which has an industry standard format In particular the icons at the right and left ends of the title bar 147 may be used to resize or to close the window which contains the main screen 146 Immediately below the title bar 147 is a menu bar 148 which is described in more detail later Below the menu bar 148 on the left side of the screen is a workspace 151 which can be used to display information to the operator including information received from the opera tor At the right side of the workspace 151 is a scroll bar 152 of standard format which permits the operator to scroll up and down through the information present in the workspace 151 Below the menu bar 148 on the right side of the screen Is a Test Busy indicator 153 The Test Busy indicator 153 is a portion of the screen which is selectively presented at different times in one of two different colors such as gray and red in order to indicate that the indicator is respectively off and on Adjacent the Test Busy indicator 153 is a PASS indicator 154 which can also be displayed in one of two 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 different colors such as black and green to show that the ind
36. akpoint the operator selects the line which contains that command for example by clicking on that line through use of the mouse 46 FIG 1 The system responds by displaying a check mark in the breakpoint column 278 and imme diately to the left of the selected line for example as shown at 279 If the operator clicks on that same command line again the command will be deselected as a breakpoint and the check mark 279 will be removed After setting or clearing a breakpoint the operator can close the window 261 or leave it open If the window 261 is left open then when that particular macro is being processed in an interpretative mode by the system a highlighted region US 6 453 435 B1 19 such as that shown at 282 will be moved from command to command in order to identify the command which is cur rently being interpreted While the macro is being interpreted the operator can halt the interpretation at any point by actuating the STOP button 267 To thereafter continue execution the operator can actuate the GO button 266 If the system automatically stops at a particular com mand because that command has been specified as a breakpoint then the operator can thereafter cause the inter pretation to continue by actuating the GO button 266 As previously mentioned the Options Menu 177 FIG 3 also includes a Step Modie option which is used to toggle a step mode capability on and off The step mode is a further feature of th
37. and sequence that includes one or more commands drawn from a predefined set of commands Table 1 lists all of the commands in this predefined command set and provides a brief summary of each command To avoid unnecessary duplication the vari ous commands are not all described again in detail here However some specific comments are offered in the interest of clarity First some of the commands in Table 1 refer to a MAC address which is an industry standard type of network address It is not necessary to discuss the MAC addresses in detail here However it is important to point out that the present discussion refers to macro files and some macro files have filenames which end with the extension MAC and which are referred to herein as MAC files References to the MAC files should not be confused with references to the MAC addresses because they are entirely different Second the commands set forth in Table 1 can support different types of variables including integer variables floating point variables and string variables The 3G Host Soft EXE program is written so as to effect automatic conversion between variable types Thus for example if one of the commands in Table 1 is expecting a variable value of a floating point type but receives a variable value of an integer type it will automatically convert the integer value to a floating point value and then continue Third some of the commands in Table 1 refer to a
38. ation The configuration file is retrieved to obtain configuration information including the name of a file containing binary information which is downloaded into a lattice device A checksum is performed on the resulting information in the device and compared to the checksum information from the database Parameters lt identifier gt Identifier for search LeftTrim string Removes white spaces from the left end of the specified string Parameters string String from which white spaces are to be removed LoadModule module Loads an object moduie tor execution The object can be a compiled OBJ file or a DLL For the DLL the import LIBRARY LIB must be specified A loaded module may be executed by just typing its name Arguments can be passed to the object module by listing them as normal parameters for a macro For example the module for dport is loaded by the command LoadModule dport lib Parameters module Name of the module to load either the name of the OBJ file or the LIB file LookFor string message result This command tests for the existence of string within the RS232 character buffer For exampie in response to the command LookFor COMPLD did not get compld E the system searches for COMPLD in the string buffer and returns a fail if doesn t find it Parameters string String to search for message Generic message result Generic resul
39. ation from a device for the purpose of either displaying it or evaluating it later That is the command simply returns data to the screen or to a variable Table 2 sets forth one specific example of a PRG file which has the name 3MR1 PRG This specific PRG file was prepared to test an optical board of the type shown at 13 in FIG 1 This PRG file calls several MAC files some of which call other MAC files In total processing of the PRG file in Table 2 US 6 453 435 B1 9 requires ten related MAC files which are respectively set forth in Tables 3 12 Tables 2 12 are self explanatory when read in conjunction with the definition of the command set provided in Table 1 Nevertheless an overview explanation of these files is given later for purposes of convenience When the compiled program HostSoft EXE is interpreting the PRG file of Table 2 or one of the MAC files of Tables 3 12 it reads a line and then parses and processes that line on the fly in an interpretative mode in order to implement the command The HostSoft EXE program then reads the next line and processes that next line in the interpretative mode The present invention is not limited to the specific set of commands set forth in Table 1 nor to the specific PRG and MAC files set forth in Tables 2 12 Instead Tables 1 12 are provided to show one example of a test definition according to the present invention in order to facilitate a better understanding of the pr
40. being operative in response to the test definition to use the output portion to successively communicate to an operator each of a plurality of different manual steps which are needed to carry out the test definition Still another form of the invention involves a test station which includes a coupling portion operable to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of the test station to a unit to be tested an output portion through which information can be communicated to an operator the output portion includ ing a video display a memory portion which stores a test definition and a processor portion operatively coupled to the coupling portion the memory portion and the output portion the processor portion being operative in response to the test definition to display on the video display a graphic depiction of how to perform a manual step required by the test definition A further form of the invention involves a method of operating a test station which can be detachably operatively coupled to a test unit to be tested including storing a test definition and causing the test station to respond to the test definition by automatically carrying out on the test unit a sequence of test operations specified by the test definition and by presenting on a display a graphic depiction of how to perform a manual step required by the test definition Yet another form of the present invention involves a test station which includes a coupling portion
41. ce device 113 and the flash memory 112 is that the former automatically evaluates the checksums whereas the latter does not Thus if checksum evaluation is desired in the case of the FTP transfer it must be done by providing additional commands within the macro After completion of the ProdSoftwareDownload MAC macro shown in Table 11 the PRG file of Table 2 calls the ShutDown MAC macro of Table 12 which simply calls the Power MAC macro of Table 4 in order to turn off the power supply 83 Then the PRG file of Table 2 concludes by providing a window similar to that shown at 226 in FIG 6 except that the BMP image and the message instruct the operator to disconnect the optical cables 96 and 97 from the UUT 13 As the test station 23 is processing the PRG and MAC files of Tables 2 12 these files output successive messages to the workspace 151 of the main screen 146 FIG 3 to indicate whether each test operation conducted on the UUT 13 has passed or failed Assuming that all the test operations conducted by the PRG and MAC files of Tables 2 12 are successful then when processing of all these files reaches completion the information displayed in the workspace 151 will be that shown in FIG 7 In particular this information identifies successive tests which were conducted and the fact that the UUT 13 passed each such test If the UUT 13 had failed any test the information displayed in workspace 151 would indicate this Referring again to
42. ch each include binary information that can be loaded into a programmable device such as one of the programmable devices shown at 112 114 in FIG 1 The Tables subdirectory 139 includes a database file which is discussed in more detail later The LogFiles subdirectory 140 includes at least one log file which is used to store the results of certain test operations in a manner described later As mentioned above the Programs subdirectory 136 includes a plurality of PRG files and the macro subdirectory 137 includes a plurality of MAC files Each type of unit to be tested is associated with a respective PRG file which defines the sequence of test operations that are to be con ducted on each unit of that type The PRG file may call one or more MAC files in a manner somewhat similar to the manner in which a subroutine is called by a computer program Each MAC file can call one or more other MAC files in a similar manner There is no significant difference between a PRG file and a MAC file A PRG file is simply a 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 MAC file which contains the top level of the test definition and each MAC file contains a portion of the test definition at a greater level of detail The PRG files and the MAC files are all maintained in an uncompiled operator perceptible format In more detail each PRG file or MAC file in the disclosed embodiment is an ASCII text file which contains a comm
43. code on it and possibly some other indicia The bar code on the label 117 provides information such as a board number and part number and also a serial number The board number and part number have a one to one relationship to each other and define a particular type of board In contrast the serial number is a unique number provided for each board of a particular type If the part number of the manufacturer is different from the part num ber of a customer the bar code on label 117 could also optionally include the customer part number as a conve nience to the customer The particular UUT 13 shown in FIG 1 is one particular type of circuit board which has been selected for the sake of example In particular and as mentioned above the UUT 13 is a telecommunications circuit board of a type com monly known as an optical board However the test station 23 is designed to be capable of testing a variety of different types of circuit boards which may each have a larger or smaller number of components than the UUT 13 shown in FIG 1 For example other boards may lack the optical connectors 103 and 104 or may lack programmable devices such as those shown at 112 114 Each operator has an identification badge or card one of which is shown at 121 The badge 121 has a bar code label 122 on it The bar code label 122 includes information which identifies the particu lar operator such as a name and or employee number Although it would be possib
44. cters received from port will be displayed on the test result box Any characters typed from the keyboard while the test result box is active will be sent to the serial port Parameters port add linefeed gt Specifies a serial port Controls whether to append a line feed to each carriage return 1 to append 0 not to append TimeOut seconds Sets the maximum time allowed for a test to complete Parameters seconds Time in seconds to allow the test to complete Text text Displays text to test result output Parameters text ASCII characters to be printed to test output TST test name Sets the test name for the current execution block Parameters test name The test name to assign to the current execution block The test name is automatically printed out in the result screen it the test passes or fails Automatically means it is not necessary to use the Pass command or Fail command The test name is also the name of the test that is logged to the test log file UnloadModule module Unloads a specified module name from memory The module can no longer be executed Parameters module The name of the module to remove from memory Userinput message Brings up a dialog box which requests that the operator input information The message is displayed and the string input by the operator is returned Parameters message Validation Turns validation on or of
45. d MAC files is not necessary However a brief overview will be provided as a convenience and certain selected steps will be discussed in more detail More specifically the following is an overview of what happens in block 221 during processing of the specific exemplary PRG and MAC files which are set forth in Tables 2 12 It is important to recognize that these correspond directly to testing of one particular type of unit to be tested which is the optical telecommunications board 13 shown in FIG 1 Substantially different PRG and MAC files might be used to test other units The 3MR1 PRG file of Table 2 is primarily a sequence of calls to various MAC files More specifically and with reference to Table 2 the 3MR1 PRG file begins by calling the InitializeEquipment MAC macro which is shown in Table 3 This macro then calls the Power MAC macro shown in Table 4 which turns on and configures the power supply 83 FIG 1 for the UUT 13 Then the InitializeEquipment MAC macro of Table 3 interprets several commands that initialize the optical power meter instrument 86 followed by commands that initialize the optical attenuator 93 and the serial port 61 Control then returns to the 3MR1 PRG file of Table 2 which calls the FirmwareDownloadTest MAC macro shown in Table 5 In general this macro effects programming of the lattice device 113 on the UUT 13 by downloading into it a file of binary information In this regard the second com mand
46. d s serial number to a MAC address created using a chip serial number csn Parameters csn Chip serial number used to find the mac address Part number seriai number etc are automatically retrieved from memory DBO address bit state Set specified bit to specified state at the address specified Parameters address Address of the digital port to write the bit to bit Specifies the individual bit to be changed state Specifies the state 1 or 0 to set the specified bit to Debug Places the host software in debug mode to allow entry of commands from the keyboard No parameters 23 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS Decide lt prompt gt lt yes gt lt no gt lt message gt lt result gt Displays a prompt in a dialog box with lt yes gt and lt no gt buttons The lt yes gt button returns a P and lt no gt returns an F If the return character lt return gt the message is displayed Parameters lt prompt gt Text message to display lt yes gt Text label for Yes button lt no gt Text label for No button lt message gt Generic message lt result gt Generic result Define macro name var type var name Returns var type var name Defines a macro function argument and return value For example a macro that takes one integer value and returns one integer value would be defined by Define GetValue int InValue returns int O
47. directory 133 also includes a file HostRun INI which is an initialization file described in more detail later The subdirectory 133 includes several additional files which each include a graphics image in a standard bit map format and which are each identified by a respective filename ending in the common extension BMP The subdirectory 133 also includes several lattice con figuration files which each have a respective filename that ends with the common extension LAT and includes several file transfer protocol FTP configuration files which each have a respective filename that ends with the common extension FTP Specific examples of a LAT file and an FTP file are described later The subdirectory 133 further includes several library files which have respective filena mes that end with the common extension LIB and several dynamic link library files which have respective filenames that end with the common extension DLL The LIB and DLL files are compiled object code files as discussed later The Programs subdirectory 136 includes several program files which each have a respective filename ending in the common extension PRG The Macros subdirectory 137 includes several macro files which each have a respective filename ending in the common extension MAC Specific examples of a PRG file and several MAC files are discussed later The PrgDevs subdirectory 138 includes several binary files whi
48. e detachably coupled to the UUT 13 A further optical cable 97 has one end coupled to the attenuator 93 and its other end can be detachably coupled to the UUT 13 The UUT 13 is a circuit board which has thereon a header 101 to which an end of the parallel cable 77 can be releasably coupled and circuitry 102 defining a network port which includes a connector to which one end of the network cable 79 can be releasably coupled The UUT 13 further includes an optical connector 103 to which one end of the optical cable 97 can be releasably coupled and a further optical connector 104 to which one end of the optical cable 96 can be releasably coupled The UUT 13 has circuitry 107 thereon which is electrically coupled to the UUT connector 37 the header 101 and the network port 102 The circuitry 107 includes one or more electro optical devices which operatively couple the circuitry 107 to the optical connectors 103 and 104 The circuitry 107 includes a processor 111 which is a microprocessor of a commercially available type The cir cuitry 107 further includes three programmable devices 112 113 and 114 In the disclosed embodiment the device 112 is a flash memory the device 113 is a lattice device and the device 114 is an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory EEPROM but the devices 112 114 could alternatively be other types of programmable devices The UUT 13 has thereon a label 117 which has indicia in the form of a bar
49. e debug mode When step mode is enabled and when the system is interpreting a given macro file the system will stop before interpreting each command and will wait for authorization to proceed to interpret the command Thus the operator can step through the command sequence in that given file one command at a time More specifically the operator does this by actuating either the STEP THROUGH button 268 or the STEP OVER 269 If the command in question is any one of the commands from the command set shown in Table 1 then the buttons 268 and 269 will both have the same effect In particular the system will proceed to interpret that command and then will stop before interpreting the next command On the other hand if the current command is a call to a macro file the buttons 268 and 269 produce different results In particular if the operator actuates the STEP OVER button 269 the system will interpret all applicable commands in the called macro and in any macros which it calls and will not stop in any such called macro except for a reason which would cause a stop if the step mode was disabled When all pertinent commands in the called macros have been pro cessed the system will then stop before executing the next command in the calling macro In contrast if the operator actuates the STEP THROUGH button 268 the system will open an additional similar window for the macro being called and single step through each of the commands in that cal
50. e other thereof 13 An apparatus comprising a test station which includes a coupling portion operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of said test station to a unit to be tested a memory portion which stores a program and a test definition said test definition including a first portion and a second portion said first portion specifying a first test operation to be carried out by said test station through said coupling portion and said second portion specifying a second test operation to be carried out by said test station through said coupling portion and a processor portion operatively coupled to said memory portion and said coupling portion said processor por tion being operative to execute said program wherein said program causes said processor portion to permit an operator to selectively specify one of a first operational mode and a second operational mode and causes said processor portion to access and process said test definition wherein in said first operational mode said processor portion processes both said first portion and said second portion of said test definition so as to carry US 6 453 435 B1 37 out both of said first and second test operations and wherein in said second operational mode said processor portion processes only said first portion of said test definition to the exclusion of said second portion thereof so as to carry out only said first test operation without said second test operat
51. ecial window with editing capabilities in which is displayed an ASCII text listing of the specified MAC or PRG file In the disclosed embodiment the HostSoft EXE program does this by invoking a special window which is an inherent feature of the resident operating system and which permits a file to be opened edited saved and closed Since this special window is an inherent feature of the resident operating system it is not illustrated and described here in detail However it will be recognized that the HostSoft EXE program could be written to provide such a window on its own rather than by invoking a window feature of the resident operating system When the operator is done modifying the selected PRG or MAC file the operator saves the modified file and then closes the special window When the modified macro is saved the modified version thereof is located only on the local hard disk drive 52 and not in the master definition of that macro in the archive file on the hard disk drive 28 of the server 16 If the operator ultimately wants to replace the master definition of the macro with the modified version from the local disk drive the operator must effect a standard file transfer operation in order to copy the modified macro file from the local hard disk drive 52 to the server hard disk drive 28 When the debug mode is enabled the operator also has the capability to set one or more breakpoints or in other words to identify any command i
52. eeds from block 203 to block 206 where the system prompts the operator to use the bar code reader 47 to scan the bar code label 117 on the UUT 13 which is to be tested The system waits for the bar code label to be scanned at block 207 The information obtained from the bar code label 117 may include the board name the board part number and a serial number which the system will then display in the regions 161 163 FIG 3 of the main screen 146 for example as visible at 161 163 in FIG 7 After the operator scans the bar code label the system proceeds to block 208 where it prompts the operator to couple the connector 37 on the UUT 13 to the tester connector 36 of the test station 23 and then waits for the operator to do so at block 209 The operator does not yet connect to the UUT 13 any of the other cables 77 79 and 96 97 as there will be separate prompts later for any or all of these cables When the operator has coupled the connec tors 36 and 37 together the operator responds to the prompt by pressing the ENTER key on the keyboard 43 or by some other similar action which causes the system to proceed from block 209 to block 212 At block 212 the system turns on the Test Busy indicator 153 in particular by changing this portion of the screen from a subdued color such as gray to a more pronounced color such as red Then a search is made of the HostRun INI file which as discussed in association with FIGS 1 and 2 is stored
53. elete and insert Line 50 delete Getchar and insert GetChar Line 59 delete GetChecksum and insert GetCheckSum Column 25 Line 35 after to delete compare and insert compare Line 54 after has insert a Column 26 Line 8 after A insert Line 11 before the word for insert Line 20 after block insert Line 21 delete value1 and insert lt valuel gt Line 22 after lt condition gt delete condition and insert Condition Line 43 after object delete moduie and insert module Line 54 after for delete exampie and insert example UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 453 435 B1 Page 3 of 5 DATED September 17 2002 INVENTOR S Rogelio Limon Jr et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 27 Line 19 after address delete octects and insert octets Line 21 delete octects and insert octets Line 35 after of delete Continue on Fail and insert Continue or Fail Line 51 after serial delete port and insert port Lines 53 and 55 delete lt Port gt and insert port Column 28 Line 7 after lt compare gt delete It and insert If Line 17 after valve insert Line 21 d
54. elete RS232S1 and insert RS232SI Line 44 delete RS232V1 and insert RS232VI Line 54 after RS232VU delete lt part gt and insert port Line 60 after receive delete amp and insert a Column 29 Line 14 delete SelecBoard and insert SelectBoard Line 37 after active delete seriai and insert serial Line 42 after variable delete lt varame gt and insert lt varname gt Line 45 delete lt varame gt and insert varname Line 49 after one delete atter and insert after Line 53 delete ACSII and insert ASCII Line 58 delete StopLag and insert StopLog Column 30 Line 29 delete it and insert if Line 36 after executed delete and insert Line 48 after with delete and insert Line 54 delete m and insert D Line 54 before Formfeed insert V Line 55 before Linefeed insert n Line 56 delete r and insert V Line 57 before Tab horizontal insert X Line 58 delete and insert v Line 58 delete and insert V Line 59 delete mJ and insert Y Line 59 delete mK and insert V Line 60 delete and insert V Line 61 delete and insert XO Line 61 delete xH and insert xH Line 64 delete Booean and insert Boolean UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFIC
55. emember each of the various sequences of manual steps which must be carried out for each of the respective different types of units For example it may be necessary to connect an optical cable to one type of unit but not to connect any such cable to a different type of unit It is possible for an operator to inadvertently select the wrong test definition for use in testing a given circuit board In a situation where a circuit board has a programmable part which must be programmed it is possible for an operator to inadvertently select the wrong information for use in pro gramming the programmable part There is also a need to be able to easily switch between a normal level of testing and a more rigorous level of testing without necessarily requir ing the operator to select one of two different test definitions and without requiring a test developer to develop two entirely separate test definitions for the same unit SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION From the foregoing it may be appreciated that a need has arisen for automated test techniques in which test definitions are represented in a form that is intuitive and requires minimal training which has features facilitating debug and dynamic alteration of test definitions which can provide an operator with step by step instructions for manual acts required by each test definition which permits a single test definition to selectively carry out different levels of testing which automates the selecti
56. eral Purpose Interface Bus GPIB interface circuit and which interfaces the workstation 41 to a GPIB bus 82 The GPIB bus 82 and the interface circuit 81 conform to an industry standard specification known as the General Pur pose Interface Bus specification Accordingly bus 82 and circuit 81 are not described here in detail The test station 23 includes a power supply 83 which is coupled to the GPIB bus 82 so that the power supply 83 can be controlled by the workstation 41 through the GPIB bus 82 The power supply 83 has outputs which are coupled to the tester connector 36 so that the power supply 83 can supply power to the UUT 13 The test station 23 also includes an optical power meter instrument 86 which has inputs coupled to the GPIB bus 82 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 so that the workstation 41 can control the optical power meter instrument 86 through the GPIB bus 82 The optical power meter instrument 86 includes an optical pattern generator portion 87 and an error detection portion 88 The test station 23 further includes an optical attenuator 93 which has inputs coupled to the GPIB bus 82 so that the workstation 41 can control the attenuator 93 through the GPIB bus 82 The attenuator 93 is operably coupled to the error detection portion 88 of the optical power meter instru ment 86 An optical cable 96 has one end coupled to the optical pattern generator 87 and its other end can b
57. es to assign to the current part number serial Message lt text gt Display lt text gt in a pop up number window and wait for operator response Parameters lt text gt Pass lt text gt ASCII characters to be displayed Prints lt text gt to the test output followed by padding dots and the word PASS This command gets ignored if any kind of Continue on Fail feature is enabled Parameters lt text gt ASCII characters to be sent to test output Return lt value gt Returns from a macro Execution of a macro will be stopped when it hits this command Otherwise execution runs until the file end On macros that can return a value lt value gt specifies the return value Parameters lt value gt Value to return to the calling macro RightTrim lt string gt This command removes any white spaces from the right end of lt string gt White spaces are the standard ANSI C white spaces except space tab line feed carriage return etc Parameters String from which to remove white spaces lt string gt RS232Close port Closes the serial port so that it can other programs Parameters Port Seria RS232Flush port be used by port to close Flushes out the specified serial port Parameters Seria flush RS232E0 port text Outputs text to the speci outputs one character at a Port haracter Parameters port Seria lt
58. esent invention The PRG and MAC files in Tables 2 12 are discussed in more detail later When the workstation 41 is turned on it will automati cally initiate execution of the resident operating system which as mentioned above may be the window based oper ating system available under the tradename WINDOWS 95 Then through use of the keyboard 43 or mouse 46 the operator can instruct the operating system to cause the processor 51 to begin execution of the compiled HostSoft EXE program located in the HostSoft subdirectory 133 During this turn on or initialization process information will be downloaded from the server 16 to the test station 23 More specifically the database file on the hard disk drive 28 of the server 16 will be downloaded to the Tables subdirec tory 139 on the hard disk drive 52 of the test station 23 Further the archive file on the hard disk drive 28 of the server 16 will be accessed and appropriate files therefore will be extracted from the archive file and downloaded to appropriate subdirectories 113 and or 136 138 on the hard disk drive 52 of the test station 23 This may include any or all of the above discussed INL BMP LAT FTP DLL LIB PRG MAC and binary files In the disclosed embodiment some of these files are downloaded in conjunction with start up of the operating system and others are downloaded if and when the HostSoft program is started However it will be recognized that all files could be downlo
59. est station to a selected one of the test unit and a further unit the further unit having indicia thereon said first and second test definitions being respec tively selected in response to information from the indicia respectively on the test unit and the further unit 26 An apparatus comprising a test unit to be tested which has indicia thereon and a test station which includes a coupling portion operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of said test station to said unit a reader portion which can read said indicia on said unit and a control portion which is operatively coupled to said coupling portion and said reader portion said control portion being responsive to information obtained through said reader portion from the indicia for carry ing out through said coupling portion at least one operation which is selected as a function of said infor mation wherein said unit has a programmable part thereon wherein said control portion includes a first program ming definition and a second programming definition and wherein said control portion acts through said coupling portion to cause said programmable part to be programmed with one of said first and second program ming definitions which is selected by said control portion as a function of said information from said indicia on said unit 27 An method of operating a test station which can be detachably operatively coupled to a test unit to be tested comprisin
60. f to validate the software No parameters Wait text Displays text in a pop up window and continues The message can be cleared by issuing the Wait command with NULL Terminator as the test Parameters test An ASCII message to be displayed Note Unprintable Characters Some ASCII characters are unprintable The following are shortcut notations which can be used in strings to represent these characters m Backspace Formfeed Linefeed r Carriage return Tab horizontal Vertical tab N Backslash mJ Single quote apostrophe I mK Double quote i Question mark O String of up to three octal digits xH H String of hex digits Note Valid Mathematical Boolean Operators The following is a list of valid mathematical and Booean operators Any operator can be followed by the equal operator to combine its operation and the equal operation For example gt means greater than Message to display 31 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS or equal to Add Subtract Multiply Divide GreaterThan Less Than logical Not Operator logical OR Operator logical AND Operator Equal Equal to l Not Equal g ARCU TABLE 2 PROGRAM FILE 3MR1 PRG This macro tests an optical board InitializeEquipment macro to set up test equipment TST Firmware Download Test FirmwareDownloadTest download firmware to lattice devices Instruct operator to plug in the optical cable Message
61. g storing a test definition and causing the test station to respond to the test definition by automatically carrying out on the test unit a sequence of test operations specified by the test definition and by presenting on a display a graphic depiction of how to perform a manual step required by the test definition UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 453 435 B1 Page 1 of 5 DATED September 17 2002 INVENTOR S Rogelio Limon Jr et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 2 Line 15 after bound delete Column 4 Line 64 after on delete title and insert the Column 6 Line 13 the sentence beginning with A further optical cable 97 should be incorporated with the previous paragraph ending with detachably coupled to the UUT 13 Line 59 after 112 114 the sentence beginning with Each operator has an should be the beginning of a new paragraph Line 66 after of delete Column 7 Line 20 after in delete conduction and insert conjunction Column 8 Line 22 the sentence beginning with References to the MAC should be incorporated with the previous paragraph ending with and which are referred to herein as MAC files Line 27 after The delete 3G Line 62 after variable the sentence beginning with Table 2 sets should be
62. gh which an operator can communicate 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 65 38 information to said test station and wherein said predeter mined alphanumeric message includes a request for an operator to provide specified information through said input portion 23 An apparatus comprising a test unit to be tested which has indicia thereon and a test station which includes a coupling portion operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of said test station to said unit a reader portion which can read said indicia on said unit and a control portion which is operatively coupled to said coupling portion and said reader portion said control portion being responsive to information obtained through said reader portion from the indicia for carry ing out through said coupling portion at least one operation which is selected as a function of said infor mation wherein said control portion includes first and second test definitions and wherein said operation carried out by said control portion is one of said first and second test definitions selected by said control portion using said information obtained through said reader portion 24 An apparatus according to claim 23 wherein said reader portion includes a bar code reader the indicia includ ing a bar code 25 An apparatus according to claim 23 wherein said coupling portion is operative to facilitate a detachable opera tive coupling of said t
63. gt Digital Pattern Input Reads a byte from the digital I O port masks the value and then compares the value to pattern If the result result then the message is displayed Parameters address Address of the digital port to write the byte to pattern Expected range or value of the return value for example 4 95 5 or 5 00 message Generic message result Generic result DVI address range message lt result gt Digital Value Input Reads a byte from the digital I O port and then compares the value to range If the result result the message is displayed Parameters address Address of the digital port to write the byte to range Expected range or value of the return value for exampie 4 95 5 or 5 00 message Generic message result Generic result US 6 453 435 B1 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Else 24 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS Marks the start of an execution block which will be processed if no conditionai statement of an If command is met No parameters Else if value condition value Marks an execution block to be processed if condition is met and no prior condition in the If command was met Parameters value A value to operate on can be a string or a number condition Condition to test for valid conditions are gt
64. h as gray Then at block 246 the system checks to see if the UUT 13 passed all of the tests which were conducted on it If so control proceeds to block 247 where the system turns on the PASS indicator 154 for example by changing the letters PASS from a subdued color such as black to a noticeable color such as green In either case control ultimately pro ceeds to block 248 which represents completion of the testing of the UUT 13 As mentioned earlier the system has a special debug mode which can be toggled on and off by selecting the Debug Mode option from the Options Menu 177 FIG 3 When debug mode is not enabled then the system will test the UUT 13 by carrying out the entire test definition set forth in the PRG and MAC files without stopping except in certain limited circumstances In particular it will tempo rarily stop when a PRG or MAC file requests an action by or some input from the operator for example a request that the operator effect connection of the optical cables as discussed above in association with FIG 6 or a request that the operator read and input the current state of an LED on the unit under test In addition if the operator has used the Test Mode drop down list 168 to select the Stop On Errors mode of operation the system will stop if it detects any error during the test In contrast when the debug mode is enabled it provides some special capabilities which permit greater operator interaction while a
65. he specified address of the GPIB bus and optionally compares it to range Execution will not continue until the range is met If a time out occurs and result is F or A then message will be displayed If the range is met and result P then message will be displayed address GPIB address of the device lt range gt Expected range or value for example 4 95 5 05 or 5 00 lt message gt Generic message lt result gt Generic result If lt valuel gt lt condition gt lt value2 gt Marks an execution block which is processed if lt condition gt is met for the two values Execution of the block stops when an Else Elseif or Endif is reached Note this command requires that an endif statement be placed to mark the end of the block Parameters value1 A first value to operate on can be a string or a number condition condition to test for Valid conditions are gt lt gt lt lt value2 gt A second value to operate on can be a string or a number Int lt variable name gt Creates a variable with the specified variable name which can hold a 32 bit integer value Parameters lt variable name gt Variable name LatPrg lt identifier gt A board number a revision number and the specified identifier are used to search the Programmable Part Database for a matching record which will provide the name of a lattice configuration file and checksum inform
66. here there is a unique serial number for each unit of a given type That is if there are one hundred units of the same type they will each have the same test board name and part number but each will have a different serial number Below the part number region 162 are three drop down lists 167 168 and 169 which can be used by the operator to selectively control certain aspects of system operation The drop down list 167 is used to select the Print Mode which determines what information if any will be printed on the network printer 19 FIG 1 by the test station 23 The three available options for print mode are Don t Print Print On Errors and Always Print which are self explanatory The drop down list 168 is used to select the Test Mode The two available Test Mode options are Stop On Errors and Continue On Errors which specify whether or not the system is to continue if it detects an error while conducting a test The third drop down list 169 is used to select the Test Items which allows the operator to specify how rigorously a particular unit should be tested The two available options are Normal and Sample Base The Sample Base option is typically used to cause more rigorous testing to be carried out than the Normal option in a manner which is described in more detail later Units will usually be tested under the Normal option The Sample Base option
67. icator 154 is respectively off and on The Test Busy indicator 153 is turned on when the test station 23 is conducting a test on a unit such as the UUT 13 If the unit passes all of the tests conducted on it then at the completion of the test sequence the PASS indicator 154 is turned on in order to indicate to the operator that the unit successfully passed all tests Below the indicators 153 and 154 is a region 157 where the name of the current operator is displayed and a region 158 which displays the privilege levels enjoyed by the current operator Some operators will have a wider range of privileges than other operators For example one operator may be permitted to run predefined tests on units which are to be tested but may not have the privilege to make any changes to those tests In contrast an operator with a higher privilege level may be able to not only run the predefined tests but to also dynamically alter them Below the regions 157 and 158 are three further regions 161 163 where the system displays information regarding the unit which is currently being tested In particular in region 161 the system displays an alphanumeric Test Board name for the specific type of unit currently being tested In the region 162 the system displays a part number for that type of unit In general there will be a one to one relationship between the test board name and the part number In region 163 the system displays a serial number w
68. in the HostSoft subdirectory 133 of the hard disk drive 52 An excerpt from this file is shown in Table 13 It includes a KBOARDS section which lists the part number of each known board followed by an equal sign and a unique code In the case of the specific UUT 13 which is the subject of this example and as shown in Table 13 the part number is H16B 1023 H362 and the corresponding unique code is 3MR1 The HostRun INI file also includes a number of additional sections each of which corresponds to a respective one of the unique codes As shown in Table 13 there is a section 3MR1 which corresponds to the particular UUT 13 Each such section contains certain standard items of information including the name of the board the name of the PRG file which is provided to test the board the names of the subdirectories which include the PRG and MAC files used to test the board and an indication of whether the system should have the operator verify the revision number of the board It will be noted that the specific PRG file identified in Table 13 for the UUT 13 of FIG 1 is 3MR1 PRG which is the specific PRG file set forth in Table 2 In FIG 4 control then proceeds from block 212 to block 213 where the system checks to see whether the Requir US 6 453 435 B1 13 eRevision parameter in the HostRun INI was Yes If so control proceeds to block 214 where the system prompts the operator to enter a revis
69. ion 14 An apparatus according to claim 13 wherein said memory portion stores a test file which contains each of said first and second portions of said test definition 15 An apparatus comprising a test station which includes a coupling portion operable to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of said test station to a unit to be tested an output portion through which information can be communicated to an operator a memory portion which stores a test definition and processor portion operatively coupled to said coupling portion said memory portion and said output portion said processor portion being operative in response to said test definition to use said output portion to suc cessively communicate to an operator each of a plu rality of different manual steps which are needed to carry out said test definition 16 An apparatus according to claim 15 wherein said output device includes a video display and wherein said test definition causes said processor portion to communicate one of said manual steps by displaying on said video display a graphic depiction of how to perform that respective manual step 17 An apparatus according to claim 16 wherein said test definition causes said processor portion to display in con junction with said graphic depiction a predetermined alpha numeric message 18 An apparatus according to claim 15 including an input portion which is operatively coupled to said processor porti
70. ion number which is visible on the UUT 13 and the system then stores this revision number for later use Control ultimately continues at block 217 where the system uses the ProgramDir parameter of the HostRu n INI file to identify the subdirectory containing the speci fied PRG file which in this case is the Programs subdirec tory 136 of FIG 2 The system then retrieves from this subdirectory the PRG file which is specified by the Pro gramFile parameter of the HostRun INI file which in this case is the 3MR1 PRG file shown in Table 2 Control then proceeds to block 221 where the HostSof t EXE program being executed by the processor 51 pro cesses the 3MR1 PRG file shown in Table 1 in an interpre tative manner as already discussed above As this is carried out this PRG file will directly and indirectly invoke ten macro files which are the MAC files shown in Tables 3 12 Based on the MacroDir parameter in the HostRun INI file Table 13 the system knows that these MAC files are all located in the Macros subdirectory 137 of FIG 2 As discussed above these MAC files will also be processed in an interpretative mode As explained above the PRG and MAC files shown in Tables 2 12 are provided primarily by way of example and are self explanatory when considered in conjunction with the command set forth in Table 1 Thus a detailed discussion of every step which occurs during interpretation of these specific PRG an
71. le then the operator can select that variable from the appropriate one of the lists 292 and 293 for example by using the mouse 46 to click on 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 20 that name of that variable In response the system will open an Evaluate Variable window 301 an example of which is shown in FIG 10 The window 301 is specific to a single variable and displays for that variable the same information which was shown in the View Variables window 291 of FIG 9 including the variable name the variable type and the current value 302 of the variable However the window 301 also includes a region 303 where the operator can enter a new value for that variable which then replaces the current value As previously discussed the Tools Menu 181 FIG 3 includes RS232 Spy and GPIB Spy options Selecting either option toggles on or off the associated feature each of which involves a special window More specifically FIG 11 shows a window 311 corresponding to the operating system show the window 146 in a partially minimized size and shows two additional window 312 and 313 The window 312 is the RS232 Spy window which provides a scrolling visual display of input and output data passing through the serial port 61 FIG 1 for example in a hexidemical format Similarly the window 313 is the GPIB Spy window which provides a scrolling visual display of input and output data passing th
72. le Var will contain my string1 after execution of Sprintf var my string 1 Parameters vamame The name of a valid variable in quotes The variable must be a string function parameters Parameters to format into the variable lt varname gt Parameters are copied and appended one atter the other Status text Displays text on the operating system status line Parameters text StartLog Enables logging of failure data to a log file This command is usually used sometime after StopLog has been used in order to resume logging of the pass fail data No parameters StopLag Disables logging of failure data to a log file This command is usually used in order to do some debugging commands for which logging is not desirable No parameters String name Creates a string variable A string can contain characters that are NULL 0 terminated Parameters name Name of string variable Sync Stops execution until an external executable has reported that the system can continue or until that ACSII text string to display US 6 453 435 B1 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 30 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS external executable has ended The command synchronizes execution between the system and the external executable No parameters Terminal port add linefeed gt Places the system into a terminal mode using the specified serial port Any chara
73. le for each operator to manually enter this information use of a machine readable card or badge reduces the chance of inadvertent errors by the opera tor US 6 453 435 B1 7 FIG 2 is a diagrammatic view of a directory structure 131 which is a portion of the overall directory structure present on the hard disk drive 52 of the workstation 41 FIG 1 The directory structure 131 includes a HostSoft subdi rectory 133 The HostSoft subdirectory 133 has several additional subdirectories associated with it including a Programs subdirectory 136 a Macros subdirectory 137 a PrgDevs programmable devices subdirectory 138 a Tables subdirectory 139 and a LogFiles subdirectory 140 The term HostSoft is used herein as the name of a subdirectory and as the name of an executable program file However the term HOSTSOFT is also a trademark of the assignee of the present application for use in commerce in association with products disclosed herein FIG 2 identifies some of the most relevant files which are stored in the subdirectories 133 and 136 140 but it will be recognized that each of these subdirectories may include additional files The subdirectory 133 includes a file HostSoft EXE which is a compiled program that is executed by the processor 51 of the workstation 41 in conduction with execution of the resident operating system and which pro vides underlying control for test operations carried out by the test station 23 The sub
74. led macro When the system is in step mode and com pletes interpretation of the last command in a given macro file the system will automatically close the window for that macro if the window was automatically opened by the system but will leave the window open if the window was manually opened by the operator A further feature of the debug mode involves the capa bility to change the values of variables which include not only internal variables used by PRG and MAC files but also variables containing data which has been received back from the UUT 13 during the testing process There are two techniques which the operator can use to inspect and or change a variable The first technique is to switch to the main window 146 of FIG 3 and to type at the debug prompt a proper command which is from TABLE 1 and which has the effect of changing the value of the variable of interest The second technique is to actuate the INSPECT VARI ABLES button 270 in the Open Macros window 261 of FIG which causes the system to open a special View Variables window an example of which is shown at 291 in FIG 9 This window 291 includes a list 292 of all global variables and a further list 293 of all local variables maintained by the current macro Each list includes the name of the variable the variable type for example Int for an integer variable and the current value of the variable If the operator wishes to change the value of a particular variab
75. m the specified address of the GPIB bus and optionally compares it to compare Execution will not continue until a received string matches compare If a time out occurs and result F or A then message will be displayed It the compare is met and result P then the message will be displayed Parameters address GPIB address of the device compare String pattern expected to be returned message Generic messaye result Generic result GPIBSXI address message GPIB String X don t care Input Gets the next string up to a new line from the GPIB If message is present and has tilde the tilde is replaced with the string read from the GPIB and is displayed Parameters address GPIB device message ASCII message to be displayed GPIBVI address range message lt result gt Receives a value from the specified address of the GPIB bus and optionally compares it to range If the compare result matches result then message is displayed Parameters address GPIB address of the device range Expected range or value for example 4 95 5 05 or 5 00 lt message gt Generic message lt result gt Generic result GPIBVU address range message lt result gt US 6 453 435 B1 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 26 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS Waits for value from t
76. me of the operator as determined from the badge in a region 197 of the window 196 The window 196 also includes a region 198 for the operator to enter a password The display of the window 196 in FIG 5 corresponds to block 201 in FIG 4 where the system requests a password from the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 operator At block 202 in FIG 4 the system waits for the operator to enter the password in the region 198 of window 196 and then checks to make sure that the entered password is the correct password for the particular operator The system uses the operator name or number to access a table stored on the hard disk drive 52 in order to obtain the current password for that particular operator If the password entered by the operator does not match the password from the table the operator may be allowed to try entering the password a second time However if the operator is not able to enter the correct password after a reasonable number of attempts control is returned to block 193 to wait for a different operator to scan the bar code label on his or her operator badge Once the correct password has been entered control proceeds from block 202 to block 203 where the system waits for the operator to authorize the system to begin a test either by actuating the Start Test button 172 or by selecting the Start Test option from the Test Menu 178 Once the operator starts a test control proc
77. n to inspect or change variables involved in testing and or to monitor input and output data traveling through certain ports of the test station A related technical advantage is the capability to dynami cally modify an existing test definition during processing of that test definition either temporarily or permanently Another technical advantage results from the fact that the uncompiled commands have the capability to initiate execu tion of a compiled file so that a particular test operation which is unusually complex or which involves special real time considerations can be realized Another technical advantage involves the capability to provide step by step instructions to an operator regarding each manual act which the operator needs to do in order to carry out a given test definition This may include the capability to display a photograph or diagram depicting exactly what the operator should do This permits an operator to accurately and reliably conduct tests on a variety of different products with only a limited amount of training Yet another technical advantage results from the use of machine readable indicia on parts which are to be tested for example in the form of a bar code in order to accurately identify the particular part This ensures that any program mable devices on the part can be loaded with the correct version of information necessary to program them so that the parts will be correctly programmed when they are later
78. n a PRG file or MAC file as a breakpoint When the system is processing a PRG or MAC file and reaches a command which has been desig nated as a breakpoint the system stops and waits for operator authorization to proceed with processing of the breakpoint command In the disclosed embodiment the operator sets or clears a breakpoint in the following manner The operator selects the Open Macro option from the File Menu 176 FIG 3 which then presents to the operator a illustrated window containing a list of macro files located in the Macros subdirectory 137 FIG 2 The operator selects from this list the macro of interest and the system then opens a special Open Macro window 261 which is shown in FIG 8 in a manner superimposed over the entirety of the main screen 146 Across the top of the Open Macro window 261 is an industry standard title bar 260 and under the title bar 260 is a button bar 262 The button bar 262 has a GO button 266 a STOP button 267 a STEP THROUGH button 268 a STEP OVER button 269 and an INSPECT VARI ABLES button 270 The buttons 266 270 are each discussed in more detail later Below the button bar 262 the Open Macro window 261 has a workspace 276 along the right side of which is a vertical scroll bar 277 Along the left side of the workspace 276 is a breakpoint column 278 The ASCII text from the selected macro file is displayed in the workspace 276 In order to specify that a particular command is to be a bre
79. nication port from which to receive a value range Expected range or value for example 4 95 5 05 message Generic message result Generic result RS232VU part range lt message gt lt result gt Waits for a value from the specified serial port and compares it to range Execution will not continue until a value within the range is received If a time out occurs and result F or A then message will be displayed If a value within range is received and result P then message will be displayed Parameters port Serial communication port from which to receive amp value range Expected range or value for example 4 95 5 05 lt message gt Generic message lt result gt Generic result Run lt exe name gt lt parameters gt lt Wait flag gt Executes the specified executable and passes the lt parameters gt to it Parameters 29 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS lt exe name gt Executable file to run lt parameters gt Parameters to pass to EXE command line lt Wait flag gt Wait flag Choices are WAIT and DON T WAIT RunModule lt module gt lt parameters gt Executes a previously loaded module and passes the parameters to it Parameters lt exe name gt Executable module to run lt parameters gt Parameters to pass to module entry function SelecBoard lt number gt Makes the board specified by the index lt
80. ns a special window that will be described in more detail later in association with FIG 8 The File Menu also has Exit option which causes the test station 23 to terminate execution of and exit from the HostSoft EXE program The Options Menu 177 has a View Pictures option which toggles on and off a view pictures capability which is described in more detail later The Options Menu also has a Debug Mode option which toggles on and off whether the system is operating in a special debug mode which will be described in more detail later The Options Menu also includes a Step Mode option which toggles on and off a special mode of operation which is called the step mode and which is described in more detail Further the Options Menu includes a Log Test Results option which is a toggle that determines whether or not the test station 23 saves certain test results to a log file located in the LogFiles subdirectory 140 FIG 2 The Log Test Results option is functionally equivalent to the button 173 which was discussed above The Test Menu 178 includes a Start Test option which is equivalent to the above discussed Start Test button 172 The Test Menu further includes a Cancel Test option which immediately terminates a currently running test prior to normal completion thereof Further the Test Menu includes a Select Macro To Run option which is discussed in more detail later The Tools Me
81. nu 181 has an RS232 Spy option and a GPIB Spy option each of which toggles on and off a special facility that can be used to view information going to and from a unit being tested in a manner discussed later FIG 4 is a flowchart showing the general sequence of operations in the portion of the HostSoft EXE program which carries out testing of a given unit under test With respect to this portion of the program execution begins at block 191 at which point the HostSoft EXE program is presenting on the display 42 FIG 1 the main screen 146 shown in FIG 3 Control proceeds from block 191 to block 192 where the system makes sure that the PASS indicator 154 FIG 3 is off for example by setting the letters PASS to a subdued color such as black Then at block 193 the system waits for an operator to use the bar code reader 47 to scan the bar code label 122 on the badge 121 of that particular operator The bar code label provides the name of the operator or an operator number from which the name of the operator can be determined The bar code label 122 may optionally provide information regarding the privilege level of that particular operator although the privilege level may alternatively be obtained by using the operator name or number to access a table of privilege information stored on the hard disk drive 52 With reference to FIG 5 the system superimposes on the main screen 146 a log in window 196 and displays the na
82. number gt the active board The active board s vital information is copied into the current buffers Any commands that are specific to a part number or serial number require that a board be set to be the active board If there is only one board being tested this command does not need to be processed because that board is selected automatically Parameters lt number gt The board number index to make active Serial Prompts the operator to scan the UUT s serial number into the system This serial number then causes the system to scan the MAC table and determine if this serial number requires an x number of ethernet MAC addressees It then stores the required MAC addresses to the MACn variable in the script environment see MACn command No parameters SetSerialStatus index status Sets the status of the board specified by index on a multiple board test The status is the pass or fail condition 0 for pass 1 for fail Parameters index Index of the board to have status set The serial number list is a zero based index the first board is index 0 status Status 0 for pass 1 for fail SetActiveComport port Sets the active seriai port so that an external module can retrieve this information Parameters port Serial port to be set as active Sprintf varname parameters The Sprintf function formats the parameters and copies them to the variable lt varame gt For example the variab
83. oad else if var 10 Message Timeout Occured While Programming FAIL Production Software DOwnload Test nFTP Download Message Unknown Error Occurred FAIL Production Software Download TestnFTP Download endif TABLE 12 MACRO Shutdown MAC De initialize equipment turn the power off Power OFF TABLE 13 BOARDS H16B 1023 H362 3MR1 3MR1 BoardName HC1A 3MR1 ProgramFile 3MR1 PRG MacroDir MACRO ProgramDir PROGRAMS RequireRevision YES TABLE 14 Programmable Device Database Excerpt H16B 1023 H362 002A IC34 OptBd LAT OSFE F97D H16B 1023 H362 002A IC3 C4 OptBd FTP 0A93 C5F4 US 6 453 435 B1 35 TABLE 15 LAttice Configuration File OptBd LAT 1032E pv prgdevs 7503H999 jed TABLE 16 FTP Configuration File OptBd FTP FLM APU2 Flash Download Connect Host 167 254 122 136 User none Passwd none Transfer LocalFile c HostSoft 7503h095 1zs RemoteFile fl IL ap lzs TABLE 17 Macro File Excerpt Command Group A If SampleBase 1 Command Group B EndIf What is claimed is 1 An apparatus comprising a test station which includes a coupling portion operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of said test station to a unit to be tested a memory portion which stores a program and a test file said test file containing a test definition which specifies at least one test operation to be carried out by said test station
84. on and through which an operator can communicate information to said test station and wherein said test defi nition causes said processor portion to communicate one of said manual steps by displaying a request for an operator to provide specified input information through said input por tion 19 An apparatus according to claim 15 wherein said series of manual steps includes each manual step required of an operator in order to carry out said test definition 20 An apparatus comprising a test station which includes a coupling portion operable to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of said test station to a unit to be tested an output portion through which information can be communicated to an operator said output portion including a video display a memory portion which stores a test definition and processor portion operatively coupled to said coupling portion said memory portion and said output portion said processor portion being operative in response to said test definition to display on said video display a graphic depiction of how to perform a manual step required by said test definition 21 An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein said test definition causes said processor portion to display in con junction with said graphic depiction a predetermined alpha numeric message 22 An apparatus according to claim 20 including an input portion which is operatively coupled to said processor portion and throu
85. on of test definitions and or which automates the selection of information that is to be programmed into a programmable part on a unit under test According to one form of the present invention a tech nique is provided to address this need and involves a test station which includes a coupling portion operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of the test station to a unit to be tested a memory portion which stores a program and a test file the test file containing a test definition which specifies at least one test operation to be carried out by the test station through the coupling portion the test definition being in the form of at least one command which is in an operator perceptible uncompiled format and a processor portion operatively coupled to the memory portion and the coupling portion the processor portion being operative to execute the program and the program causing the processor portion to process commands in the test file in an interpretive manner so as to cause the test definition to be carried out Another form of the invention involves a test station which includes a coupling portion operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of the test station to a unit to be tested a memory portion which stores a program and a test definition the test definition including a first portion and a second portion the first portion specifying a first test operation to be carried out by the test station through
86. operative to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of the test station to a test unit which has indicia thereon a reader portion which can read the indicia on the unit and a control portion which is operatively coupled to the coupling portion and the reader portion the control portion being responsive to information obtained through the reader portion for carrying out through the coupling portion at least one operation which is selected as a function of the information BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A better understanding of the present invention will be realized from the detailed description which follows taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus which includes an automated test system that embodies the present inven tion FIG 2 is a block diagram of part of a directory structure for a hard disk which is a component of the test system of FIG 1 FIG 3 is a diagrammatic view of a main screen provided on a visual display which is a component of the test system of FIG 1 10 15 20 25 30 35 50 55 60 65 4 FIG 4 is a flowchart showing a sequence of operations carried out by the test system of FIG 1 FIG 5 is a diagrammatic view of a display screen similar to the screen of FIG 3 but showing an operator log in operation FIG 6 is a diagrammatic view of a display screen which includes a window presenting both a graphic image and
87. orney Agent or Firm Baker Botts L L P 57 ABSTRACT A test station is provided to test a circuit board unit The test station includes a disk drive storing uncompiled files which are interpretatively processed in order to carry out test operations A bar code reader can scan a label on the unit in order to accurately identify the unit The label information can be used to ensure accurate programming of any pro grammable devices on the unit and accurate selection of the correct test definition files for the unit Step by step instruc tions can be provided to an operator regarding every manual act required during a test definition and can include a graphic image of each such manual act The test station can have two different test modes where at least one command of the test definition is carried out for one mode but not the other The test station has a debug mode which includes capabilities for breakpoints step mode dynamic alteration of test definitions and dynamic observation and alteration of variables 27 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets WORKSTATION I I I I 11 I NETWORK 1 lt KEYBOARD 1 DATABASE FILE NETWORK 11 1 A INTERFACE PROCESSOR 16 i ARCHIVE FILE PRINTER 24 11221 HARD DISK MOUSE MAS ADRESS TILE p TEST m TEST ni 8 78 FG 2 76 67 sedeo i STATION STATION N SERIAL 3 i GPIB ETHERNET PARALLEL PORT DIGITAL N TEST STATION I
88. ower is too high endif if OpticalPower 15 0 Fail Optical Power Test nThe Optical power is too low endif Pass Optical Power Test TABLE 7 MACRO MeasureOpticalPower MAC define MeasureOPticalPwer return float value int error string TestName TestName GetTestName what test is now running Gpibo 712 READ POWER Notify instrument of read value GpibVi 712 read power from instrument Gpibo 712 SYSTEM ERROR ask instrument re errors error Gpibsi 712 if error 0 string failmsg 33 TABLE 7 continued MACRO MeasureOpticalPower MAC sprintf failmsg TestName nThere was an error while reading the power supply Fail failmsg endif return value TABLE 8 MACRO PhysicalInventoryCheck MAC load external library to do cpu intensive work loadmodule PhyInv LIB call the module with the UUT connector name int result result phyinv 1 W if result 1 Fail Physical Inventory TestinThe physical inventory is not correct else Pass Physical Inventory Test endif TABLE 9 US 6 453 435 B1 10 15 20 25 MACRO MemoryTest MAC load external library to do cpu intensive work loadmodule MemTest LIB int result string failmsg Call the module with teh UUT connector name Pass variable failmsg for return of failure data result memtest 1 W failmsg if result 1 string failstr srintf failstr Memory Access Test
89. ror Then the processor 111 on the UUT 13 uses the checksum information from the database Table 14 to verify that the download of information into the lattice device 113 has been accurately and successfully completed The macro of Table 5 receives a return value from the command which effected the firmware download and the macro checks the return value in order to determine whether the download was successful Control then returns to the PRG file of Table 2 which calls the OpticalPowerTest MAC macro of Table 6 This macro in turn calls the MeasureOpticalPower MAC macro of Table 7 which interacts with the optical power meter instrument 86 FIG 1 so as to carry out an optical power measurement The results are then evaluated and control ultimately returns to the PRG file of Table 2 Then the 3MR1 PRG file of Table 2 carries out a com mand which displays a message telling the operator to Connect the optical cables as shown in the picture while simultaneously displaying a picture showing how to do this The displayed picture is obtained from the bit map graphics file Optical BMP which is one of the BMP files located in the HostSoft subdirectory 133 FIG 2 In more detail and as shown in FIG 6 the system superimposes a special window 226 over part of the main screen 146 the upper portion of the window 226 being a direct display of the Optical BMP file and the lower portion of the window containing the specified message at
90. rough the GPIB interface 81 The windows 312 and 313 each appear when the Tools Menu is used to toggle the associated feature ON and each disappear when the Tools Menu is used to toggle the associated feature OFF Logging of data to a log file in the LogFiles subdirectory 140 FIG 2 is not permitted when the system is operating in the debug mode Accordingly if logging is enabled when the operator turns on the debug mode the system will automatically suppress logging so long as the debug mode is enabled and will then automatically resume logging as soon as the debug mode is disabled As discussed above the drop down list 167 for the Print Mode determines whether information will be printed at all and if so whether all appropriate information will be printed or only that information associated with errors In this regard information which is considered appropriate to print includes all information which is sent to a log file if logging is enabled and the information which is shown in workspace 151 of FIG 7 In the foregoing discussion of how the PRG and MAC files of Tables 2 12 are interpreted it was explained that 1t is possible for these uncompiled files to load and initiate execution of a compiled file such as the library routines PhyInv LIB and MemTest LIB In a similar manner it is possible for these uncompiled files to load and run a com piled Dynamic Link Library DLL file which is one of the types of files stored in the
91. sult Receives a string from the specified serial port and compares it to compare If there is a match then message is displayed Parameters port Serial communications port from which to receive a string compare Expected String value message Generic message result Generic result RS232SU port compare lt message gt lt result gt Waits for a string from the specified serial port and compares it to compare Execution will not continue until there is a match If a time out occurs and result F or A then message will be displayed If there is a match and result P then message will be displayed Parameters port Serial communication port from which to receive a string compare Expected string value message Generic message result Generic result RS232SXI port message A string up to a line is read from the specified serial port If the specified message has a tilde the tilde in the message is replaced with the string and the message is displayed Parameters port Serial communication port from which to receive a string message Message to be displayed RS232V1 port range lt message gt lt result gt Receives a value from the specified serial port and compares it to range If a value within range is received then message will be displayed Parameters port Serial commu
92. t Loop macro name Interprets a macro in a continuous loop The start button will change labels to Stop Loop during execution of this command Clicking the Stop Loop button stops the loop Useful for repair debugging purposes Parameters macro name Name of a macro to interpret in a loop 27 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS Macro lt MacroName gt This command loads an edi itor for editing the specified macro or for creating the macro if it doesn t already exist Para lt MacroName gt meters Name of macro file to be edited or created MacroDir lt dirName gt Changes the directory from which macros are processed Each board has Parameters lt dirName gt its own macro directory Name of the directory to switch to for executing macros Optional Specifying no directory will return the current directory MacSplit lt SplitString gt Specifies the string that will separate the different octets of the MAC address For example the MAC address octects are separated by periods in response to the command MacSplit lt SplitString gt Parameters The string used to split the octects MacAssign lt Number gt Assign a number of MAC addresses specified by Number to the active part number serial number combination See the SelectMacro for selecting the active board part number serial number etc Parameters lt Number gt Number of MAC address
93. t identifier gt lt variable name gt ters Identifier for search Name of variable to hold checksum information GetBoardCount Returns the number of boards that are currently being tested This number is determined by the number of boards that have been scanned using the Serial command or the norma scan No parameters Getchar lt string gt lt position gt Returns the character al the specified position in the specified string Parameters lt string gt String to retrieve the character from lt position gt An index identifying the position of the character in the string where the first character is 07 If this number is greater than the string length the function will return the number e GetChecksum IC name gt Returns the checksum for the specified IC name This function looks up the record in the programmable parts database according to its part number revision number and the IC name Parameters IC name GetSerialNum index Name of IC for checksum Returns the serial number of the board that is referred to by the index Parameters 25 TABLE 1 continued MACRO COMMANDS Index of the board to retrieve the serial number from GetStringAt lt string gt lt pos gt Returns a copy of the string at the offset position Parameters lt index gt lt string gt String to copy the text from lt pos gt Zero based index position indicating where
94. the coupling portion and the second portion specifying a second test operation to be carried out by the test station through the coupling portion and a processor portion operatively coupled to the memory portion and the coupling portion the processor portion being operative to execute the program wherein the program causes the processor portion to permit an operator to selectively specify one of a first operational US 6 453 435 B1 3 mode and a second operational mode and causes the pro cessor portion to access and process the test definition wherein in the first operational mode the processor portion processes both the first portion and the second portion of the test definition so as to carry out both of the first and second test operations and wherein in the second operational mode the processor portion processes only the first portion of the test definition to the exclusion of the second portion thereof so as to carry out only the first test operation without the second test operation Yet another form of the invention involves a test station which includes a coupling portion operable to facilitate a detachable operative coupling of the test station to a unit to be tested an output portion through which information can be communicated to an operator a memory portion which stores a test definition and a processor portion operatively coupled to the coupling portion the memory portion and the output portion the processor portion
95. tus according to claim 5 wherein said program causes said processor portion to permit an operator to selectively change said variable 7 An apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said variable contains information received by said processor 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 36 portion through said coupling portion during interpretative processing of said test definition 8 An apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said variable contains information received by said processor portion through said coupling portion during interpretative processing of said test definition 9 An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said program causes said processor portion to permit an operator to selectively specify one said command in said test file as a breakpoint so that when said processor portion thereafter encounters said one command during said interpretative processing said processor portion automatically halts said interpretative processing 10 An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said memory portion stores a further file containing a further test definition which specifies at least one test operation to be carried out by said test station through said coupling portion said further test definition being in the form of at least one command which is in an operator perceptible uncompiled format and wherein said test file includes a predetermined command which causes said processor portion to interr
96. upt interpretative processing of said test definition in said test file to interpretively process said further test definition in said further file and to then resume interpretative processing of said test definition in said test file at a point following said predetermined command 11 An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said memory portion includes a further file containing a further test definition which is compiled and which specifies at least one test operation to be carried out by said test station through said coupling portion said test file including a predetermined command which causes said processor por tion to interrupt interpretative processing of said test defi nition in said test file to process said further test definition in a non interpretative manner and to then resume interpre tative processing of said test definition in said test file at a point immediately following said predetermined command 12 An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said test definition in said test file includes first and second commands wherein said program is operative to cause said processor portion to operate in one of a first mode and a second mode selected by an operator wherein in said first mode said processor portion interpretatively processes each of said first and second commands and wherein in said second mode said processor portion interpretatively pro cesses one of said first and second commands to the exclu sion of th
97. ut Value Parameters macro name The name of the macro which is being defined var type The type of a local variable to be passed to or returned by the macro var name The name of a local variable to be passed to or returned by the macro Delete variable Deletes a variable that was created earlier with int char float string or pointer Parameters variable Variable name contained in quotes for example Delete Checksum Delay seconds Delays execution for the specified number of seconds Parameters seconds DO address byte Outputs a byte to a digital I O port Parameters Delay time interval in seconds address Address of the digital port to write the byte to byte Eight bit hex value to be written to the port DOPE address Digital Output Port Emulator This command is designed to ease the digital single bit output when using the DBO command where the actual hardware output port does not allow read back For an output that does not allow read back first process the command DOPE 300 and then later DBO 300 2 1 sets bit 2 of port 300 to a 1 DOPE simply creates a char type variable uses it to set the specified bit while not destroying other bits when the command DBO is interpreted and then writes the full contents of this variable to the output Parameters address Output port address DPI address lt pattern gt mask gt message gt lt result
98. vel of power consumption of the UUT 13 and then evaluates this current level of power consumption Thereafter the PRG file of Table 2 calls a production software download macro ProdSoftwareDownload MAC which is shown iii Table 11 This macro effects program ming of the flash memory 112 on the UUT 13 using a file transfer protocol FTP download This is carried out in a manner which in general is similar to the above described sequence by which the lattice device 113 is programmed In brief the system takes the board part number the board revision number if any and the identifier IC3 IC4 obtained from the macro of Table 11 and searches the database of Table 14 If necessary the database in the server 16 is also searched When a match is found the system obtains the name of an FTP configuration file such as OptBd FTP and two checksum values The system retrieves the FTP configuration file OptBd FTP from the HostSoft subdirectory 133 the exemplary contents of which are shown in Table 16 The information in this FTP configuration file includes parameters which will control the FTP transfer as well as a path identifying a binary file which is to be downloaded into the flash memory 112 The system then transfers the binary file to the proces sor 111 which programs it into the flash memory 112 From the point of view of the calling macro file the primary difference between the commands which respectively pro gram the latti
99. y more complex and sophisticated Consequently in order to accurately test these electronic circuit boards more and more sophisticated techniques have been required In particular circuit board manufacturers have decreased the use of manual testing techniques in favor of automated and computerized testing techniques A result ing problem is the efficient development of test definitions which are stored by the test system and which are then automatically carried out in order to effect testing A traditional approach has been to prepare a custom computer program which implements a test definition and to then compile the program into an executable object code file which is executed in order to carry out the required sequence of test operations While this approach has been generally adequate for its intended purposes it has not been entirely satisfactory in all respects For example in order to prepare a test definition a test developer must be highly proficient in a sophisticated computer programming lan guage such as assembly language and there is thus a steep learning curve and a significant amount of training required in order for a person to obtain the minimum skills required to develop even a simple test definition Further each test definition may require the development of auxiliary routines such as special low level instrument drivers spe cial data logging routines and so forth Different test devel opers may prefer different

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