The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 16, 1991
Filed:
Jun. 19, 1989
Kamran Firooz, Loveland, CO (US);
Vance Harwood, Loveland, CO (US);
Sharon LaTourrette, Loveland, CO (US);
Jay Stepleton, Vitthoorn, NL;
Matt Snook, Loveland, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a circuit board tester for performing functional and in-circuit tests on one or more circuit boards. The circuit board tester includes a testhead for interfacing with one or more circuit boards and supplying the resources for the testing thereof. The testhead includes a plurality of modules with each module having a defined amount of resources and a processor for use in executing a test plan to test the circuit board. The circuit board tester further includes a high-speed link for coordinating the execution of a test plan by two or more modules when the resources of one module are insufficient to test a particular circuit board. Each module in the testhead can be selectively connected or disconnected from the high-speed link. Consequently, two or more modules can be connected to the high-speed link to test a first circuit board while another module, that is disconnected from the high-speed link, can concurrently test a second circuit board. The circuit board tester also, preferably, includes a controller that determines whether the resources of more than one module are required to test a particular circuit board and generates a test plan accordingly.