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:
Dec. 09, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 10, 1992
Kevin W Keirn, Loveland, CO (US);
David T Crook, Loveland, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is a system that determines whether input and output pins of semiconductor components are present and properly soldered to a circuit assembly. The system includes an oscillator which is connected to a probe that is brought into contact with a circuit assembly wiring trace soldered to the pin being tested. A conductive electrode is placed on top of the component and connected to a capacitance measuring circuit. The oscillator signal is capacitively coupled through the integrated circuit package to the pin being tested, so if capacitance is measured by the capacitance measuring device, the pin is connected to the circuit assembly. An amplifier may be connected to the conductive electrode to amplify the signal, and a segmented probe may be used to isolate individual pins. The probe may be shielded, and unused pins may be grounded.