Test communication protocol
First Claim
1. A test system comprising:
- instrument modules to control testing of one or more devices under test;
an Ethernet-based communication network; and
a computing system configured to broadcast, periodically, control packets over the Ethernet-based communication network to the instrument modules, a control packet comprising data representing sequence numbers of last data packets received from the instrument modules and information based on each sequence number, the control packet comprising slots for all of the instrument modules, each slot containing the data that is specific to one of the instrument modules and each slot being indexed based on an identifier for the one of the instrument modules;
the computing system also being configured to receive, via unicast and over the Ethernet-based communication network, an acknowledgement packet from each of the instrument modules in response to the control packet, the acknowledgement packet comprising repair information that is based on the control packet received by the instrument module from the computing system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An example method includes broadcasting periodically, from a computing system, control packets over a network to instrument modules, where a control packet includes data representing sequence numbers of last data packets received from the instrument modules and information based on the sequence numbers, and the control packet includes slots for all of the instrument modules, with each slot containing the data that is specific to one of the instrument modules. The example method also includes receiving, at the computing system and in response to the control packet, via unicast and over the network, an acknowledgement packet from each of the instrument modules, where the acknowledgement packet includes repair information that is based on a broadcast control packet received by the instrument module from the computing system.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A test system comprising:
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instrument modules to control testing of one or more devices under test; an Ethernet-based communication network; and a computing system configured to broadcast, periodically, control packets over the Ethernet-based communication network to the instrument modules, a control packet comprising data representing sequence numbers of last data packets received from the instrument modules and information based on each sequence number, the control packet comprising slots for all of the instrument modules, each slot containing the data that is specific to one of the instrument modules and each slot being indexed based on an identifier for the one of the instrument modules; the computing system also being configured to receive, via unicast and over the Ethernet-based communication network, an acknowledgement packet from each of the instrument modules in response to the control packet, the acknowledgement packet comprising repair information that is based on the control packet received by the instrument module from the computing system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method, performed on automatic test equipment, of communicating between a computing system and instrument modules, the method comprising:
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broadcasting periodically, from the computing system, control packets over an Ethernet-based communication network to the instrument modules, a control packet comprising data representing sequence numbers of last data packets received from the instrument modules and information based on the sequence numbers, the control packet comprising slots for all of the instrument modules, each slot containing the data that is specific to one of the instrument modules and each slot being indexed based on an identifier for the one of the instrument modules; and receiving, at the computing system and in response to the control packet, via unicast and over the Ethernet-based communication network, an acknowledgement packet from each of the instrument modules, the acknowledgement packet comprising repair information that is based on a broadcast control packet received by the instrument module from the computing system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification