Method and system for performing embedded diagnostic application at subassembly and component level

• US 20080088325A1
• Filed: 09/01/2006
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Murray, David W., Thanh, Kim Chung Thi
• Application Number:
  US11/515,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20080088325A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/754
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2836 Fault-finding or characterising G01R31/2822 - G01R31/2831 take precedence

Abstract

A method for performing a diagnostic test on a piece of equipment comprises performing a component level diagnostic test on the piece of equipment, the component level diagnostic test employing a component-level model of the piece of equipment; using the results of the component-level diagnostic test to determine whether a faulty component of the piece of equipment can be identified; and, if the component-level diagnostic test identifies a faulty component, then performing a sub-component level diagnostic test on the identified faulty sub-component, the sub-component level diagnostic test employing a sub-component level model of the identified failed component.

Claims

1. An embedded diagnostic apparatus for performing diagnostic tests on a piece of equipment, the piece of equipment including a plurality of components, the apparatus embedded within the piece of equipment and comprising:

a component level model of the piece of equipment;

a component-level diagnostic agent that utilizes the component level model for running a diagnostic against the piece of equipment to identify a faulty component;

a sub-component-level model of the identified faulty component; and

a sub-component-level diagnostic agent for running a diagnostic against the identified faulty component.

2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the component-level diagnostic agent includes a test library of functions for the piece of equipment

3. An apparatus as recited in claim 2, further comprising an environment file for controlling test variables of the test library of functions.

4. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the components each include a fault report store; and

the apparatus further comprises a reporter for entering a fault report into the fault report store of the identified faulty component.

5. An apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the fault report stores each include an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).

6. A method for performing a diagnostic test on a piece of equipment which includes an embedded diagnostic apparatus, the method comprising:

the embedded diagnostic apparatus performing a component level diagnostic test on the piece of equipment, the component level diagnostic test employing a component-level model of the piece of equipment;

the embedded diagnostic apparatus using the results of the component-level diagnostic test to determine whether a faulty component of the piece of equipment can be identified;

if the component-level diagnostic test identifies a faulty component, then the embedded diagnostic apparats performing a sub-component level diagnostic test on the identified faulty sub-component, the sub-component level diagnostic test employing a sub-component level model of the identified failed component.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

replacing a faulty component that was identified using the results of the component-level diagnostic test; and

the embedded diagnostic apparatus performing an equipment-level diagnostic test on the piece of equipment after the faulty component is replaced.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein:

the embedded diagnostic apparatus includes failure report stores residing on respective components of the piece of equipment; and

the method further comprises;

the embedded diagnostic apparatus entering a failure report describing the faulty component into a failure report store of the identified faulty component; and

analyzing the faulty component separately from the piece of equipment.

9. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

the embedded diagnostic apparatus generating a component-level model of the piece of equipment; and

the embedded diagnostic apparatus employing the component-level model in the performing a component-level diagnostic test.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

the embedded diagnostic apparatus generating sub-component-level models of the sub-components of the respective components; and

the embedded diagnostic apparatus employing the component-level model in the performing a component-level diagnostic test.