SIGNAL TESTING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD

• US 20100295552A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: LI, SHEN-CHUN, HSU, SHOU-KUO
• Granted Patent: US 8,242,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/537
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2808 Holding, conveying or contacting devices, e.g. test adapters, edge connectors, extender boards probe, multiprobe, probe manipulator or probe fixture G01R1/067

Abstract

A signal testing method of a printed circuit board (PCB) applies a robot arm and an oscilloscope to test the PCB. The method controls the robot arm to move to test points of electronic signals of the PCB. The method further controls the oscilloscope connected to the robot arm to measure the electronic signals.

Claims

1. A signal testing system of a printed circuit board (PCB), the signal testing system electronically connected to a robot arm and an oscilloscope, the robot arm electronically connected to the oscilloscope, the signal testing system comprising:

a parameter setting module operable to set test parameters of the PCB, the test parameters comprising electronic components of the PCB to be tested, electronic signals of each of the electronic components to be tested, test points of each of the electronic signals, coordinates of each of the test points in a first coordinate system of the PCB, and test items of each of the electronic signals;

a correcting module operable to correct an initial position of the robot arm;

a transforming module operable to determine a transformational relationship between the first coordinate system of the PCB and a second coordinate system of the robot arm;

a testing module operable to transform the coordinates of the test points of each of the electronic signals in the first coordinate system into coordinates of the test points of the electronic signal in the second coordinate system according to the transformational relationship between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system;

the testing module further operable to control the robot arm to move to the test points of each of the electronic signals according to the coordinates of the test points in the second coordinate system, and control the oscilloscope to measure the test items of the electronic signal; and

the testing module further operable to receive measured values of the test items from the oscilloscope, and store the measured values into a storage system of the signal testing system.

2. The signal testing system of claim 1, further comprising:

an analyzing module operable to analyze the measured values, and store the analysis result into the storage system.

3. The signal testing system of claim 1, wherein the correcting module corrects the initial position of the robot arm via a robot arm controller, and the testing module controls the robot arm to move to the test points of the electronic signal via the robot arm controller.

4. The signal testing system of claim 1, wherein the transforming module calculates a transition matrix from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system to represent the transformational relationship between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system.

5. The signal testing system of claim 4, wherein the testing module multiplies the coordinates of the test points of the electronic signal in the first coordinate system by the transition matrix to obtain the coordinates of the test points of the electronic signal in the second coordinate system.

6. The signal testing system of claim 1, wherein the test points include via holes, pads, and pins in the PCB.

7. A signal testing method of a printed circuit board (PCB), the method comprising:

(a) setting test parameters of the PCB, the test parameters comprising electronic components of the PCB to be tested, electronic signals of each of the electronic components to be tested, test points of each of the electronic signals, coordinates of each of the test points in a first coordinate system of the PCB, and test items of each of the electronic signals;

(b) correcting an initial position of a robot arm that is used to move to the test points;

(c) determining a transformational relationship between the first coordinate system of the PCB and a second coordinate system of the robot arm;

(d) selecting one of the electronic components;

(e) selecting one of the electronic signals of the selected electronic component;

(f) transforming the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the first coordinate system into coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the second coordinate system according to the transformational relationship between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system;

(g) controlling the robot arm to move to the test points of the selected electronic signal according to the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the second coordinate system;

(h) controlling an oscilloscope connected to the robot arm to measure the test items of the selected electronic signal;

(i) receiving measured values of the test items of the selected electronic signal from the oscilloscope, and storing the measured values into a storage system;

(j) repeating block (e) to block (i) until all electronic signals of the selected electronic component that have been selected; and

(k) repeating block (d) to block (i) until all electronic components of the PCB that have been selected.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

analyzing the measured values and storing the analysis result into the storage system after storing the measured values into the storage system in block (i).

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the initial position of the robot arm is corrected via a robot arm controller, and the robot arm is controlled to move to the test points of the selected electronic signal via the robot arm controller.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the transformational relationship between the first coordinate system of the PCB and a second coordinate system of the robot arm is represented as a transition matrix from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the second coordinate system is obtained by multiplying the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the first coordinate system by the transition matrix.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the test points include via holes, pads, and pins in the PCB.

13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computerized device, cause the computerized device to execute a method for testing signals of a printed circuit board (PCB), the method comprising:

(a) setting test parameters of the PCB, the test parameters comprising electronic components of the PCB to be tested, electronic signals of each of the electronic components to be tested, test points of each of the electronic signals, coordinates of each of the test points in a first coordinate system of the PCB, and test items of each of the electronic signals;

(b) correcting an initial position of a robot arm that is used to move to the test points;

(c) determining a transformational relationship between the first coordinate system of the PCB and a second coordinate system of the robot arm;

(d) selecting one of the electronic components;

(e) selecting one of the electronic signals of the selected electronic component;

(f) transforming the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the first coordinate system into coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the second coordinate system according to the transformational relationship between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system;

(g) controlling the robot arm to move to the test points of the selected electronic signal according to the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the second coordinate system;

(h) controlling an oscilloscope connected to the robot arm to measure the test items of the selected electronic signal;

(i) receiving measured values of the test items of the selected electronic signal from the oscilloscope, and storing the measured values into a storage system;

(j) repeating block (e) to block (i) until all electronic signals of the selected electronic component that have been selected; and

(k) repeating block (d) to block (i) until all electronic components of the PCB that have been selected.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

analyzing the measured values and storing the analysis result into the storage system after storing the measured values into the storage system in block (i).

15. The medium of claim 13, wherein the initial position of the robot arm is corrected via a robot arm controller, and the robot arm is controlled to move to the test points of the selected electronic signal via the robot arm controller.

16. The medium of claim 13, wherein the transformational relationship between the first coordinate system of the PCB and a second coordinate system of the robot arm is represented as a transition matrix from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system.

17. The medium of claim 16, wherein the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the second coordinate system is obtained by multiplying the coordinates of the test points of the selected electronic signal in the first coordinate system by the transition matrix.

18. The medium of claim 13, wherein the test points include via holes, pads, and pins in the PCB.