Web-enabled controller for impedance tuner systems
First Claim
1. A web-enabled electronic controller for controlling an impedance tuner in an RF measurement system, the impedance tuner including an RF signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for controlling the impedance presented by the signal transmission line, the web-enabled controller comprising;
- an electronic processor configured to process external command signals and generate electronic control signals to configure the impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner in response to the command signals;
an electronic memory for storing sets of data and one or more web pages;
a communication server with an Internet Protocol (IP) address, the server supporting HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication and configured to receive or send signals through a TCP/IP communication channel from or to a client computer system;
the communication server configured on said IP address to be responsive to an HTTP request message from a client computer system to send a response comprising the web page to the client computer system;
the controller configured to process commands received from the client computer system through the communication server into the electronic control signals and to control the impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner during a measurement or calibration process conducted by the RF measurement system, and wherein during the measurement or calibration process first and second input/output ports of the impedance tuner connected to the RF signal transmission line are connected to at least one of the DUT, a signal source, a termination, a network analyzer or equipment, and the RF measurement system is configured during a measurement process to measure characteristics of a device under test (DUT) connected to the RF measurement system by sampling and measuring signals applied to and coming from the DUT.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for controlling an impedance tuner system. In one embodiment, a web-enabled electronic controller controls an impedance tuner system including a signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for affecting the impedance presented by the signal transmission line. The controller has a communication port, and an electronic processor configured to process external command signals and generate electronic control signals to configure the impedance-varying system in response to the command signals. An electronic memory stores sets of data and one or more web pages. The controller has a communication server and is configured to receive or send signals through a communication channel from or to a client computer system. The communication server is configured to be responsive to a request message from a client computer system to send a response comprising a web page to the client computer system. The controller processes commands received from the client computer system into the electronic control signals.
An exemplary embodiment of a method for controlling an impedance tuner system includes providing a web-enabled controller having a communication server, storing web pages on the controller, sending a client request to the communication server from a client computer through a communication channel, in response to the client request, sending the web page to the client computer from the impedance tuner system through the communication channel, entering user commands through the web page and transmitting signals representing the user commands to the tuner controller, and processing the user commands by the tuner controller to provide tuner drive signals to set the tuner to a state determined by the user commands.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A web-enabled electronic controller for controlling an impedance tuner in an RF measurement system, the impedance tuner including an RF signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for controlling the impedance presented by the signal transmission line, the web-enabled controller comprising;
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an electronic processor configured to process external command signals and generate electronic control signals to configure the impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner in response to the command signals; an electronic memory for storing sets of data and one or more web pages; a communication server with an Internet Protocol (IP) address, the server supporting HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication and configured to receive or send signals through a TCP/IP communication channel from or to a client computer system; the communication server configured on said IP address to be responsive to an HTTP request message from a client computer system to send a response comprising the web page to the client computer system; the controller configured to process commands received from the client computer system through the communication server into the electronic control signals and to control the impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner during a measurement or calibration process conducted by the RF measurement system, and wherein during the measurement or calibration process first and second input/output ports of the impedance tuner connected to the RF signal transmission line are connected to at least one of the DUT, a signal source, a termination, a network analyzer or equipment, and the RF measurement system is configured during a measurement process to measure characteristics of a device under test (DUT) connected to the RF measurement system by sampling and measuring signals applied to and coming from the DUT. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for controlling an impedance tuner system, comprising:
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providing a web-enabled controller, having a communication server with an Internet Protocol (IP) address; connecting an impedance tuner in an RF measurement system to provide a measurement or calibration test setup, the impedance tuner including an RF signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for controlling the impedance presented to a device under test (DUT) connected in the RF measurement system for sampling and measuring signals applied to or coming from the DUT in the measurement test setup, the impedance tuner including first and second input/output ports each configured for connection to the DUT or equipment comprising the RF measurement system; the web-enabled controller configured to generate tuner drive signals to control the electronically-controllable impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner; storing web pages on the controller or memory associated with the controller; sending an HTTP client request to the IP address of the communication server from a client computer through a TCP/IP communication channel; in response to the client request, sending the web page to the client computer from the controller through the TCP/IP communication channel; entering user commands through the web page and transmitting signals representing the user commands to the tuner controller; processing the user commands to provide the tuner drive signals to set the impedance tuner to a state determined by the user commands. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An impedance tuner system for controlling an impedance in a calibration test setup or presented to a device under test (DUT) in a measurement test setup, comprising:
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a housing structure; first and second input/output ports each configured for connection to at least one of the DUT, a signal source, a termination, a network analyzer or other equipment in the measurement or calibration setup; an RF signal transmission line disposed within the housing structure and connected between the first and second input/output ports; an impedance-varying system disposed in the housing structure and coupled to the signal transmission line for affecting the impedance presented by the signal transmission line, the impedance-varying system including at least one electrically controllable component in response to electronic control signals; a tuner communication port; a web-enabled system controller integrated with the tuner and disposed in the tuner housing, including; an electronic processor configured to process external command signals received through the tuner communication port and generate the electronic control signals to configure the impedance-varying system in response to the command signals; an electronic memory for storing sets of data and a web page having an embedded application program; an IP client configured to obtain or have an Internet Protocol (IP) address; a communication server configured on the IP address, the server supporting HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication and configured to receive or send signals through a TCP/IP communication channel from or to a client computer system; the communication server configured to be responsive to an HTTP request message from a client computer system to send a response comprising the web page to the client computer system; the controller configured to process commands received from the client computer system through the communication server into the electronic control signals. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for controlling an impedance tuner system, comprising:
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providing an RF measurement system, the system including a web-enabled impedance tuner system, having an integrated controller with an integrated DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) client configured to request a valid Internet Protocol (IP) address from a network DCHP server, the impedance tuner including an RF signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for controlling the impedance presented by the RF signal transmission line in a a calibration test setup or to a device under test (DUT) connected to the RF measurement system in a measurement test setup, the impedance tuner including first and second input/output ports each configured for connection to at least one of the DUT, a signal source, a termination, a network analyzer or other equipment in the measurement or calibration test setup; storing web pages on the impedance tuner with an embedded applet having a tuner system graphical user interface; sending an HTTP client request to the IP address from a client computer through a TCP/IP communication channel; in response to the client request, sending the web page with the embedded applet to the client computer from the impedance tuner using HTTP protocol; running the applet on the client computer and entering user commands via the graphical user interface, the applet converting the user commands to text-based protocol command signals; opening a second communication channel and transmitting the text-based protocol command signals on the second communication channel; receiving the text-based protocol signals at the controller of the impedance tuner and processing the text-based protocol signals to provide tuner drive signals to set the impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner to a state determined by the text-based protocol signals. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A web-enabled electronic controller for controlling an impedance tuner including an RF signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for affecting the impedance presented by the signal transmission line in an RF measurement system connected to a device under test (DUT) for measuring characteristics of the DUT, the web-enabled controller comprising;
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an electronic processor coupled to the impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner configured to process external command signals and generate electronic control signals to the impedance-varying system to configure the impedance-varying system and control the impedance presented by the impedance tuner in response to the command signals; an electronic memory for storing sets of data and one or more web pages; a communication server configured to receive or send signals through a communication channel from or to a client computer system; the communication server configured to be responsive to a request message from a client computer system to send a response comprising the web page to the client computer system using the communication channel; and wherein, with first and second input/output ports of the impedance tuner each connected to at least one of the DUT, a signal source, a termination, a network analyzer or other equipment in a measurement or calibration setup, the controller is configured to process commands received from the client computer system into the electronic control signals to set the impedance tuner to a state determined by the commands. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for controlling an impedance tuner system, comprising:
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providing a web-enabled controller, having a communication server; connecting an impedance tuner in an RF measurement system to provide a measurement or calibration test setup, the impedance tuner including an RF signal transmission line and an electronically-controllable impedance-varying system coupled to the signal transmission line for controlling the impedance presented by the signal transmission line in the calibration test setup or, with a device under test (DUT) connected in the measurement test setup for measurement of characteristics of the DUT, the impedance tuner including first and second input/output ports each configured for connection to at least one of the DUT, a signal source, a termination, a network analyzer or other equipment in the RF measurement system; configuring the web-enabled controller to control the electronically-controllable impedance-varying system of the impedance tuner system; storing web pages on the controller or memory associated with the controller; sending a client request to the communication server from a client computer through a communication channel; in response to the client request, sending the web page to the client computer from the controller through the communication channel; entering user commands through the web page and transmitting signals representing the user commands to the tuner controller; processing the user commands to provide tuner drive signals to set the tuner to a state determined by the user commands. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification