Methods and systems for automated real time continuous waveform electrical property monitoring and status reporting
First Claim
1. A method for performing an integrated waveform analysis without the use of an external device, said method comprising:
- receiving, by a quality waveform analysis module including a processing device, at least one electrical waveform associated with an electrical signal communicated from a first line replaceable unit (LRU) to a second LRU across a communications bus;
extracting, by the quality waveform analysis module, a plurality of real time parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples relative to time of the at least one electrical waveform, wherein the real time parametric measurements are associated with a signal quality of the electrical signal and comprise one or more of the following waveform signal characteristics;
frequency, peak voltage, rise times, and fall times;
comparing, by the quality waveform analysis module, the extracted real time parametric measurements to expected waveform parametric measurements for the communications bus proximate at least one of system interfaces, hardware components, and interconnections associated with the communications bus;
processing, by the quality waveform analysis module, differences between the extracted real time parametric measurements and the expected waveform parametric measurements to determine whether a failure mode exists on the communications bus;
when the failure mode is determined to exist, identifying, by the quality waveform analysis module, whether a system interconnection degradation or a hardware failure caused the failure mode based on the processed differences between the real time and expected waveform parametric measurements; and
displaying, via the quality waveform analysis module, a signal quality status indicator based on at least one of said processing and said identifying, wherein the signal quality status indicator represents the signal quality for the electrical signal and includes one or more of the following indications;
the extracted parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are consistent with the expected waveform parametric measurements and no failure mode has been detected,the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of the waveform voltage samples are indicative of a system interconnection degradation between at least one of the first and second LRUs and the communications bus being the cause of the failure mode, andthe failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are indicative of a hardware failure of at least one of the first and second LRUs being the cause of the failure mode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for performing an integrated waveform analysis without the use of an external device is disclosed. The method includes receiving, at a processing device, at least one electrical waveform associated with a communications bus, extracting, with the processing device a plurality of real time parametric measurements of voltage samples for the at least one electrical waveform, comparing, with the processing device, the parametric measurements of voltage samples to stored data that is accessible to the processing device, the stored data related to expected electrical signal characteristics for the communications bus proximate at least one of system interfaces, hardware components, and interconnections associated with the communications bus, distinguishing any system interconnection degradations and hardware failures associated with the communications bus based on said comparing, and reporting, via the processing device, at least one of: extracted electrical signal parametric measurements are consistent with the stored electrical signal characteristics, electrical signal parameters are indicative of a system interconnection degradation, and electrical signal parameters are indicative of a hardware failure.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for performing an integrated waveform analysis without the use of an external device, said method comprising:
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receiving, by a quality waveform analysis module including a processing device, at least one electrical waveform associated with an electrical signal communicated from a first line replaceable unit (LRU) to a second LRU across a communications bus; extracting, by the quality waveform analysis module, a plurality of real time parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples relative to time of the at least one electrical waveform, wherein the real time parametric measurements are associated with a signal quality of the electrical signal and comprise one or more of the following waveform signal characteristics;
frequency, peak voltage, rise times, and fall times;comparing, by the quality waveform analysis module, the extracted real time parametric measurements to expected waveform parametric measurements for the communications bus proximate at least one of system interfaces, hardware components, and interconnections associated with the communications bus; processing, by the quality waveform analysis module, differences between the extracted real time parametric measurements and the expected waveform parametric measurements to determine whether a failure mode exists on the communications bus; when the failure mode is determined to exist, identifying, by the quality waveform analysis module, whether a system interconnection degradation or a hardware failure caused the failure mode based on the processed differences between the real time and expected waveform parametric measurements; and displaying, via the quality waveform analysis module, a signal quality status indicator based on at least one of said processing and said identifying, wherein the signal quality status indicator represents the signal quality for the electrical signal and includes one or more of the following indications; the extracted parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are consistent with the expected waveform parametric measurements and no failure mode has been detected, the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of the waveform voltage samples are indicative of a system interconnection degradation between at least one of the first and second LRUs and the communications bus being the cause of the failure mode, and the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are indicative of a hardware failure of at least one of the first and second LRUs being the cause of the failure mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A unit for analyzing electrical signal conditions associated with a communications bus, said unit comprising:
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a communications interface for communicatively coupling said unit to the communications bus; a storage device for storing data related to expected waveform parametric measurements the communications bus proximate at least one of system interfaces, hardware components, and interconnections associated with the communications bus, wherein parametric measurements comprise one or more of the following waveform signal characteristics;
frequency, peak voltage, rise times, and fall times; anda quality waveform analysis module including a processing device programmed to; receive, via said communications interface, electrical waveforms associated with an electrical signal communicated from a first line replaceable unit (LRU) to a second LRU across the communications bus; extract real time parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples relative to time of the received electrical waveform; compare the extracted real time parametric measurements to the stored data within said storage device; process differences between the extracted real time parametric measurements and at least the expected waveform parametric measurements for the communications bus in the stored data to determine whether a failure mode exists, if any, associated with the communications bus; when the failure mode is determined to exist, identify whether a system interconnection degradation or a hardware failure caused the failure mode based on the processed differences between the real time and expected waveform parametric measurements; and display a signal quality status indicator based on at least one of the processed differences and the identified cause of the failure mode, wherein the signal quality status indicator represents the signal quality for the electrical signal and includes one or more of the following indications; the extracted parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are consistent with the expected waveform parametric measurements and no failure mode has been detected, the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of the waveform voltage samples are indicative of a system interconnection degradation between at least one of the first and second LRUs and the communications bus being the cause of the failure mode, and the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are indicative of a hardware failure of at least one of the first and second LRUs being the cause of the failure mode. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method, comprising:
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receiving, by a quality waveform analysis module including a processing device, electrical signals associated with communications between at least two systems across a communications bus; comparing, by the quality waveform analysis module, electrical waveform parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples relative to time of the received electrical signals with expected electrical waveform parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples relative to time stored in a memory associated with the processing device to determine signal qualities for each of the electrical signals, wherein parametric measurements comprise one or more of the following waveform signal characteristics;
frequency, peak voltage, rise times, and fall times;processing, by the quality waveform analysis module, a difference between the parametric measurements of the received electrical signals and the expected electrical waveform parametric measurements stored in the memory and a functional specification for the communications bus to determine whether a failure mode exists on the communications bus; when the failure mode is determined to exist, identifying, by the quality waveform analysis module, whether a system interconnection degradation or a hardware failure caused the failure mode based on the processed differences between the parametric measurements and the expected waveform parametric measurements; and displaying, on an external device, a plurality of signal quality status indicators based on at least one of the processing and the identifying, wherein the plurality of signal quality status indicators represent the signal qualities for the plurality of electrical signals and include one or more of the following indications; the extracted parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are consistent with the expected waveform parametric measurements and no failure mode has been detected, the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of the waveform voltage samples are indicative of a system interconnection degradation between at least one of the systems and the communications bus being the cause of the failure mode, and the failure mode exists and the parametric measurements of waveform voltage samples are indicative of a hardware failure of at least one of the systems being the cause of the failure mode. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification