Automatic capture and storage of measurements in digital multimeter

• US 8,269,481 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2008
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fluke Corporation (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fluke Corporation (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Garland, Anthony, Honsinger, Bradey, Ferrante, Joseph, Gloger, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Velez, Roberto
• Application Number:
  US12/192,108
• Publication Number:
  US 20090128128A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 324/115
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 15/125 for digital multimeters
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/2509 Details concerning sampling, digitizing or waveform capturing

Abstract

A digital multimeter includes an auto-save component configured to automatically capture and save a sequence of measurements. The auto-save component detects when a measurement becomes stable and upon determining that the measurement has become stable, captures and saves the measurement in a memory of the digital multimeter. The multimeter may additionally include an auto-naming component for automatically assigning a name to each measurement in the sequence, and an auto-hold component for temporarily freezing the display of the stable measurements in the multimeter.

Claims

1. A digital multimeter, comprising:

a measurement component for receiving measurement data corresponding to one or more physical or electrical parameters;

a user interface for receiving user input to place the digital multimeter in an auto-save mode;

a memory component for storing data captured by the digital multimeter;

an auto-save component for automatically capturing and storing data when the digital multimeter is in auto-save mode by;

(a) detecting when the digital multimeter receives stable measurement data of one or more physical or electrical parameters, and (b) automatically saving stable measurement data to the memory component upon making the detection; and

a graphical display allowing a user to assign a name to each measurement within a sequence of measurements, wherein the name of each measurement within the sequence of measurements includes an indication of the order of the corresponding measurement within the sequence and a text string provided by a user.

2. The digital multimeter of claim 1, wherein the graphical display further indicates when the digital multimeter is in auto-save mode and one or more real-time measurement values derived from the received measurement data recorded in auto-save mode.

3. The digital multimeter of claim 1, wherein the graphical display further indicates a value of each new stable measurement after detection by the auto-save component.

4. The digital multimeter of claim 1, further comprising an audio output component, which audibly indicates when the auto-save component detects a new stable measurement.

5. The digital multimeter of claim 1, wherein the auto-save component begins automatically capturing and storing measurement data only after receiving a start input while the digital multimeter is in the auto-save mode.

6. The digital multimeter of claim 1, wherein the auto-save component determines whether a measurement is a stable measurement by determining whether the measurement changes by a predetermined amount or proportion during a discrete time period.

7. The digital multimeter of claim 1, further comprising:

an auto-hold component for automatically freezing the value of the stable measurement within the display component upon detecting receipt of the stable measurement,

wherein the graphical display further displays real-time measurement values based on the received measurement data.

8. The digital multimeter of claim 7, further comprising:

a saving component configured to save a value that has been frozen within the display in response to a user-input submitted via the user-interface component.

9. A digital multimeter, comprising:

a measurement component for receiving measurement data corresponding to one or more physical or electrical parameters;

a user interface for receiving user input to place the digital multimeter in an auto-save mode;

a memory component for storing data captured by the digital multimeter;

an auto-save component for automatically capturing and storing data when the digital multimeter is in auto-save mode by;

(a) detecting when the digital multimeter receives stable measurement data of one or more physical or electrical parameters, and (b) automatically saving stable measurement data to the memory component upon making the detection; and

a redo component for receiving a redo-input while the digital multimeter is in the auto-save mode and replacing a most-recently saved measurement among a sequence of measurements in response to the redo-input.

10. The digital multimeter of claim 9, further comprising:

a display component for displaying real-time measurement values based on the received measurement data; and

an auto-hold component for automatically freezing the value of the stable measurement within the display component upon detecting receipt of the stable measurement.

11. The digital multimeter of claim 10, further comprising:

a saving component configured to save a value that has been frozen within the display in response to a user-input submitted via the user-interface component.

12. The digital multimeter of claim 9, wherein the auto-save component determines whether a measurement is a stable measurement by determining whether the measurement changes by a predetermined amount or proportion during a discrete time period.

13. A digital multimeter, comprising:

a measurement component for receiving measurement data corresponding to one or more physical or electrical parameters;

a user interface for receiving user input to place the digital multimeter in an auto-save mode;

a memory component for storing data captured by the digital multimeter;

an auto-save component for automatically capturing and storing data when the digital multimeter is in auto-save mode by;

(a) detecting when the digital multimeter receives stable measurement data of one or more physical or electrical parameters, and (b) automatically saving stable measurement data to the memory component upon making the detection; and

a replace component for receiving a replace-input while the digital multimeter is in the auto-save mode and replacing one or more saved measurements within the sequence of measurements in response to the replace-component.

14. The digital multimeter of claim 13, wherein the user-interface component comprises a navigation component allowing a user to navigate among the sequence to identify measurements to be replaced by the replace-component.

15. The digital multimeter of claim 13, further comprising:

a display component for displaying real-time measurement values based on the received measurement data; and

an auto-hold component for automatically freezing the value of the stable measurement within the display component upon detecting receipt of the stable measurement.

16. The digital multimeter of claim 15, further comprising:

a saving component configured to save a value that has been frozen within the display in response to a user-input submitted via the user-interface component.

17. The digital multimeter of claim 13, wherein the auto-save component determines whether a measurement is a stable measurement by determining whether the measurement changes by a predetermined amount or proportion during a discrete time period.

18. A method of operating a digital multimeter comprising a measurement component, a user-interface component, a memory component, an auto-save component, and a display, the method comprising:

receiving, via the measurement component, measurement data corresponding to one or more physical or electrical parameters, wherein receiving the measurement data is in response to a user moving the measurement component between first and second measurement points for detecting the physical or electrical parameters; and

receiving, via the user-interface component, a user-input for placing the digital multimeter in an auto-save mode;

wherein, once the digital multimeter is in auto-save mode, the auto-save component automatically captures and stores in the memory component a sequence of measurements by repeatedly performing the following steps as the multimeter is placed in communication with different physical or electrical conditions at the first and second measurement points;

(a) detecting when the digital multimeter receives a stable measurement, and (b) automatically saving the stable measurement in the memory component upon making the detection, and;

allowing a user to assign a name to each measurement within a sequence of measurements through the display, wherein the name of each measurement within the sequence of measurements includes an indication of the order of the corresponding measurement within the sequence and a text string provided by the user.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

upon receiving the user-input for placing the digital multimeter in the auto-save mode, presenting a graphical indication within the display to indicate that the digital multimeter is in the auto-save mode.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising presenting an annunciator graphic in the display of the multimeter to indicate when the digital multimeter is in the auto-save mode.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising displaying the value of each new stable measurement in the display of the multimeter after the new stable measurement is detected by the auto-save component.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the auto-save component determines whether a measurement is a stable measurement by determining whether the measurement changes by a predetermined amount or proportion during a discrete time period.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

upon detecting each stable measurement, temporarily freezing the value of the stable measurement within the display of the digital multimeter.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and second measurement points comprise contact points on one or more circuits.