Electricity: measuring and testing – Measuring – testing – or sensing electricity – per se – Plural ranges – scales or registration rates
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-12
2001-05-15
Metjahic, Safet (Department: 2858)
Electricity: measuring and testing
Measuring, testing, or sensing electricity, per se
Plural ranges, scales or registration rates
C324S072500, C702S066000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06232764
ABSTRACT:
I. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an accessory, such as a probe, with internal adjustments controlled by a host, such as an oscilloscope.
Conventional testing and measuring equipment for electronic devices comprise signal acquisition accessories, such as a probe, attached to a host device, such as an oscilloscope. The host translates, displays and interprets the input from the accessory. An accessory, such as a probe, may be used for a variety of purposes and therefore preferably has variable capacities, such as threshold voltages, input coupling, bandwidth, attenuation factor, input resistance and/or capacitance.
While some accessories have set configurations, others may have several internal configurations that are switch-selectable. Some accessories store certain information, such as accessory identification and capacities, in the accessory and communicate the stored information between the accessory and the host device. U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,306, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, issued on Jun. 9, 1987 to Thong, for example, describes equipping a probe with a non-volatile memory device, reading this memory from an attached oscilloscope through a serial communications interface, and conveying the information stored in the probe's memory to the oscilloscope at power-up of the oscilloscope or attachment of the probe.
Accessories, such as probes, may also have separate attachments, such as head, cable, and termination units, that must be calibrated to obtain specific measurements.
Because testing and measurement devices often measure subtle differences in an environment, accuracy of the measurement is extremely important. To increase the accuracy of the measurement, each combination of an accessory and a host device must be properly configured before it can be used. Accessories that are not properly calibrated, compensated, or otherwise appropriately configured may introduce substantial error into the measurements. Proper configuration, however, can be a complex and time-consuming process. Such complexity may derive not only from the selection process itself, but also from the need to maintain records of the information necessary to make that selection correctly.
II. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for communicating between the accessory and the host device that allow additional apparatus to be included in the accessory closer to the signal input, rather than in the host device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system that allow for accommodation of variances resulting from the connecting of a particular accessory with its own operating characteristics to a host.
The present invention has a further objective of providing a method and systems for allowing the selection of signal bandwidth in the accessory, for allowing the selecting of the AC/DC coupling of the accessory in the host device, for allowing the selecting of total attenuation across the signal path through the accessory in the host device, and for allowing the signal level range to be selected by the host in accordance with the capabilities of the accessory.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention comprises a host and detachable accessory test equipment combination wherein the accessory includes a test signal input, a test signal output, a variable circuit element associated with a signal path between said input and output, and memory wherein data related to operation of the accessory is stored; and the host includes a processor programmed to vary the accessory circuit element, the host and accessory having a common communication path to achieve that variation.
The variable circuit element associated with the signal path between the input and output of the accessory includes one or more of: a variable gain element in the path, a variable attenuator in said path, a switch to provide ac/dc coupling in said path, a variable analog circuit coupled to said path to inject a signal into said path, a variable low pass filter in said path, and a variable gain element coupled to said accessory output.
The host includes a processor within which is stored a decision algorithm, the decision algorithm having the capacity to set the host and accessory gain and attenuation elements. This setting is chosen to maximize a desired signal range input by the user of said host and detachable accessory test equipment combination.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
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Baker Clifford E.
Jansen Philip K.
LaVoie Marvin E.
Olson David H.
Rettig John B.
Deb Anjan K
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Metjahic Safet
Tektronix Inc.
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