Automated test position monitoring and notification system

Details Automated test position monitoring and notification system Automated test position monitoring and notification system

1999-03-10

2001-10-09

Grant, William (Department: 2121)

Data processing: generic control systems or specific application

Specific application, apparatus or process

Product assembly or manufacturing

C324S755090

Reexamination Certificate

active

06301517

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automated test position monitoring and notification system and, more particularly, to a monitoring system capable of continuously analyzing thousands of “test sockets” and notifying a system user of failures associated with the sockets.
In the manufacture of various devices, for example, electrical or optoelectronic devices, a variety of tests are performed to assess the operability of the devices. At times, multiple devices may be tested simultaneously, with a number of different test points accessed on each device. In such a situation, the multiple devices may be held in a single test fixture (each device held within a separate socket), with a set of test probes used to contact each separate device. At times, one or more sockets within the test fixture may fail the failure indicated by test results that are out of a “normal” expected range. Such a result may also occur from a malfunctioning device. Therefore, it is often difficult to ascertain the source of the failure between the test socket and the device itself. The ability to find the source of such a failure in “real time” becomes essentially impossible when thousands of devices are being tested simultaneously. As a result, “good” devices may be scrapped as “failures” when being tested in a malfunctioning socket.
At this time, manually recovered data associated with various test sockets may be used to determine the site of “failed” sockets. However, by the time this data is collected and analyzed, many devices may have already been loaded and tested in one or more failed sockets.
Thus, a need remains for a system capable of quickly realizing the location of failed test sockets and alerting user to remove the socket from the test fixture or repair the same.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The need remaining in the prior art is addressed by the present invention, which relates to an automated test position monitoring and notification system and, more particularly to a monitoring system capable of continuously analyzing thousands of “test sockets” and notifying a system user of failures associated with failed sockets.
In accordance with the present invention a monitoring system includes a manufacturing database, a failure summary database, and a monitoring program. The monitoring program is used to establish a “suspect threshold” for the sockets within the test arrangement (for example, three consecutive “device failures” in a given socket). As the testing process is taking place, the test data is stored in the manufacturing database. The monitoring program continuously queries the monitoring database, looking for “suspect” sockets. When such sockets are identified, the monitoring program then queries the “failure summary database” for long-term information (for example, a month's worth of data) regarding that particular socket. If the total number of failures over the longer time period exceeds a predefined threshold, an “alarm” is posted to identify the potentially faulty socket.
In a preferred embodiment, the monitoring program is capable of sending an “alarm” message to the proper user using e-mail, paging, etc. In this embodiment, a failed socket may be quickly repaired and returned to service. Advantageously, the monitoring program can be altered as different users are responsible for overseeing the testing process.
An additional feature of the present invention is the inclusion of a web-based browser allowing access to socket data from virtually anywhere via an HTML viewer, such as Netscape. A CGI/web-based application provides a prioritized list of problem sockets upon request such that any “suspect” socket can then be retrieved and the historical data associated with the socket viewed on-line.
Other and further embodiments of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following discussion and by reference to the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3667045 (1972-05-01), Combs
patent: 5159266 (1992-10-01), Appold
patent: 5481203 (1996-01-01), Appold
patent: 5578370 (1996-11-01), Farnsworth et al.
patent: 5760595 (1998-06-01), Edwards et al.
patent: 5862146 (1999-01-01), Chen et al.
patent: 5926027 (1999-07-01), Bumb, Jr. et al.
patent: 6005385 (1999-12-01), Ping
patent: 6118291 (2000-09-01), Martin et al.
patent: 6168449 (2001-01-01), Huang et al.
patent: 6208156 (2001-03-01), Hembree
patent: 6220870 (2001-04-01), Barabi et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Automated test position monitoring and notification system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Automated test position monitoring and notification system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automated test position monitoring and notification system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2606378