Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-07
2001-07-10
Grant, William (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C716S030000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259963
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an equipment, method and computer program product for determining positions of inspection terminals and particularly, for determining the positions of inspection terminals which are contacted by a jig to inspect electronic parts on a printed wiring board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, designers in the fields of computer aided design (CAD) have decided the positions of inspection terminals by observing the arrangements of electronic parts and wiring patterns on the display of the CAD system.
Referring to an example of such a CAD system disclosed in JPA 5-258013 (1993), conductor patterns are classified by colors to indicate whether the inspection terminals should be provided or not. Further, through holes for wiring are used in the above-mentioned JPA (laid-open Japanese Patent).
However, the conventional CAD systems have a disadvantage that they can not decide the positions of inspection terminals without any help of designers, because conventional systems are limited to merely show whether or not an inspection terminal is required there.
Further, the conventional systems have another disadvantage that an inspection jig can not be placed on the through holes which are used for inspection terminals, because the size and length of the inspection jig are not taken into consideration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an equipment for determining positions of inspection terminals without any help of designers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an equipment for determining positions of inspection terminals, wherein a jig is certainly placed on inspection terminals by taking the characteristics of the inspection jig into consideration.
According to the present invention, there is provided an equipment for determining positions of inspection terminals with which an inspection jig is contacted to inspect electronic parts mounted through pads on a printed wiring board, which comprises: a memory means for storing arrangement information about arrangements of the electronic parts and the pads, and jig information about characteristics of the jig; a prohibition region generation means for generating, by using the arrangement information and the jig information, prohibition regions where the inspection terminals must not be provided; and an inspection terminal position determination means for determining the positions of the inspection terminals in regions excluding the prohibition regions.
Also, the prohibition region generation means may comprises: a mounting region generation means for acquiring, by using the arrangement information, mounting regions which include the electronic parts and the pads; and enlargement means for enlarging the mounting regions on the basis of the jig information.
Further, the jig information may include such a minimum clearance that the jig is apart from the pad; and the enlargement means enlarges the mounting regions by the minimum clearance.
Furthermore, the mounting region generation means acquires representative pads which represent a plurality of pads which stand in line along the peripheries of the electronic parts; acquires four lines which are parallel to the row of the pads and are tangent to the edge of the representative pads; and acquires a region surrounded by the four lines as the mounting region.
The equipment for determining positions of inspection terminals according of the present invention may include a electronic parts judgement means for judging whether or not the inspection terminals can be provided beneath the electronic parts on the printed wiring board, wherein the electronic parts judgement means excludes, from the prohibition region, a region surrounded by lines distant by a prescribed distance from edges of the electronic parts toward the inner sides of the electronic parts, when the inspection terminals can be provided beneath the electronic parts on the printed wiring board.
The equipment for determining positions of inspection terminals of the present invention may further include an inspection terminal fixing means for preventing positions of the inspection terminals determined by the inspection terminal determination means from being deleted or moved.
The equipment for determining positions of inspection terminals of the present invention may furthermore include a wiring means for wiring the printed wiring board, which the wiring means judges whether or not the pads included in wiring paths are connected with the inspection terminals wherein the inspection terminals are used as wiring terminals, when the pads included in wiring paths are connected with the inspection terminals.
There is also provided, according to the present invention, a method for determining positions of inspection terminals with which an inspection jig is contacted to inspect electronic parts mounted through pads on a printed wiring board, which comprises the steps of: storing arrangement information about arrangements of the electronic parts and pads, and jig information about characteristics of the jig; generating, by using the arrangement information and the jig information, prohibition regions where said inspection terminals must not be provided; and determining the positions of the inspection terminals in regions excluding the prohibition regions.
As described above, inspection through holes are located automatically at the positions which can be inspected by a jig, because the prohibition region generation means generates prohibition regions where any inspection terminal should not be provided, and through hole position determination means determines positions for inspection through holes at regions excluding the prohibition regions generated by prohibition region generating means.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5581632 (1996-12-01), Koljonen et al.
patent: 5764536 (1998-06-01), Yamamoto et al.
patent: 5822210 (1998-10-01), Kobayashi et al.
patent: 5953447 (1999-09-01), Jin
patent: 5995232 (1999-11-01), Van Der Ven
patent: 6002650 (1999-12-01), Kuribayashi et al.
patent: 6014507 (2000-01-01), Fujii
patent: 6023569 (2000-02-01), Yun
patent: 6064759 (2000-05-01), Buckley et al.
patent: 6118894 (2000-09-01), Schwartz et al.
patent: 62279471 (1987-12-01), None
patent: 4-236670 (1992-08-01), None
patent: 4-352346 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 5-63327 (1993-03-01), None
patent: 5-256909 (1993-10-01), None
patent: 5-258013 (1993-10-01), None
patent: 8-30647 (1996-02-01), None
patent: 8-220179 (1996-08-01), None
Cabrera Zoila
Grant William
NEC Corporation
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
LandOfFree
Equipment, method and computer program product for... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Equipment, method and computer program product for..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Equipment, method and computer program product for... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2493081