Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Testing system – Of circuit
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-26
2003-06-10
Hoff, Marc S. (Department: 2857)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Testing system
Of circuit
C702S118000, C702S120000, C702S123000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06577981
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to test executive software for organizing and executing test sequences to control instrumentation systems.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A test executive is a program that allows a user to organize and execute sequences of reusable test modules to control a test involving one or more instruments. The test modules often have a standard interface and typically can be created in a variety of programming environments. The test executive software operates as the control center for the automated test system. More specifically, the test executive software allows the user to create, configure, and/or control test sequence execution for various test applications, such as production and manufacturing test applications. Text executive software typically includes various features, such as test sequencing based on pass/fail results, logging of test results, and report generation, among others.
Test executives include various general concepts. The following comprises a glossary of test executive nomenclature.
Code Module—A program module, such as a Windows Dynamic Link Library (.dll) or LabVIEW VI (.vi), that contains one or more functions that perform a specific test or other action.
Test Module—A code module that performs a test.
Step—Any action, such as calling a test module to perform a specific test, that the user can include within a sequence of other actions.
Step Module—The code module that a step calls.
Sequence—A series of steps that the user specifies for execution in a particular order. Whether and when a step is executed can depend on the results of previous steps.
Subsequence—A sequence that another sequence calls. The user specifies a subsequence call as a step in the calling sequence.
Sequence File—A file that contains the definition of one or more sequences.
Sequence Editor—A program that provides a graphical user interface for creating, editing, and debugging sequences.
Run-time Operator Interface—A program that provides a graphical user interface for executing sequences on a production station. A sequence editor and run-time operator interface can be separate application programs or different aspects of the same program.
Test Executive Engine—A module or set of modules that provide an API for creating, editing, executing, and debugging sequences. A sequence editor or run-time execution operator interface uses the services of a test executive engine.
Application Development Environment (ADE)—A programming environment such as LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, or Microsoft Visual C, in which the user can create test modules and run-time operator interfaces.
Unit Under Test (UUT)—The device or component that is being tested.
Prior art test executive programs are generally hard-coded programs with little flexibility, modularity or configurability. Prior art systems generally include executive code, sequence code, test modules, and then instrument drivers. The executive code typically includes functionality such as UUT identification, operator notification, test report generation, and logging results. The vendor may or may not provide source code for the executive code to the end-user. If the vendor did provide source code for the executive code, the above-mentioned functionality would be subsumed in that source code but it would not be in a format which is easily configurable. In other words, this functionality was not separated out as a single configurable entity. Therefore, if the user desired to modify this functionality, the user would have to hunt through the source code to find and edit the code, which is a tedious process. Thus, in prior art, the user would be required to enter the programming language to change this functionality. This was tedious and difficult.
Therefore, an improved test executive program is desired which provides improved flexibility, modularity and configurability.
Prior art test executive programs also do not easily allow user configuration of steps. In general, step functionality was hard-coded with little flexibility, modularity or configurability. Therefore, an improved test executive program is also desired which provides improved configurability of steps.
An improved test executive program is further desired which provides improved type conflict resolution and improved automatic result collection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises an improved test executive program which provides process model and step type functionality for improved flexibility, modularity and configurability. The test executive program of the present invention also provides distributed type storage and conflict resolution, as well as automatic result collection.
The test executive of the present invention, referred to as the TestStand test executive software, is a flexible, powerful test executive framework which provides a number of novel features. In particular, the test executive software of the present invention provides greatly improved configurability and modularity, thus simplifying the creation, modification and execution of test sequences. The test executive software provides numerous ways for the user to modify the default configuration and components or to add new components. These extensibility mechanisms enable the user to create the test executive that meets the user's particular requirements without modifying the TestStand test execution engine.
The test executive software expands on the traditional test executive concepts and introduces many new ones. The test executive software of the present invention includes new concepts and features, including step types, step properties, sequence variables, sequence parameters, module adapters, and process models.
The TestStand test executive software architecture includes operator interface programs for interfacing to various software programs. The TestStand test executive software also includes a sequence editor for editing sequences. The sequence editor and the operator interface programs interface to the test executive engine, referred to as the TestStand Engine. One or more process models couple to the TestStand Engine. The TestStand Engine interfaces through an adapter interface to one or more adapters. The adapters in turn interface to code modules and sequence files.
The TestStand Engine plays a pivotal role in the TestStand architecture. The TestStand Engine executes sequences, wherein sequences contain steps that can call external code modules. By using module adapters that have the standard adapter interface, the TestStand Engine can load and execute different types of code modules. TestStand sequences can call sub-sequences through the common adapter interface. TestStand uses a special type of sequence called a process model to direct the high-level sequence flow. The TestStand Engine exports an ActiveX Automation API used by the TestStand sequence editor and run-time operator interfaces.
Types—Conflict Resolution
The TestStand test executive system of the present invention includes various types, including step types, custom named data types, and standard named data types. A type can thus be a data type or step type. For each type that a file uses, the TestStand system stores the definition of the type in the file. More specifically, when a user creates a type in the test executive system, the user creates the type using a graphical user interface (GUI) and assigns a name to the type. The user may also assign version data to the type and/or the system may apply a timestamp or other version data to the type. When the user later stores a step or data of the at least one type in a file, the TestStand Engine automatically stores a type definition of the type in the file in response. The user can also specify that a file always saves the definition for a type, even if the file does not currently use the type. Because many files can use the same type, many files can contain definitions for the same type.
The TestStand system allows only one definition for each type to exist in memory. If the user modifies the type in one view, the type is
Crank Erik
Grey James
Barbee Manuel L.
Hood Jeffrey C.
Meyertons Hood Kivlin Kowert & Goetzel P.C.
National Instruments Corporation
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