Patents by Inventor Anthony J. Zink

Anthony J. Zink has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5963045
    Abstract: An edge-testable circuit board includes a circuit board having a planar surface and a board edge. Conductive pads are formed on the board edge and are electrically coupled to test nodes of the circuit on the circuit board. The conductive pads may be located within indentations formed on the board edge. The indentations may be half-circles, half-squares or v-shaped. The conductive pads may be formed by making plated through-holes in the circuit board, electrically coupling the plated-through holes to test nodes on the circuit board, and then removing part of the plated-through holes with a router. The removal step creates a new board edge that exposes part of the plating of the through hole. Numerous such conductive pads may be formed in one step by centering the plated-through holes on a line and passing a router down the line. The circuit board may be tested by bringing it into contact with spring-loaded test probes mounted in a test fixture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Company
    Inventors: Anthony J. Zink, Timothy J. Kelly