Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for determining the presence or absence of a component on a printed circuit board. The method and apparatus utilizes a photo-sensor and photo-detector that are positioned within a predetermined non-contacting distance from the expected location of a given component under test. The photo-emitter emits a controlled amount of light energy on the expected location of the component under test on the printed circuit board. The photo-sensor detects the amount of reflection off the surface of the expected location of the component under test. Because the amount of reflection differs between reflection off the surface of the component under test and reflection off the surface of the bare board, based on the reflection measurement, the component under test can be classified as either present or absent at its expected location on the printed circuit board.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for determining the presence or absence of a component on a printed circuit board. The method and apparatus utilizes a photo-sensor and photo-detector that are positioned within a predetermined non-contacting distance from the expected location of a given component under test. The photo-emitter emits a controlled amount of light energy on the expected location of the component under test on the printed circuit board. The photo-sensor detects the amount of reflection off the surface of the expected location of the component under test. Because the amount of reflection differs between reflection off the surface of the component under test and reflection off the surface of the bare board, based on the reflection measurement, the component under test can be classified as either present or absent at its expected location on the printed circuit board.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for testing serial communications electrical circuit boards which interfaces to a board being tested through a plurality of serial channels. The system contains a plurality of personality modules, each of which can interface directly to a channel. A personality module will perform level shifting, data encoding/decoding, line termination, and clock/framing extraction as needed for a particular serial protocol. The system also contains one or more reconfigurable bit processors which may be connected together in a building block fashion to perform low-level processing on serial data received from or sent to a personality module. One of a plurality of serial test sequencers receives or sends data from/to a reconfigurable bit processor; provides a user programmable means to control the application and reception of test patterns to and from a channel; and interfaces to the user through a system controller.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for testing serial communications electrical circuit boards which interfaces to a board being tested through a plurality of serial channels. The system contains a plurality of personality modules, each of which can interface directly to a channel. A personality module will perform level shifting, data encoding/decoding, line termination, and clock/framing extraction as needed for a particular serial protocol. The system also contains one or more reconfigurable bit processors which may be connected together in a building block fashion to perform low-level processing on serial data received from or sent to a personality module. One of a plurality of serial test sequencers receives or sends data from/to a reconfigurable bit processor; provides a user programmable apparatus to control the application and reception of test patterns to and from a channel; and interfaces to the user through a system controller.

Abstract: Disclosed is a serial frame generator which generates serial data which conforms to a user-selected telecommunication protocol. The serial frame generator can be used with a circuit board tester to create test vectors for telecommunications circuits which require serial data input. The serial frame generator is user-adaptable so that serial frame data can be produced for essentially any kind of serial frame protocol.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for producing a visual signal of the state of charge of a battery selectively connected and disconnected from an external load. A test load is connected to the battery for a predetermined period of time to draw a current pulse from the battery when the battery is disconnected from the external load. Simultaneously, the voltage of the battery is measured. The measured voltage is converted to a digital signal, and the digital signal is transmitted to a storage means. The stored signal is then transmitted to a visual display device.