Patent ID: 6052807
Filing Date: 2000-04-18
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
Probe to channel correspondence apparatus in an instance of multi-channel electronic test equipment, the apparatus comprising:a plurality of measurement channels, each measurement channel having an input and an output;a plurality of probes, each probe of the plurality having a first end connected to the input of an associated measurement channel and a second end deployable for measuring an associated work signal in a device under test;an identification signal generator that produces an identification signal that is as measurable as any work signal except that it is unlikely to be identical to an actual work signal to be measured in a device under test;an identification terminal coupled to the identification signal and physically accessible by second of probes within the plurality thereof;a plurality of signal comparison circuits each having first and second comparison inputs and comparison output, the comparison output indicative of whether or not a signal applied to the first comparison input matches one applied to the second comparison input, each signal comparison circuit corresponding to an associated measurement channel, each first comparison input coupled to the identification signal and each second comparison input coupled to the output of a respective corresponding measurement channel;a corresondence circuit coupled to each of the comparison outputs and producing an output identifying a measurement channel having a probe whose second end is electrically connected to the identification terminal;multi-channel measurement circuitry coupled to the outputs of the plurality of measurement channels and producing measurements based on the behavior of work signals to which probes in the plurality of probes have been connected; anda display coupled to the multi-channel measurement circuitry and to the correspondence circuit, the display indicating results of multi-channel measurements upon work signals and indicating a channel identifier for a probe whose second end is electrically connected to the identification terminal.