MULTIFUNCTION INTERFACE DEVICE FOR USE, INTER ALIA, IN LABORATORY PROCEDURES

摘要

The present invention provides multifunction interface device for use inter alia in conducting laboratory procedures. It offers a novel means for a user to assemble an experimental configuration using suggested hardware building blocks and carry out physically an experimental investigation in real-time under microcomputer control with the results of measurement being displayed numerically as well as pictorially through graphic and other iconic representations in real time. The computer system also indicates in real-time the physical status of the observed system or underpinning phenomenon as reflected by the measurement process at any instance evoking select representational formats. The multifunction interface device of the invention is a simple but extremely powerful computer controlled interface for data-acquisition and control of real world devices. Used in conjunction with appropriate software, the interface of the invention is capable of converting the microcomputer into a versatile laboratory instrument. It can perform the function, inter alia of a measuring instrument for output from a wide range of sensors and operate variously as a digital voltmeter, storage oscilloscope and x-y recorder. Further, it can act as a signal generator, frequency analyzer, network analyzer, test instrument, logic probe, digital timer, event counter, switch control unit, device driver and controller. The functions listed herein are illustrative and by no means exhaustive.