Method and apparatus for pin assignment in automatic circuit testers

摘要

The wiring of system contacts (18) to board probes (20) on a fixture (16) that is used to connect nodes of a board under test to system pins (14) of a multiplexed circuit tester (10) is performed independently of test generation for the type of circuit board with which the fixture (16) is associated. Conflict lists that the pin-assignment program uses to determine which system contacts to wire to which board probes are generated without using the output of the program for generating the board test. For driver/sensor probes, a conflict list for the in-circuit test of a given device includes all input and output nodes of that device as well as all input nodes of devices whose output terminals are connected to nodes of the device under test. The resulting wiring results in few conflicts without requiring many more tester resources than conventional pin-assignment approaches do, and it can be employed without adding to manufacturing lead time.