Patent Application
20080270848
When testing circuit devices such as system-on-a-chip (SOC) devices, various types of test data may be logged, including pin result data (i.e., test data for particular pins of a device under test). However, pin result data is typically not displayed to a user because it does not fit cleanly into a tabular format, and it can increase the volume of displayed test data by 500 times or more.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings, in which:
As a preliminary manner, it is noted that, in the following description, like reference numbers appearing in different drawing figures refer to like elements/features. Often, therefore, like elements/features that appear in different drawing figures will not be described in detail with respect to each of the drawing figures.
In accord with one embodiment of the invention,
Some of the test data entries that are displayed during execution of the method 100 may correspond to single test results, whereas other entries may correspond to subsets of test results, such as a number of test results generated by performing the same test on a plurality of device pins. By way of example, the test result identifiers may comprise test names or test numbers; and the test results may comprise pass/fail indications or measurements. Test data entries may also include other data items, such as test limits (e.g., if a test is a measurement).
At least one user-selectable mechanism, such as a graphical button, is provided via the GUI (see, block 104). When the user-selectable mechanism is selected, hidden pin result data related to at least one of the test data entries is caused to be displayed via the GUI. As will be described in more detail below, some of the user-selectable mechanisms may be associated with particular ones of the test data entries, and their selection may cause hidden pin result data to be displayed for the particular ones of the test data entries. One or more of the user-selectable mechanisms may also be global mechanisms, such that they cause hidden pin result data to be displayed for all test data entries.
The method 100 is useful, in one respect, in that top-level test data entries can be displayed to a user by default, and pin result data that a user may or may not want to see can be hidden, thereby keeping the “clutter” of pin result data out of the default display. This is significant because, in the past, test data has typically been displayed in bulk form and not as individual “entries” that could be assigned different properties (such as visible or hidden). Thus, in the past, a user that desired to see pin result data was forced to view pin result data that was intermingled, in bulk, with other test data. Given that the display of pin result data can sometimes expand the amount of data that needs to be displayed by as much as 500 times (or more), the “other” test data was sometimes hard to locate using previous test data display methods.
The method 100 shown in
Preferably, the window 202 is displayed during execution of a plurality of tests on which the test data entries 204, 206, 208 are based (i.e., during test of a device under test). New test results can then be displayed via the window as they are acquired, and a user can be provided a “real-time” display of test results. Alternately, device testing can be completed, and a log of test results can be saved to volatile or non-volatile storage (e.g., memory or a hard disk). The test results can then be read and displayed in succession via the window 202 (i.e., not in real-time). Typically, the test data entries 204, 206, 208 that are displayed at any one time represent only some of the test data entries or items that are generated during execution of a plurality of tests. One or more mechanisms such as a scroll bar may be provided to allow a user to navigate to different test data entries or items.
As further shown in
The exemplary GUI 200 provides two different categories of user-selectable mechanism for triggering the display of hidden pin result data. The first category comprises one or more “local” mechanisms 212, 214, each of which, when individually selected, causes hidden pin result data to be displayed for a different test data entry 204, 206, 208. By way of example, one of the “local” mechanisms is implemented via the GUI 200 as button 212. As shown, the button 212 is associated with (and preferably included in) a line of the table 210 that corresponds to a particular test data entry 206. The button 212 carries the label “Show Pins” and, when graphically selected or pressed by a user, causes a plurality of new lines 216, 218, 220 to be inserted in the table 210. See,
When hidden pin result data exists for a test data entry 204, and when different pins are associated with different results, the result(s) that are displayed with the test data entry 204 (i.e., when the pin result data is hidden) can take various forms. In one embodiment, a result field of the table line corresponding to the test data entry 204 (e.g., the “Fail” field or the “Result” field in
When hidden pin result data is available for each of a plurality of test data entries 204, 206, 208, a different user-selectable mechanism, such as button 212 or button 214, may be associated with each of the test data entries 204, 206, 208. Preferably, however, a button is only associated with a table line (e.g., shown or enabled) when hidden pin result data is available for the test data entry that is represented by the table line. For other table lines, a field for such a button may be provided, but the button itself may not be shown or enabled. Alternately, a button could be displayed for each test data entry 204, 206, 208 of the table 210, and use of one of the buttons when hidden pin result data is unavailable could simply cause the display of a “no results” message.
The second category of user-selectable mechanism provided by the GUI 200 is a “global” category. The mechanisms of this category, such as button 222, enable the display of hidden pin result data for all test data entries 204, 206, 208. That is, all of the pin result data for all of the test data entries 204, 206, 208 in the table 210 is caused to be displayed with one action, and a user may then scroll through all pin result data for all test data entries.
Instead of, or in addition to, implementing user-selectable mechanisms for obtaining hidden pin result data as buttons 212, 214, 222, the GUI 200 can provide other sorts of user-selectable mechanisms. For example, the GUI 200 can implement a “local” user-selectable mechanism as a menu item that is obtained, for example, by 1) right-clicking on a particular test data entry 204 (e.g., a line of the table 210 shown in
Although the above-described mechanisms require different numbers of steps for accessing the “hidden pin result data” that pertains to a particular test data entry, it is noted that those requiring only a single graphical pointer click may be preferred.
In addition to providing user-selectable mechanisms 212, 214, 222 that enable the display of pin result data, the GUI 200 can also provide user-selectable mechanisms 226, 228, 230 that enable the hiding of pin result data.
In addition to buttons 226, 228, 230 and 232, user-selectable mechanisms for hiding pin result data may take other forms, such as the menu-based forms that have been described for triggering the display of pin result data.
