US 5,659,680 AGranted

PC compatible modular based diagnostic system

AssigneeMicro Processor Systems, Inc.

InventorsGlen B. Cunningham, Andrew R. Reading, Michael F. Kapolka

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Abstract

A PC-based diagnostic system is modular-based, and includes a motherboard, a backplane board, a PCMCIA board, and a keypad adapter board. The motherboard communicates with I/O modules connected to the backplane board, PCMCIA modules connected to the PCMCIA board, and with a keypad or a mouse through the keypad adapter board. Based on the type of device to be tested, various diagnostic programs can be accessed internally to provide the signals used to perform the test. A system controller and a processor are provided on the motherboard to control the transfer of data and control from the motherboard, through the backplane, and to the I/O modules. Additional select lines are provided to select one or more I/O modules during a test. An ISA bus is also provided in a standard arrangement.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A PC-based diagnostic system for diagnosing a unit under test, comprising:

a motherboard housed on a first circuit board;
a backplane housed on a second circuit board and coupled to said motherboard through a first bus, control lines and power lines, said second circuit board including a first and a second I/O module connection port;
a connection circuit housed on a third circuit board and connected to said backplane through a second bus;
and
a keyboard adapter circuit housed on a fourth circuit board and connected to said motherboard through a data and control bus, said keyboard adapter circuit providing for connection of a keyboard to said motherboard, said keyboard providing for operator-entered data to be sent to said motherboard;
wherein said backplane board provides data and instruction transfer between a processor housed on said motherboard and one of a first I/O module connected to said first I/O module connection port on said backplane board, a second I/O module connected to said second I/O module connection port, and a third module connected to said connection circuit, at least one of said first and second I/O modules being coupled to said unit under test to enable transfer of data between said PC-based diagnostic system and said unit under test, said data being used by said PC-based diagnostic system to diagnose said unit under test,
and wherein said first and second buses are coupled to each other via said backplane board to provide for transfer of information between said first, second and third I/O modules and said motherboard.

4 more elements

A PC-based diagnostic system, comprising:

a motherboard which houses a processor and a system controller;
a plurality of I/O module connection ports for respectively connecting to one or more I/O modules, each of said I/O modules including a dual-port-RAM for performing specialized diagnostic testing of devices respectfully connected to said I/O modules;
and
a backplane a backplane board connecting said motherboard to said plurality of I/O module connection ports, said backplane board providing for transfer of information over a first bus between said motherboard and said backplane board and a second bus between said backplane board and said one or more I/O modules, and providing for module selection control, module resetting control, and module power down control to said one or more I/O modules via control signals sent from said system controller, through said backplane board, and to said plurality of I/O module connection ports,
wherein said first and second buses are coupled to each other via said backplane board to provide for transfer of information between said one or more I/O modules and said motherboard.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.