Real-time test controller

A system for testing manufactured products, comprising:

• a storage medium, located on the manufactured products, for storing a plurality of diagnostic tests for use in testing the manufactured products;
• a plurality of testing stations, located external to the manufactured products, for accessing the storage medium and testing each of the manufactured products using the plurality of diagnostic tests stored in the storage medium on the products in a predetermined sequence;
• a memory for storing test failure data indicative of failure rates of previously failed diagnostic tests;
• a command module for reading a selected amount of the stored test failure data indicative of failure rates and determining an optimum sequence for using the plurality of diagnostic tests for a new test run by sorting the diagnostic tests in order of the failure rates of the previously failed diagnostic tests;
• and
• a test controller for, before the beginning of a new test run, replacing the predetermined sequence with the optimum sequence.

A real-time test controller, comprising:

• a command module;
• a failure database, coupled to the command module, for storing failure data from diagnostic tests;
• a diagnostic optimizer, coupled to the failure database, for producing an optimized sequence of diagnostics for a device under test from data in the failure database;
• and
• a command line interface, coupled to the diagnostic optimizer, for re-sequencing a plurality of diagnostic tests for the device under test to match the optimized sequence of diagnostics.

A system for testing manufactured products, comprising:

• conducting means for conducting at least one diagnostic test on a manufactured product at each of a plurality of testing locations;
• first moving means, coupled to the conducting means, for moving the manufactured product between the plurality of testing locations;
• storing means, coupled to the conducting means, for storing test failure data indicative of failure rates of previously failed diagnostic tests conducted at each of the plurality of testing locations from previous test runs;
• reading means, coupled to the storing means, for reading, before the beginning of the current test run, a selected amount of the stored test failure data indicative of failure rates and determining an optimum sequence for using the plurality of diagnostic tests in the current test run by sorting the diagnostic tests in order of the failure rates of the previously failed diagnostic tests;
• and
• second moving means, coupled to the conducting means, for moving the manufactured product between the plurality of testing means in accordance with the optimum sequence for using the plurality of diagnostic tests in the current run.