Method and apparatus for determining a color and brightness of an LED in a printed circuit board
AssigneeTest Coach Corporation
InventorKevin Schmitt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining a color and brightness of an LED includes a sensor having a plurality of filters arranged in a matrix and an output probe connected to the sensor, the output probe providing a color output and a brightness output in a single signal. The sensor may further include an input probe connected to the sensor providing power and a ground probe connected to the sensor providing a grounded connection to the sensor. The plurality of filters in the sensor are preferably configured in a matrix array of color receptors having different colors.
Claims20
An apparatus for determining a color and brightness of an LED in a printed circuit board, the apparatus comprising:
- a sensor having a plurality of filters arranged in a matrix;
- an output probe connected to the sensor, the output probe providing a color output and a brightness output in a single signal;
- an input probe connected to the sensor, the input probe providing power to the sensor;
- and
- a ground probe connected to the sensor.
An apparatus for determining a color and brightness of an LED in a printed circuit board, the apparatus comprising:
- a sensor having a plurality of filters having different colors;
- a microprocessor connected to the sensor, the microprocessor calculating the color and brightness of the LED;
- and
- an output probe connected to the microprocessor, the output probe outputting the color and the brightness through a single signal wire.
A method for testing an output of an LED comprising:
- positioning a sensor adjacent an LED having an unknown color and brightness, the sensor having a plurality of color receptors thereon;
- determining a color and a brightness of the LED with a microprocessor connected to the sensor;
- and
- sending a single output signal from the sensor.
A method for testing an output of an LED comprising:
- positioning a sensor adjacent an LED having an unknown color and brightness, the sensor having a plurality of color receptors arranged in a matrix;
- sampling the output of the LED for a period of time;
- determining a count for each color receptor of the plurality of color receptors;
- converting a wavelength of the color to a frequency;
- determining the color of the LED from a relationship of the count relative to the frequency;
- encoding the frequency to a pulse width;
- and
- measuring a DC average of the pulse width to obtain the brightness of the LED;
- and
- sending a single output signal from the sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.