Optical electrical measurement system, a measurement probe and a method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10330706-B2
Application number	US-201415314702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2014
Priority date	Jun 4, 2014
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system, a measurement probe and a method for measuring an electrical property of an electrical circuit, comprising measuring the electrical property by means of a measurement probe connected to the electrical circuit, converting the measured electrical property of the electrical circuit to an optical signal. The method further comprises sending the optical signal, and receiving the optical signal by means of an image sensor configured to record images comprising the measurement probe that transmits the optical signal. The method further comprises processing the recorded images in order to decode the measurement data from the received optical signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for measuring an electrical property of an electrical circuit, comprising:
measuring the electrical property using a measurement probe connected to the electrical circuit;
converting the measured electrical property of the electrical circuit to an optical signal;
sending the optical signal;
receiving the optical signal using an image sensor configured to record images comprising the measurement probe that transmits the optical signal; and
processing the recorded images in order to decode the measurement data from the received optical signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving a trigger signal, and upon receiving the trigger signal start the recording of images.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is configured to record images at a frame rate in an interval of 1 fps (frame per second) up to 10000000 fps.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending of the optical signal comprises controlling a state of a light emitting diode of the measurement probe.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein controlling the state of the light emitting diode comprises switching the light emitting diode on and off.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the switching of the light emitting diode is performed at a frequency corresponding to a value of said measured electrical property.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the switching of the light emitting diode is performed such that a duty-cycle of the optical signal corresponds to a value of said measured electrical property.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein controlling the state of the light emitting diode comprises controlling an intensity of an emitted light from the light emitting diode such that the intensity of the light corresponds to a value of said measured electrical property.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optical signal comprises information about the measured electrical property encoded as colors of the optical signal.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical circuit is provided on a printed circuit board comprising fiducial markers, wherein said fiducial markers are used in an image analysis to determine a position of the measurement probe on the electrical circuit.

11. A measurement system for measuring an electrical property of a connectable electrical circuit, comprising:
a measurement probe configured to be connected to the connectable electrical circuit, wherein the measurement probe is configured to measure the electrical property of the connectable electrical circuit and to send information about the electrical property as an optical signal;
an image sensor configured to record images of the optical signal transmitted from the measurement probe; and
a processing circuitry configured to receive the recorded images from the image sensor and to control the image sensor, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
control the image sensor to record images such that the optical information from the measurement probe is captured on the images; and
process the recorded images in order to decode the measurement data from the received optical signal.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuit is configured such that the processing circuit causes the image sensor to record the images in response to the processing circuit receiving a trigger signal.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the image sensor is a high speed camera.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the measurement probe comprises a light emitting diode provided for sending the information about the electrical property as an optical signal.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the measurement probe further comprises a controller configured to control the light emitting diode, wherein the controller is configured for switching the light emitting diode on and off.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured for switching the light emitting diode at a frequency corresponding to a value of said measured electrical property.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured for switching the light emitting diode at a duty-cycle corresponding to a value of said measured electrical property.

18. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a controller, wherein the controller is configured to control the intensity of the light emitted from the light emitting diode such that the intensity of the light corresponds to a value of said measured electrical property.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the measurement probe comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes, each having a different color, and the measurement probe is configured to send information about the measured electrical property as a color encoded optical signal.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the electrical circuit is provided on a printed circuit board comprising fiducial markers, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to use said fiducial markers in an image analysis to determine a position of the measurement probe on the electrical circuit.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Sander Sverker
• Olsson Björn

Classifications

• H04Q9/00

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom · CPC title

• G01R31/3025

  Wireless interface with the DUT · CPC title

• G01R31/309

  of printed or hybrid circuits {or circuit substrates} · CPC title

• G08C23/04

  using light waves, e.g. infrared · CPC title

• G01R13/04 Primary

  for producing permanent records · CPC title