Measurement apparatus with projected user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10983144-B2
Application number	US-201815946673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2018
Priority date	Oct 11, 2017
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

A measurement apparatus (1) comprising at least one shielded electronic measurement circuit (2) configured to measure and process electrical signals and a user interface (6) used by a user to interact with the electronic measurement circuits (2) of said measurement apparatus (1), wherein the user interface (6) comprises at least one adaptable graphical user interface (6A) projected by a projection unit (7) of said measurement apparatus on one or several projection areas.

First claim

What I claim is:

1. A measurement apparatus, comprising:
at least one shielded electronic measurement circuit configured to measure and process high frequency electrical signals with a frequency of more than 1 GHZ,
wherein the measurement apparatus comprises a housing adapted to provide radio frequency (RF) shielding of the at least one shielded electronic measurement circuit processing the high-frequency electrical signals, wherein each of the shielded electronic measurement circuits comprises a measurement interface to connect one or several measurement objects (MO) via measurement cables, and
a user interface used by a user to interact with the shielded electronic measurement circuits of said measurement apparatus,
wherein the user interface comprises at least one adaptable graphical user interface projected by a projection unit of said measurement apparatus on one or several projection areas,
wherein the one or several projection areas are the surfaces of the one or several measurement objects (MO),
wherein the adaptable graphical user interface projected by said projection unit of said measurement apparatus is changed automatically by a controller of said measurement apparatus depending on an internal operation state of the one or several measurement objects (MO) connected to the measurement interface and measured by said measurement apparatus, and
wherein the user interface of said measurement apparatus further comprises a physical user interface with mechanical control elements manually operated by a user to configure or to adjust the projected graphical user interface.

2. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one adaptable graphical user interface is a first graphical user interface and the projection unit is a first projection unit, the measurement apparatus further comprising a second projection unit, which projects a second adaptable graphical user interface, and
wherein the second adaptable graphical user interface is projected by said second projection unit as a frontal projection on one or several projection areas including projection panels or housing plates of said measurement apparatus on surfaces of the measurement surrounding.

3. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the measurement objects (MO) comprise at least one of: electronic components located on a circuit board, workpieces or devices under test (DUT) measured by said measurement apparatus.

4. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one adaptable graphical user interface is a first graphical user interface and the projection unit is a first projection unit, the measurement apparatus further comprising a second projection unit, which projects a second adaptable graphical user interface, and
wherein the second adaptable graphical user interface is projected by said second projection unit as a rear projection on one or more projection areas including rear projection screens of said measurement apparatus.

5. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one user interaction detection unit adapted to detect an interaction of the user with the projected graphical user interface.

6. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one user interaction detection unit adapted to detect a change of the projection area caused by the user or caused by an external physical object.

7. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the projection unit of said measurement apparatus comprises at least one laser projector.

8. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adaptable graphical user interface projected by said projection unit of said measurement apparatus is changed automatically by a controller of said measurement apparatus depending on output signals of the one or several measurement objects (MO) connected to the measurement interface and measured by said measurement apparatus.

9. The measurement apparatus of claim 4 , wherein one or more mechanical control elements are attached temporarily to a rear projection screen of said measurement apparatus by magnets, suction cups or removable glue.

10. The measurement apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the mechanical control elements attached to the rear projection screen comprise reflection means adapted to change a reflection of light projected on said rear projection screen by said projection unit upon actuation of the respective mechanical control elements by a user detected by a sensor unit of said measurement apparatus.

11. The measurement apparatus of claim 4 , wherein different rear projection screens used as projection areas for the graphical user interface of said measurement apparatus are preconfigured and are exchangeable by a user for different measurement arrangements or measurement purposes.

12. The measurement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a preconfigured rear projection screen comprises at least one screen marker used to detect a type or a configuration of the rear projection screen mounted by a user to the measurement apparatus by a screen detection unit of said measurement apparatus.

Assignees

• Rohde & Schwarz

Inventors

• Sterzbach Bernhard

Classifications

• G01R31/31912 Primary

  Tester/user interface · CPC title

• G01R31/2806

  Apparatus therefor, e.g. test stations, drivers, analysers, conveyors (G01R31/2805, G01R31/281, G01R31/2818 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G01R1/025 Primary

  concerning dedicated user interfaces, e.g. GUI, or dedicated keyboards (G01R31/31912 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01R1/18

  Screening arrangements against electric or magnetic fields, e.g. against earth's field · CPC title