Server board card test system

Abstract

The invention discloses a server board card testing system which is applied to the field of hardware testing. The system comprises an automatic test device, a controller and a cloud server. The automatic test equipment comprises a test board, a probe system and a signal acquisition and analysis system, and the probe system determines the board card position information of each test point according to the test point position information in the test case and automatically moves a probe to the board card position information. And the signal acquisition and analysis system acquires test signals and calls an automatic test instruction to perform waveform analysis on the test signals of the test points. And the controller automatically generates a test case from the test data and sends the test case to the automatic test equipment. And the cloud server performs corresponding test analysis on the waveform image information according to the test case and generates a test report. According to the method and the device, the problems of aging hysteresis, quality instability and uncontrollability of board card testing in related technologies can be solved, and the server board card testing efficiency and testing precision can be effectively improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of testing, and in particular to a server board testing system. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and Internet of Things technology, the scale of data centers is getting larger and larger. Servers are computing devices in data centers. Their hardware quality and performance directly affect the stability and reliability of data centers. In order for server hardware to meet the requirements of high-performance data centers, efficient and accurate server hardware testing is indispensable.

[0003] Related technologies When testing server boards, it is necessary to complete the board production at the PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) factory, mail the board to the test environment, and manually operate the test equipment to test the board test points one by one. This method is not only time-delayed, but also has the instability and uncontrollability of manual operation, and the test quality is difficult to guarantee.

[0004] In view of this, improving the testing efficiency and testing accuracy of server boards is a technical problem that technical personnel in this field need to solve.

[0005] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background technology section is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present application, and therefore may include information that does not constitute the prior art known to ordinary technicians in the field. Summary of the invention

[0006] The present invention provides a server board test system, which can effectively improve the server board test efficiency and test accuracy.

[0007] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0008] In one aspect, the present invention provides a server board test system, including an automated test device, a controller, and a cloud server; the cloud server includes an automated test instruction library;

[0009] The automated test equipment includes a test bench, a probe system, and a signal acquisition and analysis system; the test bench is used to fix the board to be tested in the processing process, and the probe system is used to determine the board position information of each test point located on the board to be tested according to the test point position information in the test case, and automatically move the probe to the board position information; the signal acquisition and analysis system is used to collect the test signal transmitted by the probe, and call the corresponding automatic test instruction from the cloud server according to the test requirements of the test case to perform waveform analysis on the test signal of each test point;

[0010] The controller is used to automatically generate test cases according to the received test data, and send the test cases to the automated testing equipment;

[0011] The cloud server is used to perform corresponding test analysis on the waveform image information sent by the signal acquisition and analysis system according to the test case, and generate a test report.

[0012] In a first exemplary embodiment, the test bench includes a plurality of support columns of the same height;

[0013] The test bench is also used to: determine the initial support position of the board to be tested according to the size, weight distribution and component layout information of the board file of the board to be tested;

[0014] The support positions are determined according to the initial support positions and the spatial positions of the support columns.

[0015] In a second exemplary embodiment, the test bench further comprises a fixing system for fixing the board to be tested by combining flexible clamping with electromagnetic adsorption; the fixing system comprises a positioning adsorption device, a flexible adjustment device and a vacuum device;

[0016] Among them, the positioning and adsorption device includes a suction cup, a universal joint and a mounting structure; the flexible adjustment device adjusts each positioning point of the board to be tested in the XZ direction; the vacuum system is used to provide vacuum negative pressure to each suction cup and automatically detect the vacuum adsorption state of each suction cup.

[0017] In a third exemplary embodiment, the probe system is located above the test bench, and the probe system includes a plurality of probe devices;

[0018] The probe device comprises a first mechanical arm located in a horizontal direction, a second mechanical arm located in a vertical direction, and a probe deployed on the second mechanical arm;

[0019] Wherein, the first mechanical arm is provided with a horizontal positioning device and a vertical positioning device in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction respectively, so as to move on the XY horizontal plane; the horizontal positioning device includes a first motor drive system, and a first transmission element and a first linear motion positioning device connected thereto; the vertical positioning device includes a second motor drive system, and a second transmission element and a second linear motion positioning device connected thereto; the second mechanical arm is provided with a vertical positioning device in the Z-axis direction, so as to move up and down on the XZ plane and the YZ plane; the vertical positioning device includes a third motor drive system, and a third transmission element and a third linear motion positioning device connected thereto;

[0020] Wherein, the first motor drive system, the second motor drive system and the third motor drive system are used to control the motor speed and the motor position based on the proportional-integral-differential control algorithm according to the received control signal, the current actual position and the theoretical position of the robot arm; the first transmission element, the second transmission element and the third transmission element are used to realize the mutual conversion between rotational motion and linear motion; the first linear motion positioning device and the second linear motion positioning device are used to control the first robot arm to move in the linear direction of the XY horizontal plane, and the third linear motion positioning device is used to control the second robot arm to move in the linear direction of the XZ plane and the YZ plane;

[0021] Wherein, the probe includes an independent signal transmission channel for transmitting the test signal to the signal acquisition and analysis system.

[0022] In a fourth exemplary embodiment, the first linear motion positioning device, the second linear motion positioning device and the third linear motion positioning device include a positioning track, a guide rail, a slider and a transmission system;

[0023] The guide rail is used to provide linear motion support, and the transmission system is used to transmit power to the slider, so as to realize the positioning and movement of the first robotic arm or the second robotic arm in a linear direction through the sliding of the slider on the guide rail.

[0024] In a fifth exemplary embodiment, the signal acquisition and analysis system is an oscilloscope system;

[0025] The oscilloscope system includes an edge trigger mode, a pulse width trigger mode and a logic trigger mode, and is also used to read the trigger conditions from the test case to select a corresponding trigger mode based on the trigger conditions to perform waveform analysis on the test signal of the corresponding test point.

[0026] In a sixth exemplary implementation, the automatically generating a test case according to the received test data includes:

[0027] Pre-build a test case template, the test case template includes test point coordinates, signal name, test conditions, signal triggering method and expected results;

[0028] When the test data is received, the corresponding test point coordinates, signal name, test conditions, signal triggering method and expected results are obtained by parsing the test data, and are filled into the corresponding positions of the test case template.

[0029] In a seventh exemplary embodiment, an external interface system is further included, wherein the external interface system includes a network interface, a hardware interface, and an application programming interface;

[0030] The hardware interface has a plug-and-play function and has multiple communication protocols built in to automatically identify and configure newly connected external devices;

[0031] The application programming interface is used to integrate into the instruction sender through the cloud server when an integration instruction is received.

[0032] In an eighth exemplary embodiment, a remote control system having a human-computer interaction interface is further included;

[0033] The human-computer interaction interface includes a test item query page, a control page, a video monitoring page and a fault handling page;

[0034] The test item query page includes a running status query item, a test progress query item, and a test result query item of the motherboard to be tested;

[0035] The control page includes a control instruction input area, which is used to remotely control the test of the main compensation to be tested through the control instruction input area;

[0036] The video monitoring page includes a video monitoring option and a problem feedback option. When the video monitoring option is detected to be triggered, the test screen of the board to be tested is displayed; the problem feedback option is used to upload the problems existing in the test process of the board to be tested and the corresponding solutions;

[0037] The fault handling page includes a data download option and a solution upload option; the data download option is used to download the test data and test log information of the board to be tested; the solution upload option is used to automatically diagnose the fault according to the test data and the test log information, and generate a fault solution.

[0038] In a ninth exemplary implementation, the performing corresponding test analysis on the waveform image information sent by the signal acquisition and analysis system and generating a test report includes:

[0039] Extract waveform characteristic parameters of the waveform image information of the current test point;

[0040] The expected result of the current test point is read from the test case, and a test report is generated according to a comparison result of the waveform characteristic parameter with the expected result of the current test point.

[0041] The technical solution provided by the present invention has the advantage that the board to be tested can be tested while it is in the process of being processed, without having to be mailed to a specific test environment, effectively avoiding the time delay of the test work, and being conducive to shortening the development cycle of the server board. The controller can automatically generate the test cases required for the board to be tested and send them to the automated testing equipment. The automated testing equipment can fix the board to be tested and ensure that the probe is accurately positioned to each test point in three-dimensional space, which can adapt to different board testing requirements. By sending the test signals of the collected test points to the cloud server, the cloud server can be used to test and analyze the test signals and generate test reports, realizing full-process automated testing, releasing manpower, reducing labor costs, and effectively improving the test efficiency, test stability and test quality of the server board.

[0042] The technical features mentioned above, the technical features to be mentioned below, and the technical features shown separately in the drawings can be arbitrarily combined with each other, as long as the combined technical features are not contradictory. All feasible feature combinations are technical contents clearly recorded in this article. Any of the multiple sub-features contained in the same sentence can be applied independently, and does not have to be applied together with other sub-features. It should be understood that the above general description and the detailed description below are only exemplary and cannot limit the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention or related technologies, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or related technical descriptions. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0044] Figure 1 The structural framework of the server card test system provided by the present invention in an exemplary embodiment

[0045] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of horizontal coordinate mapping provided by the present invention;

[0046] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of the automated testing equipment provided by the present invention;

[0047] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the framework of the server board testing method provided by the present invention in an exemplary application scenario. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solution of the present invention, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. Among them, the terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. in the specification and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations of the two are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. The term "exemplary" means "used as an example, embodiment or illustrative". Any embodiment described here as "exemplary" is not necessarily interpreted as being superior or better than other embodiments.

[0049] At present, after the server board is produced in the PCBA factory, it is mailed to the test environment, such as the laboratory. The tester needs to prepare various equipment required for the test, such as oscilloscopes and multimeters, and then manually operate traditional test instruments and equipment to test the corresponding signals on the board one by one according to the pre-specified test cases for each signal to be tested.

[0050] During the test process, the tester first needs to determine the signal position to be tested according to the test case, and then connect the probe of the test instrument to the test point of the board to be tested to obtain the relevant parameters of the signal, such as waveform, timing, etc. During the entire test process, the tester needs to constantly adjust the parameters of the test instrument to ensure that the required signal information can be accurately measured. Moreover, for different types of signals, testers also need to use different test methods and steps for testing according to the characteristics and requirements of the current type of signal. For example, if the current type of signal is a high-frequency signal, a higher bandwidth oscilloscope is required, and special signal conditioning and anti-interference processing are required to ensure the accuracy of the measurement results. In addition, testers also need to record and analyze the data obtained during the test to determine whether the signal meets the electrical requirements. Once a signal abnormality is found, it is necessary to manually troubleshoot the abnormality, such as rechecking the hardware connection of the board and whether the components are damaged.

[0051] It can be seen that the board test process of the related technology has a long time span, and it takes a long period from board production to completion of testing. In this process, testing takes up a lot of time, which seriously affects the board design and development process, not only increases operating costs, but also fails to meet customers' needs for rapid product delivery in a timely manner. Moreover, the board needs to be sent to a specific test environment after production, which causes a time lag in testing work and further extends the board development cycle. Furthermore, the entire hardware testing process requires manual operation. The instability and uncontrollability of this manual operation will inevitably lead to damage to the board, mis-touch during connection of test instruments, plugging and unplugging probes, or operation, etc., thereby causing physical damage to the components on the board, which will further increase the production cost of the board, and may also cause inaccurate or lost test data, affecting the test progress and board quality. In addition, to conduct hardware testing in the laboratory, professional technicians are required to build a complex test environment, involving the combination and debugging of multiple instruments, equipment, connecting wires and fixtures. During the construction process, any error in any link may cause the test environment to be unstable or unable to work properly, which is not only costly, but also affects the reliability of the test results. For large-scale test projects, there are a large number of hardware test signals. Testers need to operate the test instruments one by one to measure and record each signal. The test tasks are complex, requiring a lot of manpower and financial investment, and are prone to human errors. In addition, in order to meet the test needs, a large number of high-end test instruments and professional fixtures are also required, which further increases the cost of testing. It can be seen that the relevant technology is not only costly and has low test efficiency, but also has uncontrollable test quality.

[0052] In view of this, the present invention can automatically generate the test cases required for the board to be tested through a controller, and send it to an automated test device. The board to be tested in the process can be fixed through the automated test device, and the probe can be accurately positioned to each test point in three-dimensional space. The test signals of the collected test points are sent to a cloud server, and the cloud server can be used to test and analyze the test signals and generate a test report, thereby realizing full-process automated testing. After introducing the technical solution of the present invention, various non-limiting embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. In order to better illustrate the present invention, numerous specific details are given in the specific embodiments below. Those skilled in the art should understand that the present invention can also be implemented without these specific details. In other examples, the methods, means, components and circuits well known to those skilled in the art are not described in detail to highlight the main purpose of the present invention.

[0053] First see Figure 1 , Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structural framework of a server board test system provided in this embodiment under an exemplary implementation manner, this embodiment may include the following contents:

[0054] The server board test system can automatically test equipment 1, controller 2 and cloud server 3, wherein the automated test equipment 1 is connected to the controller 2 and the cloud server 3, so that the automated test equipment 1 can interact with the controller 2 and the cloud server 3 respectively, and the controller 2 is connected to the cloud server 3, and the two can also interact with each other. The board to be tested can be an expansion card installed on the server motherboard, including but not limited to a network card (Network Interface Card, NIC), a RAID card (Redundant Array of Independent Disks Card, Redundant Disk Array), a GPU card (Graphics Processing Unit Card, Graphics Processing Unit Expansion Card), an HBA card (Host Bus Adapter Card, Host Bus Adapter), and a memory expansion card. The board to be tested can be a board in the PCBA processing process, that is, electronic components, such as integrated circuits, resistors, and capacitors, are welded to a printed circuit board to form a fully functional circuit board. Of course, it can also be a board that is produced and mailed to a research and development laboratory environment. In other words, this embodiment can not only realize unmanned hardware signal testing by the board factory through the automated test equipment 1, but also complete basic hardware testing through this system for mailing boards to improve timeliness.

[0055] The server board test system consists of two major parts: hardware equipment and software system. These parts cooperate with each other to achieve comprehensive automated testing of server board hardware. Among them, the automated test equipment 1 may include a test bench, a probe system, and a signal acquisition and analysis system; the test bench is used to fix the board to be tested in the processing process. The test bench adopts a sturdy and stable structure, which can provide reliable support and fixation for the board to be tested. The probe system is used to determine the board position information of each test point on the board to be tested based on the test point position information in the test case, that is, to map the test point position information of the test case to the board to be tested, such as Figure 2As shown, the test point position information (Xn, Yn) of the board to be tested is obtained, and the probe is automatically moved to the board position information. The signal acquisition and analysis system is used to collect the test signal transmitted by the probe, and call the corresponding automatic test instructions from the cloud server according to the test requirements of the test case to perform waveform analysis on the test signal of each test point. The software system includes a computer program deployed by the controller to execute the corresponding functions recorded in this embodiment and a computer program deployed by the cloud server to execute the corresponding functions recorded in this embodiment, which may include or be divided into one or more program modules, which are stored in a storage medium and executed by one or more processors to complete the corresponding method disclosed in the embodiment. The program module referred to in this embodiment refers to a series of computer program instruction segments that can complete specific functions. Controller 2 is used to automatically generate test cases based on the received test data and send the test cases to the automated testing equipment. When hardware testing is required, the controller 2 can automatically read the pre-written test case file and pass the test information therein to the automated test equipment 1. It can also automatically generate corresponding test cases based on the test data input by the user, such as test point coordinates, signal names, test conditions, including overshoot tolerance, timing requirements, etc., signal trigger methods, such as power on and off, issuing instructions, sending packets, etc., and then send them to the automated test equipment 1. The automated test equipment 1 automatically measures each test point in turn according to the instructions in the test case, realizing the full automation of the test process, greatly reducing manual intervention, and improving the efficiency and accuracy of the test. The cloud server 3 includes an automatic test instruction library, which is used to perform corresponding test analysis on the waveform image information sent by the signal acquisition and analysis system according to the test case, and generate a test report. The cloud server 3 of this embodiment can adopt a distributed architecture and a high-performance server cluster, which can process a large amount of test data at the same time and ensure the security and reliability of the data. The cloud server 3 can deploy a cloud system to store, analyze and manage test data. The cloud system is preset with a rich automatic test instruction library, including various commonly used signal trigger condition actions and instructions such as sending packets. During the test process, the automated test equipment can call the corresponding automated test instructions from the cloud system according to the requirements of the test cases, to achieve rapid configuration of the test environment and automatic execution of test tasks.

[0056] In the technical solution provided in this embodiment, the board to be tested can be tested while it is in the processing process, without having to mail it to a specific test environment, which effectively avoids the time lag of the test work and is conducive to shortening the development cycle of the server board. The controller can automatically generate the test cases required for the board to be tested and send them to the automated testing equipment. The board to be tested can be fixed by the automated testing equipment, and the probe can be accurately positioned to each test point in three-dimensional space to meet the testing requirements of different boards. By sending the test signals of the collected test points to the cloud server, the cloud server can be used to test and analyze the test signals and generate test reports, realizing full-process automated testing, releasing manpower, reducing labor costs, and effectively improving the testing efficiency, test stability and test quality of the server board.

[0057] The above embodiment does not limit how the test bench fixes the board to be tested. Based on the above embodiment, the present invention further provides a fixing method for the board to be tested, which may include the following contents:

[0058] The test bench may include multiple support columns of the same height; the test bench is also used to determine the initial support position of the board to be tested based on the size, weight distribution and component layout information of the board file of the board to be tested; and determine the support position based on each initial support position and the spatial position of each support column.

[0059] In this embodiment, the test bench can be equipped with a support column system, which can automatically select the best support position according to the BRD (Board File) file information of the board card, and the BRD file information includes but is not limited to the size, weight distribution and component layout of the board card. Further, in order to improve the calculation accuracy and calculation efficiency of the support position, a support position positioning model can be built in advance through any network model with learning ability, and a large number of manually annotated training sample sets can be obtained. Each training sample is the BDR information annotated with the support position. Through machine learning methods, the support position positioning model is trained using the training sample set until the preset number of iterations is reached to obtain a trained support position positioning model. The size, weight distribution and component layout information of the board file of the board to be tested are input into the support position positioning model, and the support position positioning model can output the support position, which can be defined as the initial support position for easy distinction. Since the calculated initial support position does not necessarily have a support column, it can also continue to combine the support column position to select a support position that has a support column from the initial support position to support the board to be tested.

[0060] As can be seen from the above, this embodiment fully considers factors such as the size, weight distribution and component layout of the board to ensure that the board can remain stable during the test process while avoiding unnecessary pressure on sensitive components on the board.

[0061] In order to further improve the fixing stability of the board to be tested, based on the above embodiments, the present invention further provides an implementation method of fixing the board to be tested by combining flexible clamping with electromagnetic adsorption, which may include the following contents:

[0062] The test bench also includes a fixing system that uses a combination of flexible clamping and electromagnetic adsorption to fix the board to be tested. The fixing system includes a positioning adsorption device, a flexible adjustment device and a vacuum device; wherein the positioning adsorption device includes a suction cup, a universal joint and a mounting structure; the flexible adjustment device adjusts each positioning point of the board to be tested in the XZ direction; the vacuum system is used to provide vacuum negative pressure to each suction cup and automatically detect the vacuum adsorption state of each suction cup.

[0063] In this embodiment, the fixing system includes a dot matrix mechanical structure and a vacuum circuit of a vacuum pump system. The dot matrix mechanical structure includes a positioning adsorption device, a flexible adjustment device and a basic support device. These devices work together to adapt to boards to be tested of different shapes and sizes. The positioning adsorption device is composed of a suction cup, a universal joint and a mounting structure. The universal joint can be automatically adjusted according to the surface shape of the board to be tested, so that the suction cup is tangent to the surface of the board to be tested and reliably adsorbs the board to be tested; the thin-walled board to be tested is accurately positioned through the surface of the suction cup. The flexible adjustment device can adjust each positioning point of the board to be tested in the X and Z directions to achieve flexible positioning. Two degrees of freedom adjustment is usually used to improve adaptability and positioning unit utilization, while maintaining low manufacturing costs and device complexity. The vacuum device provides vacuum negative pressure to each suction cup and automatically detects the vacuum adsorption state of the suction cup.

[0064] Among them, the fixing system is based on the multi-point positioning principle, that is, the spatial position of the board to be tested is determined by multiple positioning points. These positioning points are located on the surface of the positioning sphere. The curved surface of the board to be tested is tangent to each positioning sphere. The positioning of the board to be tested is achieved by determining the position of the center of the sphere. Furthermore, during the design process, the finite element analysis module can be used to check the strength and stiffness of the board to be tested to ensure the reliability of the fixing system.

[0065] From the above, it can be seen that the test bench also combines the process edge to further fix the board. The process edge fixing device adopts a combination of flexible clamping and electromagnetic adsorption, which can be adaptively adjusted according to the shape and size of the board. It can ensure that the board will not move or shake during the test, ensuring that the board to be tested can perform the test reliably and stably.

[0066] The above embodiment does not limit the structure of the probe system. Based on the above embodiment, the present invention also provides an exemplary structure of the probe system, which may include the following contents:

[0067] The probe system is located above the test bench and includes multiple probe devices, such as Figure 3 As shown, each probe device includes a first robot arm located in the horizontal direction, a second robot arm located in the vertical direction, and a probe deployed on the second robot arm; wherein the first robot arm is respectively provided with a horizontal positioning device and a vertical positioning device in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction to move on the XY horizontal plane; the horizontal positioning device includes a first motor drive system, and a first transmission element and a first linear motion positioning device connected thereto; the vertical positioning device includes a second motor drive system, and a second transmission element and a second linear motion positioning device connected thereto; the second robot arm is provided with a vertical positioning device in the Z-axis direction to move up and down on the XZ plane and the YZ plane; the vertical positioning device includes a third motor drive system, and a third transmission element and a third linear motion positioning device connected thereto Motion positioning device; wherein the first motor drive system, the second motor drive system and the third motor drive system are used to control the motor speed and the motor position based on the proportional-integral-differential control algorithm according to the received control signal, the current actual position and the theoretical position of the robot arm; the first transmission element, the second transmission element and the third transmission element are used to realize the mutual conversion between rotational motion and linear motion; the first linear motion positioning device and the second linear motion positioning device are used to control the first robot arm to move in the linear direction of the XY horizontal plane, and the third linear motion positioning device is used to control the second robot arm to move in the linear direction of the XZ plane and the YZ plane; the probe includes an independent signal transmission channel for transmitting the test signal to the signal acquisition and analysis system.

[0068] In this embodiment, the probe system is located above the board to be tested and is composed of multiple high-precision mechanical arms, each of which can move accurately in the three-dimensional space determined by the three coordinate axes of X, Y, and Z. For the first mechanical arm, it can move in the plane determined by the X-axis and the Y-axis. In the Z-axis direction, the second mechanical arm is also controlled by a high-performance servo motor to achieve precise lifting and lowering movement in the vertical direction. The lifting and falling actions of the second mechanical arm are highly flexible and controllable. The lifting distance can be automatically adjusted according to the height of the components on the board and the distance between the probes, ensuring that the probe can safely pass over all components on the board during the test to avoid collision accidents. When the second mechanical arm falls, the probe deployed at its bottom can accurately pierce the test point of the board to be tested to achieve reliable contact with the test point. The probe can be made to have good conductivity, wear resistance and elasticity by using special materials and manufacturing processes. In addition, the shape and size of the probe can be flexibly selected according to actual conditions, so that it can adapt to different types of test points, such as tiny pads, pins, etc., to ensure that it can maintain good contact with the test point during the test without causing damage to the test point. In order to ensure the test accuracy, each probe is connected to an independent signal transmission channel so that the test signal can be accurately transmitted to the signal acquisition and analysis system for analysis. Furthermore, in order to further improve the accuracy of the probe to the test point, this embodiment adopts a real-time position feedback and error compensation mechanism, by continuously monitoring the actual position of the first robot arm and the second robot arm, and comparing it with the preset target position, that is, the position of the actual test point on the board, and using the PID (proportional (P), integral (I) and differential (D)) process control method to adjust the control parameters of the servo motor in real time, to ensure that the first robot arm and the second robot arm work together to quickly and accurately move the probe to the designated test point position.

[0069] Exemplarily, the first linear motion positioning device, the second linear motion positioning device and the third linear motion positioning device may include positioning rails, guide rails, sliders and transmission systems; wherein the guide rails are used to provide linear motion support, and the transmission system is used to transmit power to the sliders, so as to achieve the positioning and movement of the first robotic arm or the second robotic arm in the linear direction through the sliding of the sliders on the guide rails.

[0070] In this embodiment, the first linear motion positioning device, the second linear motion positioning device and the third linear motion positioning device adopt a linear guide transmission mechanism, and the slider slides on the guide rail to achieve accurate positioning and movement of the object in the linear direction. The guide rail provides linear motion support, and realizes linear motion through rolling or sliding friction between the guide rail and the slider, thereby providing stable support for the mechanical equipment in the linear direction, and helping the mechanical equipment to achieve high-precision linear positioning, reducing friction and wear. It can be made of materials with high hardness, high precision and low friction coefficient, such as steel, aluminum alloy, etc. The slider is a component attached to the guide rail and in full contact with it, usually made of metal or plastic material. The transmission system is responsible for transmitting power to the slider so that it can move on the guide rail. Common transmission systems include screw transmission, gear transmission, belt transmission, etc. These transmission systems convert rotational motion into linear motion, and push the slider to move along the guide rail by transmitting power to the slider on the guide rail.

[0071] The above embodiment does not impose any limitation on the structure of the first mechanical arm and the second mechanical arm. This embodiment also provides an exemplary implementation method. The first mechanical arm and the second mechanical arm can adopt an advanced servo motor drive system, and combine with a precision ball screw and a linear guide transmission mechanism to achieve sub-micron level positioning accuracy. The ball screw realizes linear motion by rolling the ball, and has the advantages of high transmission efficiency, low wear and long life. It can convert rotary motion into linear motion, or convert linear motion into rotary motion, or convert torque into axial repeated force, and has the characteristics of high precision, reversibility and high efficiency. The linear guide provides a stable guide, reduces friction and wear during the movement, and ensures the smooth movement of the mechanical arm. The servo motor drive system can accurately control the speed and position of the motor according to the input control signal, and has the characteristics of high response speed, high precision and high reliability. The combination of the servo motor, the ball screw and the linear guide can improve the positioning accuracy and repeated positioning accuracy of the first mechanical arm and the second mechanical arm. The process of achieving high-precision positioning by cooperating between the three may include the following contents:

[0072] The servo motor drive system can accurately adjust the rotation speed and position according to the instructions of the control system, so that the first robot arm and the second robot arm can move according to the preset path and speed, thereby achieving precise positioning. When the servo motor drives the ball screw to rotate, the balls on the ball screw convert the rotational motion into high-precision linear motion through rolling friction. The high precision, high efficiency and ability to withstand large loads of the ball screw enable the first robot arm and the second robot arm to maintain a high degree of accuracy and stability during the positioning process. The linear guide provides a stable linear motion guide for the first robot arm and the second robot arm. By using it in conjunction with the ball screw, the linear guide ensures the stability and accuracy of the first robot arm and the second robot arm during movement. The high precision, high rigidity and low friction characteristics of the linear guide further improve the positioning accuracy and repeatability of the first robot arm and the second robot arm.

[0073] From the above, it can be seen that in this embodiment, through the coordinated work of the servo motor drive system, the ball screw and the linear guide transmission mechanism, the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm can achieve precise positioning in three-dimensional space, and can perform the task of accurately moving the probe to the test point in a complex environment, meeting the requirements of high-precision positioning of board hardware testing.

[0074] The above embodiment does not limit the signal acquisition and analysis system in any way. The present invention also provides an exemplary implementation of the signal acquisition and analysis system, which may include the following contents:

[0075] The signal acquisition and analysis system may adopt an oscilloscope system; the oscilloscope system includes an edge trigger mode, a pulse width trigger mode and a logic trigger mode, and is also used to read trigger conditions from test cases to select corresponding trigger modes based on the trigger conditions to perform waveform analysis on the test signals of corresponding test points.

[0076] In this embodiment, each probe of the automated test equipment is connected to a separate oscilloscope channel of the oscilloscope system, so as to realize independent acquisition and analysis of the signal of each test point. The oscilloscope system has excellent performances such as high bandwidth, high sampling rate and deep storage depth, and can accurately capture various high-speed and complex signal waveforms. In order to meet the test requirements of different types of signals, the oscilloscope system of this embodiment includes a variety of trigger modes, including but not limited to edge triggering, pulse width triggering, and logic triggering, so that the trigger conditions of the oscilloscope system can be flexibly matched according to the requirements of the test case to ensure that the required signal waveform can be accurately captured.

[0077] Furthermore, the oscilloscope system of this embodiment is also equipped with signal processing algorithms and analysis tools, automatic measurement and statistical functions, which can process and analyze the collected signals in real time, such as extracting the waveform, eye diagram, frequency, amplitude, rise time, fall time, overshoot, undershoot and other parameter information of the test signal. The automatic measurement and statistical functions can quickly process and analyze a large amount of test data and generate a detailed test report.

[0078] It can be seen from the above that this embodiment can accurately capture the required signal waveform through the oscilloscope system, thereby improving the board test accuracy.

[0079] The above embodiment does not limit how the controller generates a test case. Based on the above embodiment, the present invention also provides an exemplary implementation method, which may include the following contents:

[0080] A test case template is built in advance, and the test case template includes test point coordinates, signal names, test conditions, signal triggering methods and expected results; when test data is received, the corresponding test point coordinates, signal names, test conditions, signal triggering methods and expected results are obtained by parsing the test data, and filled into the corresponding positions of the test case template.

[0081] Wherein, test data is various information required in the board to be tested test process, including but not limited to test point coordinates, signal name, test condition, signal trigger method, wherein, test condition can include overshoot tolerance, timing requirement, signal trigger method can include switch, issue instruction, send package.The test case of the present embodiment has adopted a kind of structured, easy to understand and maintain format to write, and supports multiple common test case writing tools and programming languages.Developers can flexibly select tools and methods suitable for them to create test cases according to actual needs.Meanwhile, in order to improve the reusability and versatility of test case, controller also supports parameterization and modular design of test case, can encapsulate some general test steps and logic into some functional modules of test case, call and combine in different test scenes.

[0082] In order to further improve test efficiency and reduce test costs, based on the above embodiments, the automated testing equipment of the present invention also includes an external interface system, which includes a network interface, a hardware interface and an application programming interface; wherein the hardware interface has a plug-and-play function and built-in multiple communication protocols to automatically identify and configure newly connected external devices; the application programming interface is used to integrate into the instruction sender through the cloud server when an integration instruction is received.

[0083] In this embodiment, the external interface system includes multiple external interfaces, which are important channels for the automated test equipment to interact with the external environment. They can be network interfaces for communicating with other systems through the network; they can also be hardware interfaces for data interaction with the equipment; they can also be software interfaces for calling the functions of other software modules. In this way, multiple open interface areas can be set around the automated test equipment. These interface areas can flexibly connect various customized fixtures, peripheral components and test-supporting instruments and equipment, such as power supplies, signal generators, spectrum analyzers, and network analyzers according to different test requirements, so as to build a complete test environment to meet various complex hardware test requirements.

[0084] For the external hardware interface, the interface of this embodiment adopts a standardized and modular design concept, supports a variety of common interface standards, such as USB, LAN, GPIB, RS232, etc., and is convenient for quick connection and communication with different types of external devices. In order to improve the scalability and compatibility of the entire system, the external interface system also supports plug-and-play functions, which can automatically identify and configure newly connected external devices without manual complex settings and debugging. At the same time, the system also has a strong anti-interference ability, which can effectively avoid the influence of electromagnetic interference in the external environment on the test signal and equipment communication, and ensure the accuracy and reliability of the test results. Furthermore, it can also be integrated with other management systems of the enterprise, such as R&D management system, quality management system, etc. through cloud system support. Correspondingly, the instruction sender is the R&D management system and quality management system, thereby realizing seamless connection and collaborative management of test data and other business data.

[0085] As can be seen from the above, this embodiment realizes the construction of the test environment through the external interface, avoids the artificial temporary assembly environment, reduces the probability of damaging the board, and reduces the loss cost. Further, the external interface is used to realize integration with other systems, and realizes seamless connection and collaborative management of test data and other business data.

[0086] Based on the above embodiments, in order to facilitate remote monitoring and management of the test process, the server board test system of the present invention may also include a remote control system, which has a human-computer interaction interface, and the human-computer interaction interface includes a test item query page, a control page, a video monitoring page and a fault handling page; wherein the test item query page includes an operation status query item, a test progress query item and a test result query item of the main board to be tested; the control page includes a control instruction input area, which is used to remotely control the test of the main supplement to be tested through the control instruction input area; the video monitoring page includes a video monitoring option and a problem feedback option, and when it is detected that the video monitoring option is triggered, the test screen of the board to be tested is displayed; the problem feedback option is used to upload problems existing in the test process of the board to be tested and the corresponding solutions; the fault handling page includes a data download option and a solution upload option; the data download option is used to download the test data and test log information of the board to be tested; the solution upload option is used to automatically diagnose faults according to the test data and test log information, and generate fault solutions.

[0087] In this embodiment, the remote control system can be based on cloud computing and network communication technology, and the remote connection and interaction between the user and the automated test equipment can be realized by deploying the server and related software services in the cloud. The remote control system provides an intuitive and easy-to-use human-machine interface to the outside world. The user can log in to the remote control system through any terminal device with network connection, such as a computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone, etc., and view the operating status, test progress, test results and other information of the test equipment in real time. In addition, the user can also send various control instructions to the automated test equipment through the remote control system, such as starting the test, stopping the test, adjusting the test parameters, switching the test mode, etc., to realize the remote control and management of the test process. Further, the user can remotely observe the operation process of the test equipment through the video monitoring function of the remote control system, and promptly discover and solve possible problems. The remote control system automatically diagnoses the possible faults of the board to be tested by analyzing the operating data and log information of the board to be tested, and provides corresponding solutions and repair suggestions, which greatly improves the maintenance efficiency and reliability of the equipment.

[0088] The above embodiment does not limit how to perform corresponding test analysis on the waveform image information sent by the signal acquisition and analysis system. Based on the above embodiment, the present invention also provides an exemplary implementation method, which may include the following contents:

[0089] Extract waveform characteristic parameters of the waveform image information of the current test point; read the expected result of the current test point from the test case, and generate a test report based on the comparison result of the waveform characteristic parameters with the expected result of the current test point.

[0090] In this embodiment, after the signal acquisition and analysis system acquires the waveform image of the test signal, it will transmit these data in real time to the cloud system of the cloud server. The cloud system can use pre-deployed algorithms, such as machine learning and data analysis algorithms, to automatically analyze and identify the waveform image, extract key feature information, such as waveform, eye diagram, frequency, amplitude, rise time, fall time, overshoot, undershoot and other key parameter information, and compare and judge it with the preset standard waveform, and automatically generate test data and test reports. In order to improve practicality, in addition to detailed test results, the test report can also include data analysis charts, abnormal situation descriptions, and corresponding improvement suggestions, so as to provide more comprehensive and intuitive test feedback information.

[0091] Furthermore, the cloud server also supports multi-user data sharing and collaboration functions. Multiple users share test data and test reports through the cloud server through authorized login information, further improving the test efficiency of the boards to be tested.

[0092] Finally, based on the above embodiments, in order to make the testing process of the server board more clear to those skilled in the art, the present invention also provides a testing process of the server board, such as Figure 4 As shown, it may include the following:

[0093] A1: In the PCBA board factory, select an area with stable power supply, good ventilation and heat dissipation conditions and necessary anti-static measures, and deploy the automated testing equipment described in the above embodiment to ensure that the automated testing equipment can operate stably and reliably.

[0094] A2: Install and debug the automated test equipment to the best working state. According to the type and specifications of the board to be tested, input the size, thickness, and component layout information of the board to be tested through the equipment's operating interface, so that the test bench can determine the corresponding support position according to the BRD file to adapt to the support requirements of different boards.

[0095] A3: When the board to be tested is produced, it is placed on the test bench. The support column and process edge fixture of the test bench will automatically adjust adaptively according to the characteristics of the board to be tested to ensure that the board to be tested is firmly fixed on the test bench.

[0096] A4: By connecting the power supply, input and output interfaces and other peripheral components in the interface area reserved around the board to be tested, the preliminary construction of the test environment for the board to be tested is completed.

[0097] A5: Start the onboard management system, such as the baseboard management controller, and debug and configure it to ensure that it can work normally and execute test instructions. The onboard management system communicates with the automated test equipment in real time to implement various operations and monitoring of the board hardware under test.

[0098] A6: The user needs to input the detailed information of the hardware test signal, including signal name, test point coordinates, test conditions, and special requirements for the waveform, into the controller to generate an electronic test case. Ensure the accuracy and completeness of the test case to ensure the reliability of the test results.

[0099] A7: Transmit the test case to the automated test equipment. The automated test equipment will automatically parse the information in the test case and control the probe system to start the probe deployment work according to the test point coordinates.

[0100] A8: After receiving the command, the probe system will move accurately in three-dimensional space according to the coordinate information in the BRD file through the precise control of the servo motor and the PID control method, and can accurately pierce the test point of the board to be tested. When testing single-ended signals, select a single probe according to the requirements of the test case, and use the same ground as the oscilloscope or use another probe to connect to the nearest ground line; when testing differential signals, use two probes for measurement.

[0101] A9: When the probe is inserted into the test point, the automated test equipment will send corresponding instructions to the board under test through the on-board management system according to the signal triggering method in the test case, such as power on and off, issuing specific instructions or packets, etc., to trigger the signal under test. At the same time, the oscilloscope system will automatically adjust its own parameter settings according to the preset parameters and signal waveform span, accurately capture each signal, and transmit the captured signal waveform to the cloud server in real time.

[0102] A10: The cloud server receives the signal waveform transmitted by the oscilloscope system, analyzes the waveform, and extracts key characteristic parameters of the waveform, such as overshoot, monotonicity, timing, eye diagram, etc. Then, these parameters are compared with the preset standards to determine whether the signal meets the requirements and automatically generate a detailed test report.

[0103] A11: During the test process, if some test conditions need to be triggered by commands, users can use the remote control system to remotely control the board to be tested with the help of the communication link between the cloud system and the onboard management system. At the same time, the remote control system can also adjust and control the corresponding parameters of the oscilloscope system to ensure that the measurement of special signals can be completed accurately.

[0104] As can be seen from the above, this embodiment can complete the hardware test of the server board in the board factory, improving the timeliness of the test. On the automated test equipment, the test environment is built through the external interface, avoiding the environment of temporary assembly by humans, reducing the probability of damaging the board, and reducing the loss cost. With the help of automated test equipment, fast, efficient and accurate signal measurement can be achieved, avoiding the errors and uncertainties caused by manual measurement, effectively improving the efficiency of server board testing, shortening the R&D cycle, and reducing R&D costs.

[0105] In this specification, each embodiment is described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other. Professionals can also further realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented with electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the composition and steps of each example have been generally described in the above description according to the function. Whether these functions are executed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present invention.

[0106] The above is a detailed introduction to a server board test system provided by the present invention. This article uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present invention and its core idea. It should be pointed out that based on the embodiments of the present invention, for ordinary technicians in this technical field, all other embodiments obtained without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention. Without departing from the principle of the present invention, the present invention can also be improved and modified in a number of ways, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A server board test system, characterized in that: It includes automated testing equipment, a controller and a cloud server; the cloud server includes an automated testing instruction library; The automated test equipment includes a test bench, a probe system, and a signal acquisition and analysis system; the test bench is used to fix the board to be tested in the processing process, and the probe system is used to determine the board position information of each test point located on the board to be tested according to the test point position information in the test case, and automatically move the probe to the board position information; the signal acquisition and analysis system is used to collect the test signal transmitted by the probe, and call the corresponding automatic test instruction from the cloud server according to the test requirements of the test case to perform waveform analysis on the test signal of each test point; The controller is used to automatically generate test cases according to the received test data, and send the test cases to the automated testing equipment; The cloud server is used to perform corresponding test analysis on the waveform image information sent by the signal acquisition and analysis system according to the test case, and generate a test report.

2. The server board test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The test bench includes a plurality of support columns of the same height; The test bench is also used to: determine the initial support position of the board to be tested according to the size, weight distribution and component layout information of the board file of the board to be tested; The support positions are determined according to the initial support positions and the spatial positions of the support columns.

3. The server board test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The test bench also includes a fixing system that uses a combination of flexible clamping and electromagnetic adsorption to fix the board to be tested; the fixing system includes a positioning adsorption device, a flexible adjustment device and a vacuum device; Among them, the positioning and adsorption device includes a suction cup, a universal joint and a mounting structure; the flexible adjustment device adjusts each positioning point of the board to be tested in the XZ direction; the vacuum system is used to provide vacuum negative pressure to each suction cup and automatically detect the vacuum adsorption state of each suction cup.

4. The server board test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The probe system is located above the test bench, and the probe system includes a plurality of probe devices; The probe device comprises a first mechanical arm located in a horizontal direction, a second mechanical arm located in a vertical direction, and a probe deployed on the second mechanical arm; Wherein, the first mechanical arm is provided with a horizontal positioning device and a vertical positioning device in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction respectively, so as to move on the XY horizontal plane; the horizontal positioning device includes a first motor drive system, and a first transmission element and a first linear motion positioning device connected thereto; the vertical positioning device includes a second motor drive system, and a second transmission element and a second linear motion positioning device connected thereto; the second mechanical arm is provided with a vertical positioning device in the Z-axis direction, so as to move up and down on the XZ plane and the YZ plane; the vertical positioning device includes a third motor drive system, and a third transmission element and a third linear motion positioning device connected thereto; Wherein, the first motor drive system, the second motor drive system and the third motor drive system are used to control the motor speed and the motor position based on the proportional-integral-differential control algorithm according to the received control signal, the current actual position and the theoretical position of the robot arm; the first transmission element, the second transmission element and the third transmission element are used to realize the mutual conversion between rotational motion and linear motion; the first linear motion positioning device and the second linear motion positioning device are used to control the first robot arm to move in the linear direction of the XY horizontal plane, and the third linear motion positioning device is used to control the second robot arm to move in the linear direction of the XZ plane and the YZ plane; Wherein, the probe includes an independent signal transmission channel for transmitting the test signal to the signal acquisition and analysis system.

5. The server board test system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The first linear motion positioning device, the second linear motion positioning device and the third linear motion positioning device include positioning rails, guide rails, sliders and a transmission system; The guide rail is used to provide linear motion support, and the transmission system is used to transmit power to the slider, so as to realize the positioning and movement of the first robotic arm or the second robotic arm in a linear direction through the sliding of the slider on the guide rail.

6. The server board test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The signal acquisition and analysis system is an oscilloscope system; The oscilloscope system includes an edge trigger mode, a pulse width trigger mode and a logic trigger mode, and is also used to read the trigger conditions from the test case to select a corresponding trigger mode based on the trigger conditions to perform waveform analysis on the test signal of the corresponding test point.

7. The server board test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The automatically generating test cases according to the received test data includes: Pre-build a test case template, the test case template includes test point coordinates, signal name, test conditions, signal triggering method and expected results; When the test data is received, the corresponding test point coordinates, signal name, test conditions, signal triggering method and expected results are obtained by parsing the test data, and are filled into the corresponding positions of the test case template.

8. The server board test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also included is an external interface system, the external interface system including a network interface, a hardware interface and an application programming interface; The hardware interface has a plug-and-play function and has multiple communication protocols built in to automatically identify and configure newly connected external devices; The application programming interface is used to integrate into the instruction sender through the cloud server when an integration instruction is received.

9. The server board test system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: It also includes a remote control system with a human-computer interaction interface; The human-computer interaction interface includes a test item query page, a control page, a video monitoring page and a fault handling page; The test item query page includes a running status query item, a test progress query item, and a test result query item of the motherboard to be tested; The control page includes a control instruction input area, which is used to remotely control the test of the main compensation to be tested through the control instruction input area; The video monitoring page includes a video monitoring option and a problem feedback option. When the video monitoring option is detected to be triggered, the test screen of the board to be tested is displayed; the problem feedback option is used to upload the problems existing in the test process of the board to be tested and the corresponding solutions; The fault handling page includes a data download option and a solution upload option; the data download option is used to download the test data and test log information of the board to be tested; the solution upload option is used to automatically diagnose the fault according to the test data and the test log information, and generate a fault solution.

10. The server board test system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The corresponding test analysis is performed on the waveform image information sent by the signal acquisition and analysis system, and a test report is generated, including: Extract waveform characteristic parameters of the waveform image information of the current test point; The expected result of the current test point is read from the test case, and a test report is generated according to a comparison result of the waveform characteristic parameter with the expected result of the current test point.

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