EP0278748A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
A printed circuit board and apparatus for recording data thereon
Assignee: Rover Co Ltd
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Filing: 1988-02-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-02-10
Abstract
Abstract A printed circuit board (11) is described having a number of functional electrically conductive tracks (12) used to connect together the operative components and a number of further tracks (13) not connected to the functional tracks (12). The further tracks (13) include a number of fusible links (16) which can be failed by the application of excessive current to produce a binary data record of certain events.
Inventors
- 👤 Arthur Monks
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 06:19
CPC Classifications
H; H05; H05K; H05K1/00; H05K1/02; H05K1/0266; H01; H01H; H01H85/00; H01H85/02; H01H85/46; H01H85/463; H05K1/0286; H05K1/0293; H05K1/029; H05K1/11; H05K1/117; H05K1/16; H05K1/167; H05K2201/00; H05K2201/09; H05K2201/09209; H05K2201/09654; H05K2201/09727; H05K2201/10; H05K2201/10007; H05K2201/10181; H05K2203/00; H05K2203/11; H05K2203/1115; H05K2203/17; H05K2203/175
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
105 words
A printed circuit board (11) having functional electrically conductive tracks (12) required to operatively connect the components associated with the printed circuit board, characterised in that the printed circuit board, has at least one further electrically conductive track (13) not connected to the functional electrically conductive tracks (12), the or each further electrically conductive track (13) having a portion forming a fusible link (16) such that when a current at or above a pre-determined level is applied to the or each further electrically conductive track (13) the fusible link (16) associated therewith will fail thereby providing a permanent record of the application of the current.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
105 words
A printed circuit board (11) having functional electrically conductive tracks (12) required to operatively connect the components associated with the printed circuit board, characterised in that the printed circuit board, has at least one further electrically conductive track (13) not connected to the functional electrically conductive tracks (12), the or each further electrically conductive track (13) having a portion forming a fusible link (16) such that when a current at or above a pre-determined level is applied to the or each further electrically conductive track (13) the fusible link (16) associated therewith will fail thereby providing a permanent record of the application of the current.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in claim 1 in which there are a plurality of fusible links (16) forming a binary data recorder (15).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
56 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in claim 2 in which each of the fusible links (16) is joined at one end to a common track (14) linking all the fusible links (16) of the respective binary data recorder (15) together and at the other end to an individual conductive pad (17), (20), (21), (22).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
52 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in claim 3 in which the fusible links (16) are positioned near to one of the edges of the printed circuit board 11 so that connection to the conductive pads (17, (20), (21), (22) and the common track (14) is made by an edge connector.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
39 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 2 - 4 in which at least one of the fusible links (16) is utilised to record whether the printed circuit board (11) has been tested for faults.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
38 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 2 - 5 in which at least two of the fusible links (16) are utilised to record the source of manufacture of the printed circuit board (11).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
39 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 2 - 6 in which at least two of the fusible links (16) are utilised to record the specification to which the printed circuit board (11) is constructed.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
33 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 2 - 7 in which at least two of the fusible links (16) are utilised to record a fault found during testing.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
42 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 2 - 8 in which at least two of the fusible links (16) are utilised to record the identity of test equipment (30) used to test the printed circuit board (11).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
25 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 2 - 9 on which there are at least two binary data recorders (15).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
65 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any preceding claim in which the or each fusible link (16) has a first portion which will fail upon the application of a pre-determined current for a predetermined length of time and at least one further portion which will not fail until a higher current than the predetermined current is applied for the pre-determined length of time.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
68 words
A printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any of claims 1 - 10 in which the or each fusible link (16) has a first portion which will fail upon the application of a pre-determined current for a pre-determined length of time and at least one further portion which will not fail until the pre-determined current is applied for a period longer than the pre-determined length of time.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
86 words
Apparatus for recording binary data on a printed circuit board (11) according to any one of the preceding claims characterised in that the apparatus includes a source of electrical current (37) capable of producing sufficient current to produce failure of a fusible link (16) if connected thereto, connection means to connect, when in use, the source (37) to the or each link (16) and switching means 36 to selectively connect the source (37) to the or each fusible link (16) by means of the connection means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim (13) wherein the apparatus further includes programmable means (31) to control the switching means (36) in response to an input signal supplied from control means (39).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein the control means is an operator controlled keypad (39).
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
29 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein the input signal is generated by a fault test system (31), (32) utilised to test the printed circuit board (11) for faults.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
17 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein the input signal is generated by a magnetic card reader.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
17 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein the unput signal is generated by an optical card reader.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
65 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 in which the programmable means (31) is connectible to the functional electrically conductive tracks (12) and is so programmed as to cause the supply of a test signal thereto, to analyse the test result and to supply a control signal to the switching means (36) to couple the source (37) to one or more of the fusible links (16).
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
115 words
Apparatus for reading binary data encoded on a printed circuit board (11) as claimed in any one of claims 1 - 12, the apparatus being characterised by including a further source of electrical current of magnitude less than that required to produce failure of the or each fusible link (16), connection means to connect, when in use, the furthest source to the or each link (16) sensing means (31) to detect whether current is flowing through the or each link (16) and thereby the condition of the respective link (16) and output means (40), connected to the sensing means (31) to provide an operator interpretable output of the condition of the or each link (16).
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
66 words
A method of recording data on a printed circuit board (11) according to claim 1, characterised by the steps of connecting the or each fusible link (16) required to indicate the event which is to be recorded to a source of electrical current (37) and causing sufficient current to flow from said source (37) to produce failure of the or each fusible link (16) connected thereto.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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