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Diagnostic Program
A diagnostic program (also known as a Test Mode) is an automatic computer program sequence that determines the operational status within the software, hardware, or any combination thereof in a component, a system, or a network of systems. Diagnostic programs ideally provide the user with guidance regarding any issues or problems found during its operation. Diagnostics programs may be simple or complex, operating unknowingly within everyday devices or awaiting their invocation to make more complex performance assessments. Everyday examples are a microwave oven that displays code F6 to warn of a shorted temperature probe or a garage door opener that flashes its control board's LED four times warning of critically misaligned safety sensors and impending shutdown. Diagnostic programs are also inserted into consumer electronic products and electronic games. Sometimes if the owner of an electronic device asks the manufacturer how to access the hidden diagnostic program, they may repl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program in its human-readable form is called source code. Source code needs another computer program to execute because computers can only execute their native machine instructions. Therefore, source code may be translated to machine instructions using the language's compiler. (Assembly language programs are translated using an assembler.) The resulting file is called an executable. Alternatively, source code may execute within the language's interpreter. If the executable is requested for execution, then the operating system loads it into memory and starts a process. The central processing unit will soon switch to this process so it can fetch, decode, and then execute each machine instruction. If the source code is requested for executio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things. The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Movies, games, competitions and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. , 600 billion Lego parts had been produced. History The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automatic Test Equipment
Automatic test equipment or automated test equipment (ATE) is any apparatus that performs tests on a device, known as the device under test (DUT), equipment under test (EUT) or unit under test (UUT), using automation to quickly perform measurements and evaluate the test results. An ATE can be a simple computer-controlled digital multimeter, or a complicated system containing dozens of complex test instruments (real or simulated electronic test equipment) capable of automatically testing and diagnosing faults in sophisticated electronic packaged parts or on wafer testing, including system on chips and integrated circuits. Where it is used ATE is widely used in the electronic manufacturing industry to test electronic components and systems after being fabricated. ATE is also used to test avionics and the electronic modules in automobiles. It is used in military applications like radar and wireless communication. In the semiconductor industry Semiconductor ATE, named for testing se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Hardware
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the case, central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, speakers and motherboard. By contrast, software is the set of instructions that can be stored and run by hardware. Hardware is so-termed because it is " hard" or rigid with respect to changes, whereas software is "soft" because it is easy to change. Hardware is typically directed by the software to execute any command or instruction. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system, although other systems exist with only hardware. Von Neumann architecture The template for all modern computers is the Von Neumann architecture, detailed in a 1945 paper by Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann. This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with subdivisions of a processing unit consisting of an arithmetic log ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power-on Self-test
A power-on self-test (POST) is a process performed by firmware or software routines immediately after a computer or other digital electronic device is powered on. This article mainly deals with POSTs on personal computers, but many other embedded systems such as those in major appliances, avionics, communications, or medical equipment also have self-test routines which are automatically invoked at power-on. The results of the POST may be displayed on a panel that is part of the device, output to an external device, or stored for future retrieval by a diagnostic tool. Since a self-test might detect that the system's usual human-readable display is non-functional, an indicator lamp or a speaker may be provided to show error codes as a sequence of flashes or beeps. In addition to running tests, the POST process may also set the initial state of the device from firmware. In the case of a computer, the POST routines are part of a device's pre-boot sequence; if they complete success ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UEFI
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples of firmware that implement these specifications are AMI Aptio, Phoenix SecureCore, TianoCore EDK II and InsydeH2O. UEFI replaces the BIOS which was present in the boot ROM of all personal computers that are IBM PC-compatible, although it can provide backwards compatibility with the BIOS using CSM booting. Intel developed the original ''Extensible Firmware Interface'' (''EFI'') specifications. Some of the EFI's practices and data formats mirror those of Microsoft Windows. In 2005, UEFI deprecated EFI 1.10 (the final release of EFI). UEFI is independent of platform and programming language, but C is used for the reference implementation TianoCore EDKII. History The original motivation for EFI came during early development of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BIOS
In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting process (power-on startup). The BIOS firmware comes pre-installed on an IBM PC or IBM PC compatible's system board and exists in some UEFI-based systems to maintain compatibility with operating systems that do not support UEFI native operation. The name originates from the Basic Input/Output System used in the CP/M operating system in 1975. The BIOS originally proprietary to the IBM PC has been reverse engineered by some companies (such as Phoenix Technologies) looking to create compatible systems. The interface of that original system serves as a ''de facto'' standard. The BIOS in modern PCs initializes and tests the system hardware components ( Power-on self-test), and loads a boot loader from a mass storage device which then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Refurbishment (electronics)
Refurbishment is the distribution of products (generally electronics) that have been previously returned to a manufacturer or vendor for any reason, not sold in the market or new launch of a product. Refurbished products are normally tested for functionality and defects before they are sold to the public. They are repaired by the original manufacturer and resold. Description The main difference between "refurbished" and "used" products is that refurbished products have been tested and verified to function properly, and are thus free of defects, while "used" products may or may not be defective. Refurbished products may be unused customer returns that are essentially "new" items, or they may be defective products that were returned under warranty, and resold by the manufacturer after repairing the defects and ensuring proper function. Other types of products that may be sold as "refurbished" include: :* Items used in field tests, sales displays or demonstrations :* Items return ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field-replaceable Unit
A field-replaceable unit (FRU) is a printed circuit board, part, or assembly that can be quickly and easily removed from a computer or other piece of electronic equipment, and replaced by the user or a technician without having to send the entire product or system to a repair facility. FRUs allow a technician lacking in-depth product knowledge to isolate faults and replace faulty components. The granularity of FRUs in a system impacts total cost of ownership and support, including the costs of stocking spare parts, where spares are deployed to meet repair time goals, how diagnostic tools are designed and implemented, levels of training for field personnel, whether end-users can do their own FRU replacement, etc. Other equipment FRUs are not strictly confined to computers but are also part of many high-end, lower-volume consumer and commercial products. For example, in military aviation, electronic components of line-replaceable units, typically known as shop-replaceable units (SRU ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modular Programming
Modular programming is a software design technique that emphasizes separating the functionality of a Computer program, program into independent, interchangeable modules, such that each contains everything necessary to execute only one aspect of the desired functionality. A module interface (computing), interface expresses the elements that are provided and required by the module. The elements defined in the interface are detectable by other modules. The implementation contains the working code that corresponds to the elements declared in the interface. Modular programming is closely related to structured programming and object-oriented programming, all having the same goal of facilitating construction of large software programs and systems by Decomposition_(computer_science), decomposition into smaller pieces, and all originating around the 1960s. While the historical usage of these terms has been inconsistent, "modular programming" now refers to the high-level decomposition of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modular Design
Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called ''modules'' (such as modular process skids), which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules or between different systems. Overview A modular design can be characterized by functional partitioning into discrete scalable and reusable modules, rigorous use of well-defined modular interfaces, and making use of industry standards for interfaces. In this context modularity is at the component level, and has a single dimension, component slottability. A modular system with this limited modularity is generally known as a platform system that uses modular components. Examples are car platforms or the USB port in computer engineering platforms. In design theory this is distinct from a modular system which has higher dimensional modularity and degrees of freedom. A modular system design has no distinct lifetime and exhibits flexibili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
