Method of and an arrangement for automatically measuring electric connections of electronic circuit arrangements mounted on printed circuit boards

1. A method of determining electric connections at a printed circuit board between boundary-scan compliant circuit terminals of at least one boundary-scan compliant device mounted on said printed circuit board and comprising a boundary-scan register of boundary-scan cells connected to said circuit terminals, said method using an electronic processing unit and comprising the steps of:

a) retrieving, by said processing unit, boundary-scan properties of said at least one boundary-scan compliant device, said properties at least comprising a listing of boundary-scan cells operable as a driver and/or sensor;

b) operating, by said processing unit, a boundary-scan cell connected to a circuit terminal as a driver and outputting data at said circuit terminal;

c) operating, by said processing unit, at least one other boundary-scan cell connected to an other circuit terminal as a sensor for sensing data received at said other circuit terminal and latching said sensed data into said boundary-scan register;

d) storing, by said processing unit, in a data storage device data from said boundary-scan register comprising said driver and sensor data;

e) repeating, by said processing unit, steps b)-d) for a plurality of boundary-scan cells of said listing of boundary-scan cells;

f) analyzing, by said processing unit, said stored driver and sensor data for determining electric connections between said circuit terminals on said printed circuit board; and

g) presenting, by said processing unit, determined electric connections at said printed circuit board.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of operating, by said processing unit, at least one other boundary-scan cell connected to an other circuit terminal as a sensor for sensing data received at said other circuit terminal and latching said sensed data into said boundary-scan register includes simultaneously operating each boundary-scan cell of said listing of boundary-scan cells operable as a sensor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of repeating comprises repeating steps b)-d) sequentially for each boundary-scan cell of said listing of boundary-scan cells operable as a driver.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said boundary-scan properties are retrieved from a Boundary Scan Description Language, BSDL, file of said at least one boundary-scan compliant device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a graphical user interface device, wherein at least one of said steps of operating, analyzing and presenting are displayed on said graphical user interface device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of presenting comprises providing a list of circuit terminals of said at least one boundary-scan compliant device and electric connections between said circuit terminals determined as a result of said analyzing of said stored driver and sensor data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of presenting comprises providing a circuit diagram representation graphically indicating circuit terminals of said at least one boundary-scan compliant device and electric connections between said circuit terminals determined as a result of said analyzing of said stored driver and sensor data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein boundary-scan cells of at least one boundary-scan compliant device not operated as driver or sensor are disabled separately and/or by use of a BYPASS instruction of said boundary-scan compliant devices.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing, by said processing unit, said determined electric connections at said printed circuit board and electric connections at a reference printed circuit board and presenting, by said processing unit, a result of said comparison of connections between said printed circuit boards.

10. An arrangement for determining electric connections at a printed circuit board between boundary-scan compliant circuit terminals of at least one boundary-scan compliant device mounted on said printed circuit board and comprising a boundary-scan register of boundary-scan cells connected to said circuit terminals, said arrangement comprising an electronic processing unit, wherein said electronic processing unit is arranged for:

retrieving boundary-scan properties of said at least one boundary-scan compliant device, said properties at least comprising a listing of boundary-scan cells operable as a driver and/or sensor;

operating a boundary-scan cell connected to a circuit terminal as a driver and outputting data at said circuit terminal;

operating at least one other boundary-scan cell connected to an other circuit terminal as a sensor for sensing data received at said other circuit terminal and latching said sensed data into a boundary-scan register;

storing, in a data storage device, data from said boundary-scan register comprising said driver and sensor data;

repeating said operating and outputting, operating and latching and storing for a plurality of boundary-scan cells of said listing of boundary-scan cells;

analyzing said stored driver and sensor data for determining electric connections between said circuit terminals at said printed circuit board; and

presenting determined electric connections between circuit terminals at said printed circuit board.

11. The arrangement of claim 10 , comprising a data storage device operatively connected to said electronic processing unit.

12. The arrangement of claim 10 , further comprising a graphical user interface device operatively connected to said electronic processing unit.

13. The arrangement of claim 10 , further comprising input means for inputting boundary scan properties of boundary scan compliant devices, such as BSDL files, and for inputting user data.

14. The arrangement of claim 10 , wherein said electronic processing unit is arranged for comparing said determined electric connections at said printed circuit board and electric connections at a reference printed circuit board and for presenting a result of said comparison of electric connections between said printed circuit boards.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory data storage device storing computer program code data arranged for performing the method of claim 1 , when said program code data are loaded into a memory of an electronic processing unit and are executed by said electronic processing unit.