A Compact Programmable Control Panel for Computer Control Systems

The Card Programmable Function Button Panel is basically a manual data entry device used for computer program assignment and binary control. However, it has the ability to be reassigned in over one thousand different configurations by changing a computer-read program card which also provides labeling of the panel's control buttons and indicator lights. The multiple assignment capability is accomplished by an optically-read ten-bit binary code on the program card. The panel is packaged in a 3-wide 8 3/4 inch high AEC Standard Nuclear Instrument Module (NIM). The front panel contains 30 control-button/indicator-light pairs which are labeled by the dollar-bill-sized program cards. The cards are made of a thin white plastic with a special writing surface. The recessed indicator-light matrix thus provides separate backlighting through each of the button-adjacent printed partitions of the over-laying program cards. Binary code bitlocations are printed across the bottom edge of the card, and the cards are encoded by punching out the appropriate code using a standard hand punch. The panel contains all the electronics necessary for lamp drivers, lamp test, lamp dimmers, as well as the logic for the registration, validation, reading, and transmission of the card's binary code to the computer. Separate electronics provides for button-switch debouncing, encoding, key-roll-over protection, and indicator-status memory. Electronic and mechanical construction details are reviewed as well as a brief description of the panel's use on the operator's control consoles at the Clinton P. Anderson Meson Physics Facility of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (herein referred to as LAMPF).