Improving the accuracy of defect diagnosis by considering reduced diagnostic information

It was noted earlier that the accuracy of defect diagnosis may be improved if certain tests are removed from consideration by the defect diagnosis procedure. This paper observes that the effects, which support the removal of tests, also support the removal of observable outputs from consideration during defect diagnosis. Specifically, a test may create an output response that a defect diagnosis procedure will not be able to interpret correctly. This may affect some observable outputs more strongly than others. Therefore, the removal of observable outputs from consideration can improve the accuracy of diagnosis. This paper describes a generalized augmented defect diagnosis procedure that removes tests and observable outputs from consideration. It presents experimental results to demonstrate the effects of removing observable outputs on the accuracy of diagnosis.