The Philips PM5544 is a television pattern generator, most commonly used to provide a television station with a complex test card commonly referred to as a Philips Pattern or PTV Circle pattern. The content and layout of the pattern was designed by engineer (da; 1939–2011) in the Philips TV laboratory in Copenhagen under supervision of chief engineer Erik Helmer Nielsen in 1966–67. The equipment, the PM5544 Test Pattern Generator, which generates the pattern, was made by engineer Finn Hendil and his group in 1968–69. Since the introduction of the PM5544 in the early 1970s, the Philips Pattern has become one of the most commonly used test cards, with only the SMPTE bars, the BBC Test Card F and the Snell & Wilcox Zone Plate coming close to its usage.