Methods for triggering oscilloscopes and oscilloscopes employing the same

An oscilloscope comprising:

• circuitry configured to generate an eye pattern based upon an input signal;
• a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) configured to equalize the input signal, the DFE comprising x taps, wherein x is a positive integer;
• and
• circuitry configured to trigger a sweep of the oscilloscope based on a predetermined sequence of bits occurring, with a predetermined periodicity, in the input signal, the predetermined sequence of bits comprising at least x bits having a same value.

A method comprising:

• providing a bit stream comprising pseudo-random data to an oscilloscope across a data path characterized by sufficient signal degradation to prevent the oscilloscope from reliably triggering a sweep of an eye pattern based on receiving the pseudo-random data;
• inserting a predetermined sequence of bits into the bit stream at predetermined periodic intervals to open the eye pattern sufficiently during each of the periodic intervals to permit the oscilloscope to trigger the sweep of the eye pattern;
• and
• generating the eye pattern based at least in part on the pseudo-random data and excluding the predetermined sequence of bits from the sweep of the eye pattern.