Acquisition unit and method for infrequent capturing of data samples with associated timing information
AssigneeAgilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorsAdrian M. Hernandez, John David Hansen, John J. Sinnott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A data acquisition circuit and method according to embodiments of the invention insert overflow states into a data storage unit among samples of input data and associated time tags that are of interest. The overflow states allow multiple overflows of the time tags without intervening samples of input data being stored, thus allowing the infrequent capture of samples of the input data while maintaining accurate timing data. Also, the overflow states obviate the need to store an overflow status flag with each stored sample of input data and time tag in the data storage unit.
Claims15
A data acquisition unit for storing input data and time tags as sampled by way of an input clock, the data acquisition unit comprising:
- a time tag generator configured to generate a series of time tags and overflow flags;
- a data sampler configured to temporarily store a sample of the input data, along with the time tag being generated by the time tag generator at the time the sample of the input data is stored, for each pulse of the input clock;
- a data filter configured to selectively capture the sample of the input data and the time tag from the data sampler upon either a predetermined portion of the sample of the input data matching a predetermined value, or one of the overflow flags being active;
- and
- a data storage unit configured to store each of the selectively captured samples of the input data and the time tags from the data filter.
A data acquisition unit for storing input data and time tags as sampled by way of an input clock, the data acquisition unit comprising:
- means for generating a series of time tags and overflow flags;
- means for temporarily storing a sample of the input data, along with the time tag being generated by the generating means at the time the sample of the input data is stored, for each pulse of the input clock;
- means for selectively capturing the sample of the input data and the time tag from the temporarily storing means upon either a predetermined portion of the sample of the input data matching a predetermined value, or one of the overflow flags being active and
- means for storing each of the selectively captured samples of the input data and the time tags from the capturing means.
A method of storing input data and time tags as sampled by way of an input clock, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a series of time tags and overflow flags;
- temporarily storing a sample of the input data, along with the time tag being generated by the generating step at the time the sample of the input data is stored, for each pulse of the input clock;
- selectively capturing the sample of the input data and the time tag from the temporarily storing step upon either a predetermined portion of the sample of the input data matching a predetermined value, or one of the overflow flags being active;
- and
- storing each of the selectively captured samples of the input data and the time tags from the capturing step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.