Noise Enhanced Histograms

A non-transitory machine readable storage medium having stored therein machine readable code which, when processed at a computer system for generating a manifestation of an integrated circuit, causes the computer system to generate a manifestation of an apparatus for binning an input value of data representative of a physical parameter into one of a plurality of bins which collectively represent a histogram of input values, each of the plurality of bins representing a corresponding range of input values, the apparatus comprising:

• an input configured to receive an input value from a data source;
• a noise source configured to generate an error value according to a predetermined noise distribution;
• and
• a binning controller configured to mix the received input value with the error value so as to generate a modified input value and to allocate the modified input value to the bin corresponding to that modified input value.

A method for generating a histogram of input values of data representative of a physical parameter, the histogram comprising a plurality of bins each representing a corresponding range of input values, the method comprising:

• receiving an input value;
• generating an error value according to a predetermined noise distribution;
• mixing the received input value with the error value so as to generate a modified input value;
• and
• allocating the modified input value to the bin corresponding to that modified input value.