Equivalent time waveform data display
AssigneeTektronix, Inc.
InventorBrian E. Batson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A digital oscilloscope processes digitized input waveform data sequences according to a user defined mathematical expression to compute a processed waveform data sequence controlling a periodically updated waveform display on a screen. The waveform data is computed during equivalent time computation passes during each of which pass every Nth data of the waveform data sequence is computed. The first waveform data computed during each pass is selected in a pseudorandom fashion such that each data of the waveform data sequence is computed once every N computation passes. The value of N is suitably chosen so that the duration of each pass is substantially equal to the period between waveform display updates.
Claims14
In a system including computing means, memory means sequentially storing first data values forming a digital data sequence at a plurality of contiguous memory positions, and display means including a screen for producing a waveform display representing a digital data sequence provided thereto, a method for altering the digital data sequence and the waveform display, the method comprising the steps of:
- computing in said computing means according to a predetermined mathematical expression a plurality of second data values;
- writing the second data values to non-contiguous ones of said memory positions, thereby replacing ones of said first data values with computed second data values;
- providing the digital data sequence stored in said memory means to the display means;
- and
- repeating the steps of computing, writing and providing the digital data sequence.
In a system including computing means, memory means sequentially storing first data values forming a digital data sequence at a plurality of contiguous memory positions, and display means including a screen periodically updating a waveform display in accordance with said data sequence provided to said display means between display updates, a method for altering the digital data sequence and the waveform display, the method comprising the steps of:
- computing in said computing means according to a predetermined mathematical expression a plurality of second data values;
- writing said second data values to said memory means, said second data values replacing ones of said first data values stored at non-contiguous ones of said memory positions;
- providing the digital data sequence stored in said memory means to the display means;
- and
- repeating the steps of computing, writing and providing the digital data sequence with an overall duration of each cycle of computing, writing and providing being substantially equal to a period between waveform display updates.
In a system including analog to digital conversion means, computing means, memory means sequentially storing first data values forming a digital data sequence at a plurality of contiguous memory positions, and display means including a screen periodically updating a waveform display in accordance with said data sequence provided to said display means between display updates, a method for altering the digital data sequence and the waveform display, comprising the steps of:
- computing in said computing means according to a predetermined mathematical expression a plurality of second data values;
- writing said second data values to said memory means, said second data values replacing ones of said first data values stored at non-contiguous ones of said memory positions;
- providing the digital data sequence stored in said memory means to the display means;
- and
- repeating the steps of computing, writing and providing the digital data sequence with an overall duration of each cycle of computing, writing and providing being substantially equal to a period between waveform display updates.
In a system including analog to digital conversion means, computing means, memory means sequentially storing first data values forming a first digital data sequence at a plurality of contiguous first memory positions in said memory means, and display means including a screen periodically updating a waveform display in accordance with said first data sequence provided to said display means between display updates, a method for altering the digital data sequence and the waveform display, comprising the steps of:
- sampling an input waveform and converting the input waveform to a second digital waveform data sequence;
- sequentially storing the second digital waveform data sequence at contiguous second memory positions in the memory means;
- and
- processing the second waveform data sequence for display on the screen in accordance with predetermined operations;
- wherein said processing for display in accordance with predetermined operations comprises the steps of:
- reading a plurality of second data values from non-contiguous ones of said second memory positions;
- computing in said computing means according to a predetermined mathematical expression a plurality of third data values;
- writing said third data values to said memory means, said third data values replacing ones of said first data values stored at non-contiguous ones of said first memory positions;
- providing the first digital data sequence stored in said memory means to the display means;
- and
- repeating the steps of reading computing, writing and providing the first digital data sequence, with an overall duration of each cycle of computing, writing and providing being substantially equal to a predetermined amount of time.
An apparatus for generating and displaying representations of waveforms, comprising:
- memory means sequentially storing data values forming a digital data sequence at contiguous memory positions;
- display means including a screen, said display means periodically generating a waveform display representing said digital data sequence on said screen in response to said digital data sequence;
- and
- computing means for repetitively computing a plurality of data values according to a predetermined mathematical expression, writing the computed data values to non-contiguous ones of said memory positions thereby replacing values of said digital data sequence with said computed data values, and providing the digital data sequence to the display means;
- said computing means replacing a different set of data values of said digital data sequence during each of a plurality of successive cycles of computing, writing and providing.
An apparatus for generating and displaying digital representations of waveforms, comprising:
- memory means for sequentially storing first data values forming a first digital data sequence at contiguous first memory positions and second data values forming a second digital data sequence at contiguous second memory positions;
- display means including a screen, for producing a waveform display representative of said first digital data sequence when said first digital data sequence is provided to said display means;
- and
- computing means for repetitively reading a plurality of said second data values from non-contiguous ones of said second memory positions, computing according to a predetermined mathematical expression third data values for the first data values read, writing said third data values to non-contiguous ones of said first memory positions replacing values of said first data sequence, and providing said first data sequence to the display means;
- said computing means writing to a separate set of said first memory positions during each of a plurality of successive cycles of reading, computing, writing and providing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.