Enabling a trigger in a test and measurement instrument

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10656183-B2
Application number	US-201715796722-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2017
Priority date	Jun 21, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A test and measurement instrument, such as an oscilloscope, including one or more ports to receive one or more signals from a device under test, a trigger enable logic circuit configured to output a trigger enabled signal when a trigger enable event occurs within the one or more signals, the trigger enable event being a real-time event of the one or more signals, one or more trigger logic circuits configured to generate a plurality of trigger signals when the trigger enable signal is received, each trigger signal being generated when a trigger event occurs within one of the one or more signals, and an acquisition circuit configured to acquire and store data in a memory in response to each of the trigger signals.

First claim

We claim:

1. An oscilloscope, comprising:
one or more ports to receive one or more signals from one or more devices, at least one of the one or more devices being a device under test;
a trigger enable logic circuit configured to assert a trigger enabled signal when a trigger enable event occurs within the one or more signals, the trigger enable event being a real-time event of the one or more signals in which a pulse width of one of the one or more signals is less than a threshold width;
one or more trigger logic circuits configured to generate a plurality of trigger signals when the trigger enable signal is asserted, each trigger signal being generated after a trigger event occurs within one of the one or more signals; and
an acquisition circuit configured to acquire and store data in a memory in response to each of the trigger signals.

2. The oscilloscope of claim 1 , in which the one or more ports include a first port to receive a first signal from the device under test, a second port to receive a second signal from the device under test, and a third port to receive a third signal from the device under test,
the trigger enable logic circuit is further configured to generate the trigger enabled signal when the trigger enable event occurs within the first signal,
the one or more trigger logic circuits is further configured to generate a plurality of trigger signals, each trigger signal being generated when the one or more trigger comparators determines a trigger event occurs within the second signal; and
the acquisition circuit is further configured to acquire and store in a memory a portion of the third signal in response to each of the trigger signals.

3. The oscilloscope of claim 1 , wherein the data stored in memory includes a portion of the one or more signals, a timestamp, an error rate, or a frequency.

4. The oscilloscope of claim 1 , further comprising a reset circuit to output a reset signal in response to a reset condition to the trigger enable logic circuit to reset the trigger enable logic circuit so that the trigger enable signal will not assert until another trigger enable event occurs within the one or more signals.

5. The oscilloscope of claim 4 , wherein the reset condition includes a receiving a timer signal from a timer or detecting a reset event within one of the one or more signals.

6. The oscilloscope of claim 1 , wherein the trigger event includes a first event followed by a second event.

7. The oscilloscope of claim 1 , wherein the trigger enable event further includes an edge detection event, a pulse greater than a given width event, a detection of a signal of a given frequency event, or a detection of a specific amplitude of a pulse event.

8. A method for acquiring a plurality of portions of one or more signals in response to a plurality of triggering events in an oscilloscope, comprising:
receiving one or more signals from a device under test;
generating a trigger enable signal when a trigger enable event is detected within one of the one or more signals, the trigger enable event including a real-time event of the one or more signals in which a pulse width of one of the one or more signals is less than a threshold width;
after the trigger enable signal is generated, generating a plurality of trigger signals each time a trigger event is detected within one of the one or more signals;
acquiring data for each trigger signal; and
storing the data in a memory.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the trigger enable signal is generated when the trigger enable event is detected within a first signal, the trigger signal is generated when a trigger event is detected within a second signal, and the acquired portion is a portion of a third signal.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising resetting the trigger enable signal when a reset condition occurs.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the data includes a portion of the one or more signals, a timestamp, an error rate, or a frequency.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the reset condition includes receiving a timer signal from a timer or detecting a reset event within one of the one or more signals.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the trigger event includes a first event followed by a second event.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first event and the second event are detected within different signals.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the trigger enable event further includes an edge detection event, a pulse greater than or less than a given width event, a detection of a signal of a given frequency event, or a detection of a specific amplitude of a pulse event.

16. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a test and measurement instrument, cause the test and measurement instrument to:
receive one or more signals from a device under test;
generate a trigger enable signal when a trigger enable event is detected within one of the one or more signals, the trigger enable event being a real-time event of the one or more signals in which a pulse width of one of the one or more signals is less than a threshold width;
after the trigger enable signal is generated, generate a plurality of trigger signals each time a trigger event is detected within one of the one or more signals;
acquire data for each trigger signal; and
store the data in a memory.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the trigger enable signal is generated when the trigger enable event is detected within a first signal, the trigger signal is generated when a trigger event is detected within a second signal, and the acquired portion is a portion of a third signal.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , further including instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor of the test and measurement instrument, cause the test and measurement instrument to reset the trigger enable signal when a reset condition occurs.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the data includes a portion of the one or more signal, a timestamp, an error rate, or a frequency.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the trigger enable event further includes an edge detection event, a pulse greater than or less than a given width event, a detection of a signal of a given frequency event, or a detection of a specific amplitude of a pulse event.

Assignees

• Tektronix Inc

Inventors

• Kelly David L
• Andrews Jed H
• Smith Patrick A
• Martin Michael A

Classifications

• G01R13/0254 Primary

  for triggering, synchronisation · CPC title

• G01R27/28

  Measuring attenuation, gain, phase shift or derived characteristics of electric four pole networks, i.e. two-port networks; Measuring transient response (in line transmission systems H04B3/46) · CPC title

• G01R27/00

  Arrangements for measuring resistance, reactance, impedance, or electric characteristics derived therefrom · CPC title

• G01R13/00 Primary

  Arrangements for displaying electric variables or waveforms · CPC title

• G01R19/00

  Arrangements for measuring currents or voltages or for indicating presence or sign thereof (G01R5/00 takes precedence; for measuring bioelectric currents or voltages A61B5/24) · CPC title