Method and Apparatus for Achieving Variable and Infinite Persistence

This invention is concerned generally with digital oscilloscopes, and more specifically with methods and apparatus for achieving variable persistence and unlimited persistence of waveforms graphed on a repetitive sampling digital oscilloscope having a raster display. The variable persistence feature allows an oscilloscope user to control the length of time plotted points of the waveform under test will remain on the screen, enabling the user to perceive any changes in the waveform. Unlimited persistence allows the oscilloscope user to spot fault conditions which may occur infrequently or to monitor the extent of variations in the waveform over long periods of time.

Oscilloscopes are used for analyzing electronic equipment and locating fault conditions in the electronic equipment. An oscilloscope displays a graph of the voltage of an electronic signal versus time.

There are two major types of oscilloscopes, analog and digital. Analog oscilloscopes use an electrostatic or vector display. The display has three inputs referred to as X, Y, and Z. The voltage signal being measured is fed into the Y input and a ramp voltage is fed into the X input. The ramp represents the time variation. The Z axis is used to turn on the beam as it sweeps across the screen. The result is a X-versus-Y display where the voltage is displayed on the Y axis of the screen and time is displayed on the X axis of the screen.

A digital oscilloscope does not directly display the voltage signal as does an analog oscilloscope. A digital oscilloscope uses an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter to sample the voltage of the signal being measured. The output of the A/D converter is then used to create an X versus Y display of the data.

There are two types of digital oscilloscopes: single shot oscilloscopes and repetitive sampling oscilloscopes. With single shot oscilloscopes, the waveform is sampled only once. Once acquired, the waveform is displayed on the screen and remains there until the user wishes to make another acquisition. Some single shot waveforms continuously update the display. Each time a new waveform is captured, it replaces the last waveform on the display.

With repetitive sampling oscilloscopes, the waveforms are continuously sampled and displayed on the screen. Each time the waveform is sampled, more points are filled in on the displayed waveform. The advantage of repetitive sampling is that it allows the user to look at much higher bandwidth signals provided the signal repeats. Most digital oscilloscopes today are single shot oscilloscopes.

The two types of display technology currently available for oscilloscopes are vector displays and raster displays. All analog scopes use the vector technology, which was described above as having three inputs referred to as X, Y, and Z. The signal to be displayed may be either a stored signal, or a live signal. Some digital scopes use the vector technology, and others use the raster technology.

The raster display works by writing out the screen line by line starting from the top of the screen. The screen picture made up of discrete dots called pixels. The raster refreshed from a memory where each bit in the memory corresponds to a pixel.

variable persistence has been a feature in some analog scopes for many years. One commonly used scheme for implementing variable persistence in an analog oscilloscope used a storage mesh in the cathode ray tube between the screen and the electron gun. The mesh was charged to a negative potential. The incoming signal was written onto the storage mesh with a high velocity electron beam which disloged electrons from the mesh, raising potential of the storage surface where the beam struck. The image on the mesh was transferred to the screen by flooding the mesh with low velocity electrons. The low velocity electron were repelled by the negative charge on the screen but passed through the mesh where the high velocity electron beam had struck the mesh and disloged the electrons. The mesh was erased periodically by charging it up to a negative potential. The persistence of the trace was determined by controlling the length of the erase cycle such that the image was not entirely erased during each erase cycle.

The scheme had several problems. It had a finite persistence time because of free electrons floating around inside the tube which would gradually discharge the storage mesh and the picture on the screen would fade. The oscilloscope was generally difficult to use because a compromise had to be made between having a bright trace and avoiding blooming. The brighter the trace was, the wider it would become. Blooming occurred when the trace became so wide the whole screen became bright. Also, the analog storage oscilloscopes were expensive and did not have the resolution necessary to satisfactorily display characters.

Another storage technology used with analog oscilloscopes is bistable storage. The cathode ray tube of the bistable oscilloscope was coated with a phosphor which had two stable states: On and off. The phosphor was off initially and was turned on by the beam writing onto the inside surface of the cathode ray tube. The bistable oscilloscope had advantages of low cost and long persistence time, but had disadvantages of a very limited bandwidth compared to analog storage oscilloscopes, a persistence controllable only by erasing the entire screen, and poor contrast between the waveform and the background compared to analog storage oscilloscopes.

Variable persistence has never been used satisfactorily in analog oscilloscopes, because of the problems mentioned earlier with storage oscilloscopes.

Linked lists are a software scheme which have been well known in the industry for years. Typically, a linked list consists of several links and a pointer. The pointer has address of the first link and each link has the address of subsequent link. The last link in the list may contain an identifier such as a zero address indicating that it is the last link. One application was used in U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,026 by inventors Waitman and Lyman as a method of encoding data characters and control characters for refreshing a cathode ray tube display.

Lookup tables are also well known as a time saving device in software applications. Instead of computing a number according to a function every time it is needed, a table of computed numbers is created according to the function and is referred to as needed.

This invention consists of methods and apparatus for achieving variable persistence and unlimited persistence of waveforms from signals in systems under test. One preferred embodiment of this invention is a digital oscilloscope which can display sampled points of a changing waveform for a specified or unlimited amount of time.

A block diagram, FIG. 1, shows the basic structure of the apparatus for one embodiment. Block 10 represents the input circuitry and the sampler. The input circuitry contains attenuation and offset circuits to bring the signal within the range of the sampler and analog-to-digital (A/D) converters. The sampler performs a sample-and-hold (S/H) function.

Block 20 represents an A/D converter which converts the incoming analog signal to a digital number. The digital numbers are stored in a high speed memory represented by block 30. The acquisition cycle is over when a predetermined number of points have been acquired.

When the acquisition cycle is complete, the microprocessor, represented by block 50, reads the digital numbers out of the high speed memory and processes the points. If the embodiment of the invention is in the variable persistence mode, the microprocessor will update and maintain the linked lists and pool of spare links stored in the linked list memory, represented by block 40. These linked lists contain the location of the points on the display screen, which is represented by block 70, and the amount of time remaining for each point to be displayed. Updating and maintaining the lists consists of converting the digital numbers in high speed memory to point locations for the screen, adding the new points to the linked lists, decrementing time remaining for all points in the linked lists, and removing points with zero or less than zero time remaining from the linked lists. Adding and removing links to and from the linked lists is accomplished by using the pool of spare links. The computation of the point locations makes use of a precomputed lookup table for finding the Y-coordinate.

As the microprocessor processes the digital numbers and maintains the linked lists, it sets and clears bits in the display memory, represented by block 60, which correspond to pixels the corresponding bits to be set, and points erased from the list cause the corresponding bits to be cleared. The display memory is a dual-port memory, and the microprocessor changes bit values in the display memory when the display memory is not being accessed by the display circuitry for the continuous rewriting of the display. The constant refreshing of the display creates the appearance of a real time response for the user in this embodiment of the invention.

If the embodiment of the invention is in the unlimited persistence mode, then the digital numbers are converted to point locations on the display by the microprocessor, and the corresponding bits in the display memory are set. Once the points are set on the screen, they remain set until the user clears them. No linked lists are used.

After the points are processed, the microprocessor starts another acquisition cycle by allowing the high speed memory to acquire another set of points. The cycle continues until a user command stops the process.

FIGS. 2A-2C, FIGS. 3A and 3B, and FIGS. 4A-4C show examples of waveforms captured under variable persistence and unlimited persistence modes. The waveform in FIGS. 2A-2C is an amplitude modulated sinewave. The period of the modulation is approximately 5 seconds, and the persistence of time is set to 0.2 seconds. FIG. 2(a) shows the waveform at time=0, FIG. 2(b) shows the waveform at time=0.8 seconds, FIG. 2(c) shows the waveform at time=1.5 seconds. Each point acquired during the acquisition period is displayed for 0.2 seconds only. FIG. 3(a) shows a waveform acquired at a sweep time of 50 nsec/div (there are 10 divisions) with a persistence of 0.5 seconds. The waveform becomes much clearer in FIG. 3(b) when the persistence is increased to 5.0 seconds.

FIG. 4 shows an example of how data is acquired and plotted in the unlimited persistence mode. FIG. 4(a) shows the display screen after 1 acquisition, FIG. 4(b) shows the display screen after 2 acquisitions, and FIG. 4(c) shows the display screen after several acquisitions. The unlimited persistence mode allows a user to recognize repetitive waveforms which are very fast.

In one embodiment of the invention, the graticule and two other waveforms are stored in different sections of the display memory. They may be displayed on the display screen with the live waveform. The graticule and stored waveforms are displayed at different intensities in one embodiment to permit viewer discrimination by using high intensity drivers and low intensity drivers.

In one embodiment of the invention, the processing of information by the microprocessor includes shortening the persistence of the screen in the variable persistence mode to keep the number of points displayed within the limits of the memory provided for the linked lists.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram representing one embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2A-2C show an example of an amplitude modulated waveform at different times using variable persistence.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show an example of improved waveform recognition with an increased persistence time.

FIGS. 4A-4C show an example of different stages of data acquisition.

FIG. 5 shows one method of addressing pixels for one embodiment of the display.

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between X, Y, and delta X in one method of computing the X and Y coordinates.

FIGS. 7A and 7B shows the format of a pool of spare links at initialization, and after a link is removed.

FIG. 8 shows the organization of display memory for one embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an acquisition and display loop for a two-channel oscilloscope with both unlimited persistence and variable persistence mode available.

FIG. 10 shows an array of linked lists having 512 elements, each element having a pointer and a linked list, each link containing a Y coordinate, a time remaining variable, and the address of the next link.

One preferred embodiment of the invention is represented by the block diagram in FIG. 1. Block 10 represents the input circuitry and the sampler. The input circuitry contains attenuation and offset circuits to bring the signal within the range of the sampler and the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter represented by block 20. The sampler performs a sample-and-hold function on the signal in the system under test. In one embodiment, the sample window is narrow enough to ensure a 1 GHz bandwidth. The sampler performs its function continuously.

The sampled data is then passed to the A/D converter, represented by block 20, and converted to digital numbers. In one embodiment, the sampled signals are converted to 7-bit digital numbers. These digital numbers represent the Y-value of the sampled signal. The A/D converter performs its function continuously.

The digital numbers are then passed to a random access high speed memory. This memory stores all the Y-values of the sampled data acquired during one acquisition period. For one embodiment, the high speed memory holds 1024 digital numbers. The acquisition period is the time period during which the points are sampled, converted to digital numbers, and stored in high speed memory. The acquisition period ends when the high speed memory is full of newly sampled numbers. After the acquired points are processed, a new acquisition period starts and a new set of points is acquired.

Block 50 represents a microprocessor in the block diagram in FIG. 1. The microprocessor is responsible for receiving the digital numbers from the high speed memory and processing them. The microprocessor controls the beginning and end of each acquisition period with gate hardware located between the A/D converter and the high speed memory. When the acquisition period is to begin, a flag bit on the microprocessor connected to a switch on the gate hardware is set and the gate hardware is activated. In one embodiment the hardware searches the input signal for a user-defined trigger. When the trigger is found, a delay counter waits for a user-defined period of time, then opens the gate between the A/D converter and the high speed memory, starting the acquisition period. When the high speed memory has acquired a complete set of data, the gate closes and a flag bit on the high speed memory connected to the microprocessor is set. The microprocessor then processes the digital numbers. The microprocessor is connected to the linked list memory, represented by block 40 in FIG. 1, and to the display memory, represented by block 60 in FIG. 1. The microprocessor is also connected to display circuitry located between the display memory and the display. The circuitry signals the microprocessor to allow the microprocessor to access the display memory when the display is not accessing the display memory. In one embodiment, the microprocessor is connected to a front panel from which the user defines the parameters for the oscilloscope, and has a local memory used for maintaining the status conditions of the oscilloscope. The microprocessor also is connected to a miscellaneous memory for performing various computations, and is responsible for storing and executing instructions used for implementing the method of achieving unlimited persistence and the method of achieving variable persistence.

If the user sets the oscilloscope in the unlimited persistence mode, all points acquired during the acquisition period and all subsequent acquisition periods will be plotted on the display. No points will be erased until the user clears the screen. In one embodiment, the microprocessor accomplishes this by converting the acquired digital numbers into the appropriate X and Y coordinates for the display, which is represented by block 70 in FIG. 1. The coordinates are used to set the bit in the display memory which corresponds to the appropriate point on the display. In one embodiment, the points are pixels which may be turned on and off individually on a raster display screen. As more data is acquired, more information on the waveform is filled in on the raster display screen. An example of this is shown in FIG. 4, as explained earlier. The display circuitry drives the raster display screen based on the bits set in the display memory.

The display memory, represented by block 60 in FIG. 1, is a dual-port random access memory. The memory is accessed by the microprocessor when bits are set or cleared, and by the display circuitry when the display is refreshed. In one embodiment, the display memory is divided into blocks of memory, each block corresponding to one set of information for a complete display. In one embodiment, the display memory has 4 blocks: The first block is used to store the live waveform, the second block is used to store the graticule, the third block and fourth block are each used to store other waveforms which can be looked at later or used for comparison with the live waveform. In one embodiment, each block of memory holds 16,384 bytes of information. This is used in conjunction with a raster display screen, 512 pixels wide by 256 pixels high. Each bit in a 16,384-byte block corresponds to one pixel on the raster display screen. One addressing scheme in FIG. 5 shows the correspondence between addresses in the display memory and the pixels on the raster display screen. The first column on the screen corresponds to bytes 0 through 31 in the display memory, and the last column on the screen corresponds to bytes 16,352 through 16,383 Each column on the screen is one pixel wide and each byte represents eight pixels in the column. In one embodiment, the pixel in the upper left corner is controlled by setting bit 7 of address 0, and the pixel in the lower right corner can be turned on by setting bit 0 of address 16,383. Similar addressing schemes are used for each remaining block of memory.

The display is refreshed by display circuitry which accesses the display memory and continuously rewrites the display based on the contents of the display memory. In one embodiment, the rewrite of the screen occurs approximately every 1/60th of a second. This is accomplished by continuously repeating a 3-stage cycle. During the first two stages the display circuitry accesses the display memory and refreshes the live waveform and the graticule on the raster display screen. The third cycle allows the microprocessor to access and update the display memory.

During the first stage, two bytes from the live waveform block of the display memory are loaded in parallel into a shift register. This shift register shifts the bits out serially to a high intensity driver for the raster display screen. The driver then lights up the appropriate bits on the raster display screen with a high intensity trace, based on the contents of the shift register. After the two bytes have been loaded, while the shift register is shifting out the bits, two bytes from the graticule display block are similarly loaded in parallel to a second shift register. This second shift register shifts the bits out serially to a low intensity driver for the raster display screen. The low intensity driver then lights up the appropriate bits on the display screen with a low intensity trace, based on the contents of the graticule display block in the display memory. The graticule is displayed as low intensity points, and the live waveform is displayed as high intensity points, allowing a user to easily discriminate between the live waveform and the graticule.

In one embodiment, other waveforms may be stored in the third and fourth blocks of the display memory. If a user desired to place a stored waveform on the display, the bytes sent to the second shift register are the logically ORed result of the appropriate memory block and the graticule memory block. The stored waveform is displayed with the graticule at the same intensity. The user may compare the low intensity stored waveform with the high intensity live waveform. The graticule memory block and the stored memory block remain unchanged.

The third stage of the 3-stage cycle occurs after the live waveform block and the graticule display block have been accessed. The display circuitry will not access the display memory for more bytes of live waveform until the first shift register has completed shifting its contents to the high intensity driver. During the period of time after the display circuitry has accessed the graticule display block of the display memory and before the display circuitry will access the live waveform block of the display memory again, the microprocessor is allowed to access the display memory and complete one display memory operation. The microprocessor sends a handshake signal to the display circuitry when the microprocessor has a pending display memory operation. When the display memory returns the handshake signal, the microprocessor completes the pending operation. If the microprocessor has more pending display memory operations, it sends another handshake signal to the display circuitry. The display circuitry responds when the third stage of the cycle occurs. In one embodiment, this 3-stage cycle takes approximately 800 nanoseconds, the time required for 16 shifts of a shift register at 50 nanoseconds per shift.

For the unlimited persistence mode, the microprocessor need only convert the acquired data to the appropriate X and Y coordinates for the display memory and set the appropriate bits. Variable persistence mode is more complicated because it also requires erasing those bits at a later time.

One method of computing the X and Y for the display memory is to compute the first X, corresponding to time, based on the knowledge of the relationship between the trigger and the first sample clock pulse. Once the first X is computed, the next X is found by adding a step corresponding to the sample time, the time between two samples. This step is dependent on the sampling rate set by the user. An example of this is shown in FIG. 6. The X corresponds to time, the delta X to the sample time, and the Y to the distance from the top of the screen.

In one embodiment, the X is tested to discover if it has advanced far enough to the right as to be off the screen. If it has, the plotting is terminated and a new acquisition period is started. In one embodiment, the oscilloscope has two channels, and the second channel is plotted after the first channel is done plotting before a new acquisition period is started. If the X is not off the screen, then the Y is computed.

The A/D converter value of Y is tested to see if it is overrange or incorrect because of top clipping. If it is, the Y is set to the maximum value for the screen. Once Y is set or if Y is not overrange, a previously computed lookup table is used to provide the appropriate Y for the display memory. In one embodiment the lookup table Y is an 8-bit digital number. The lookup table is used to convert the A/D converter value into a Y value for the display, while taking any user-defined enlargements into account. The lookup table for Y and the step increase for X make computation of the X and Y very fast.

The bit in memory which corresponds to the pixel on the screen must be set. The computed X defines the column in pixels and the computed Y defines the row in pixels. In one embodiment, the pixels on the screen correspond to the display memory as shown earlier in FIG. 5. The X is multiplied by 32 to find the top byte of the appropriate column since there are 32 bytes per column. The Y is divided by 8 since this will be the appropriate byte in the column, which is defined by the upper 5 bits of Y. Consequently, the expression (X*32+Y/8) defines the correct display memory address by byte. The lower 3 bits of Y are used by the microprocessor to define which bit to set in the appropriate byte. In one embodiment using a Motorola 68000 for the microprocessor, this is accomplished with a BSET instruction. This is one method of setting the bit in the display memory that corresponds to the correct pixel on the raster display screen using the computed X and Y.

After the bit is set, the microprocessor returns and computes the next X by adding the sample time to the old X, and the next Y by using the next A/D converter Y value. This continues until the entire set of sampled points is plotted or until the X coordinate has advanced off the screen. Then a new acquisition period is started and a second set of points is plotted. This continues until the user stops the sampling. In one embodiment, the bits are set in the unlimited persistence mode by using the instruction set in Appendix A with a Motorola 68000 microprocessor.

The variable persistence mode is more complex than the unlimited persistence mode. Although the bits are set in the display memory as in the unlimited persistence mode, they must also be erased when the user-defined persistence time has passed. To enable this to occur, one embodiment uses an array of linked lists to keep track of the points on the screen and the amount of time remaining for each point before it is erased. In one embodiment, there is one linked list for each column on the display screen, or for each X point. The list has a link for each point which is set, each link containing the Y location and the time remaining before that point is to be erased. Links are added or subtracted from the linked lists as points are added or erased from the screen. Links not in linked lists are kept in a pool of spare links.

In one embodiment, an array of linked lists is initialized when the variable persistence mode is entered or when the screen is cleared by the user. The initializing process consists of three parts. The first part is setting to zero a counter which is used for counting the number of points displayed on the screen. Second, a 512 element array of column pointers is initialized to zero. There is a separate linked list for each column on the screen which keeps track of all the displayed points in the column. This array of column pointers points to the first link in each column linked list. The first element in the array corresponds to the column X=0, and the last element in the array corresponds to X=511. Each element in the array is initialized to zero. An address of zero indicates the end of the linked list. All the pointers are initially set to zero because there are no points displayed on the screen. Third, a pool of spare links is initialized to the format shown in FIG. 7(a) Each link is 4 bytes long and contains the address of the next link. In one embodiment, the pointer to the first link is at address 1024 and contains the address 1028. The first link is at address 1028 and contains the address 1032.

In one embodiment, the data for variable persistence is contained in an area of memory represented by block 40 in FIG. 1 which is 32,768 bytes long. Addresses 0 to 1023 contain the array of column pointers for 512 linked lists, and addresses 1024 to 32,563 contain 7885 4-byte links for the pool of spare links. In one embodiment the links are initialized by using the instruction set in Appendix B with a Motorola 68000 microprocessor.

In one embodiment, the linked list memory is located in the same dual-port random access memory as the display memory. The memory is divided into 8 blocks, each 16,384 bytes long. The first block is for storing the live waveform, the second block is for storing the graticule, the third and fourth blocks are each for storing a waveform, the fifth and sixth blocks are for implementing variable persistence and contain the array of column pointers, the pool of spare links, and the linked lists, and the seventh and eighth blocks are for miscellaneous computations. An example of this is shown in FIG. 8. In one embodiment, when the microprocessor accesses the display memory, it may set or clear bits in the live memory block, perform linked list operations or complete other microprocessor functions.

A flowchart for the acquisition and display loop for an oscilloscope having two channels is shown in FIG. 9. The link initialization has already taken place prior to the beginning of the loop. The acquisition of one set of data occurs first. Then a test is made to determine if the oscilloscope is in the unlimited persistence mode and the Erase.sub.-- Old.sub.-- Points routine is called if it is not.

In one embodiment, the erase routine begins by decrementing, by the amount of real time passed, all variables used for keeping track of the time remaining for the point before it is erased. Then all links having time remaining less than or equal to zero are removed from the linked lists and placed back in the pool of spare links. The bit corresponding to the X location of the linked list and the Y location of the link is cleared. The point will be erased from the screen when the display circuitry refreshes the raster display screen.

In one embodiment, there is another portion of the erase routine which is used if the number of points displayed on the screen becomes so large that there is a possiblity that the available memory will not be able to contain all the points. This is possible when the number of links which can fit into memory is less than the number of points on the display screen. If the memory is in danger of overflowing, the time distribution routine is called. This routine creates a set of counters, one for each possible different time remaining value. All the time remaining values are counted on these counters. Then the numbers on the counters are added together, one at a time, from the counter having the smallest time remaining value, to the counter having the highest time remaining value, till the value of the total of the counters subtracted from the total number of points displayed would bring the total number of points displayed below the danger level for screen overflow. The time remaining value of the last counter added is then used in the erase routine as the amount by which the time remaining values should be decremented, instead of the amount of time that has passed as is ordinarily done. The effect is to shorten the variable persistence time defined by the user to prevent the number of points displayed from overflowing the memory.

In one embodiment, the time distribution is computed and implemented by using the instruction set in Appendix C with a Motorola 68000 microprocessor. In one embodiment the erasing of points is accomplished by using the instruction set in Appendix D with a Motorola 68000 microprocessor.

The flowchart in FIG. 9 shows what follows the Erase.sub.-- Old.sub.-- Points routine. The process is the same for channel 1 or channel 2. If the channel is one, the plot variables are loaded. This prepares the oscilloscope for the Fast.sub.-- Plot routine, used for unlimited persistence, or the Cont.sub.-- Display routine, used for variable persistence. The Fast.sub.-- Plot routine was explained earlier, as a method of implementing unlimited persistence. The Cont.sub.-- Display routine is similar to the Fast.sub.-- Plot routine, but has additional steps and is used for implementing variable persistence. When both channel 1 and channel 2 have been plotted, a check is made for an exit flag. If there is an exit flag, the process stops. If there is no exit flag, another acquisition period begins and another set of data is acquired.

The beginning of the variable persistence plotting process is similar to the beginning of the unlimited persistence plotting process. First, the X and Y coordinates are determined in the same manner as in the unlimited persistence mode. However, a bit in the display memory is not set as in the unlimited persistence mode.

Second, the linked list for the column X is searched to check if the point is in the list. An example of an array of linked lists is shown in FIG. 10. If the point is in the list, a new expiration time is set, and the X and Y coordinates are determined for a new point. The point is not plotted since it is already on the screen. If the point is not in the list, it is added in the third part of the process.

In the third part, a new point is added to the linked list. A free link is obtained from the pool of spare links. Next the Y value and the time remaining value are set in the new link. The time remaining value is what the user defined as the variable persistence time. Then the new link is added to the column linked list right after the pointer to the first link. The counter for the total number of displayed points is incremented. And finally, the bit in the display memory corresponding to the point is set just as in the unlimited persistence plotting process.

After the new point is added to the list, the X and Y coordinates for a new point are determined and the loop continues until all points have been processed or until the X coordinate is off the screen just as in the unlimited persistence plotting process. In one embodiment, the variable persistence plotting process was implemented using the instruction set Cont.sub.-- Display shown in Appendix E with the Motorola 68000 microprocessor.

This invention represents the first time unlimited persistence has been used with a digital oscilloscope. The successful combination provides solutions to five main problems associated with digital oscilloscopes. First, the oscilloscope is able to continuously update the screen with new waveforms by using variable persistence, allowing the user to see changes in the waveform. The problem with achieving continuous updating in digital oscilloscopes was how to erase the old waveforms once they were stored in memory.

Second, the development of unlimited persistence offers improvements in measurement technology in three areas. First, catching infrequently occurring or single repetition waveforms; second, unattended monitoring is now available, and third, worst case measurements can be made. Unlimited persistence will allow a user to find all variations of the signal at any time.

Third, the use of variable persistence allows waveforms to be defined over a series of samplings. This improves the recognition possibilities for the user, and allows higher speed waveforms to be accurately sampled.

Fourth, variable persistence provides the ability to handle dynamic or changing waveforms. The problem with previous digital oscilloscopes was that they displayed the waveforms as single-valued functions, having one vertical point for every time point. Dynamic waveforms include multiple waveforms, aliased signals, envelope waveforms, and waveforms having jitter or noise which cause parts of the waveform to change.

Fifth, the unlimited persistence and variable persistence methods and apparatus provide a very fast screen update rate. This is necessary to provide the appearance of real time response to the user, to minimize the dead time, which is the time the oscilloscope spends displaying waveforms instead of searching for triggers, to decrease the time necessary for finding and displaying a problem waveform, and to increase the perceived bandwidth through the use of repetitive sampling.

The high speed at which the variable persistence mode and unlimited persistence mode plot points and update waveforms makes solutions to these problems possible. In one set of estimates for plotting and erasing points in an embodiment using a Motorola 68000 microprocessor with an 8 megahertz clock, 1000 points could be plotted in approximately 18 milliseconds in the unlimited persistence mode. In the variable persistence mode, it is estimated that approximately 20 microseconds are needed to process a point which is in the linked list, and approximately 41 microseconds to process and plot a point which is not in the linked list. The last two times assume that the answer is found on the first search through the list. Approximately 6 additional microseconds are estimated to be needed for each Y value in the linked list which is not a match.

For one example of plotting 1000 points of a waveform, it is assumed that 1000 points are already on the screen. Such a waveform would average approximately two points per column. Assuming that the waveform is fairly steady, and that only 5% of the points are changing, the total plot time can be estimated. The total plot time is the sum of three times. The approximate time needed to process the points already in the linked lists is 19.0 milliseconds ((1000 points-50 points) * 20 microseconds). The approximate time to process and plot the points not in the linked lists is 2.05 milliseconds (50 points * 41 microseconds). The approximate additional search time is 3.0 milliseconds (500 points * 6 microseconds--assuming a 50% chance of finding the point on the first search). The total estimated time to process a 1000-point waveform in the variable persistence mode is approximately 24.05 milliseconds, which compares very favorably with the 18 milliseconds estimated for plotting a 1000-point waveform in the unlimited persistence mode.

Some alternative approaches to achieving variable and unlimited persistence were investigated and rejected. The first approach stored points in a circular linked list in the memory, and wrote them to a screen after every acquisition period using a vector display. The newest points were written over the oldest points for each acquisition. The persistence was controlled by the number of points in the circular linked lists.

The approach had three main problems. First, the display memory was limited to the number of points which could be displayed without flicker. Second, a vector display can not operate in the unlimited persistence mode since it can only plot a limited number of points before flicker starts to occur. Third, the vector displays are expensive compared to the raster displays.

A second approach was to use a raster display with two display memories. One would be actively displayed and the other would be inactive. The waveforms would accumulate in the inactive display memory. After a user-specified time, the two memories would be switched so that the inactive display memory would become active and be displayed, and the active display memory would become inactive.

The main disadvantage for this approach was the wait for moderately long persistence times (one second or more) before the waveforms changed. The motion would appear jerky.

A third approach was a structure similar to the preferred embodiments but with a counter for each pixel, to keep track of the time remaining for each pixel. The disadvantage was the amount of memory required for the counters and the length of time required for searching for points and erasing the points.

A fourth approach was to keep records in memory for each waveform on the screen. After a user-specified time, the waveform and its record would be erased.

The disadvantages were the large amount of memory needed to keep track of the points, and the problem of erasing points from other waveforms which should not have been erased.

These approaches do not solve the problems associated with unlimited and variable persistence in digital oscilloscopes as well as the claimed invention.