Modulation domain trigger

• US 20060129355A1
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tektronix Incorporated (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Tektronix Incorporated (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: He, Yi, Dasilva, Marcus K., Gee, Edward C., Hillman, Alfred K. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/185
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 13/0263 for non-recurrent functions, e.g. transients
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 23/16 Spectrum analysis; Fourier analysis

Abstract

A modulation domain trigger generator demodulates a modulated input signal to a to extract information content, and a trigger is generated from the extracted information content in response to specified trigger criteria. The modulation domain trigger generator may be combined with a plurality of different types of trigger generators, including frequency domain and time domain trigger generators, to process the input signal in response to different trigger criteria to produce more than one trigger. The different trigger outputs may be combined to produce an acquisition trigger to acquire data surrounding an anomalous or identifiable event within the input signal.

Claims

1. A method of acquiring data surrounding an anomalous or identifiable event within a modulated input signal comprising the steps of:

demodulating the modulated input signal according to a specified modulation standard to obtain data representing information content;

analyzing the information content for an occurrence of the anomalous or identifiable event; and

generating a trigger signal upon the occurrence of the anomalous or identifiable event in order to acquire the data surrounding the anomalous or identifiable event from the modulated input signal.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the modulated input signal comprises a signal selected from the group consisting of a realtime modulated signal, a stored modulated signal, and a simulated modulated signal.

3. A method of acquiring data surrounding an anomalous or identifiable event within an input signal comprising the steps of:

inputting the input signal to each of a plurality of types of trigger generators, each trigger generator providing as an output a different type of trigger signal; and

combining the outputs from the trigger generators to produce an acquisition trigger signal for acquiring the data surrounding the anomalous or identifiable event from the input signal.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the types of trigger generators include one or more of a frequency domain trigger generator, a time domain trigger generator, a frequency modulation domain trigger generator and a modulation domain trigger generator.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 wherein the modulation domain trigger generator includes one or more of a QAM trigger generator, a CDMA trigger generator and an OFDM trigger generator.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein each of the trigger generators include the steps of:

converting the input signal to a specified domain according to the type of the trigger generator; and

processing the converted input signal in the specified domain in response to specified trigger criteria to generate the trigger signal when the criteria are satisfied.

7. The method as recited in any of claims 3-6 wherein the input signal comprises a signal selected from the group consisting of a realtime signal, a stored signal and a simulated signal.

8. A multi-domain trigger generator for acquiring data surrounding an anomalous or identifiable event within an input signal comprising:

a plurality of trigger generators in parallel, each trigger generator being of a different type and receiving the input signal as an input and providing a trigger signal as an output; and

means for combining the trigger signals from the plurality of trigger generators to produce an acquisition trigger for acquiring the data surrounding the anomalous or identifiable event from the input signal.

9. The multi-domain trigger generator as recited in claim 8 wherein the trigger generators include one or more of a frequency domain trigger generator, a time domain trigger generator, a frequency modulation domain trigger generator and a modulation domain trigger generator.

10. The multi-domain trigger generator as recited in claim 9 wherein the modulation domain trigger generator includes one or more of a QAM trigger generator, a CDMA trigger generator and an OFDM trigger generator.

11. The multi-domain trigger generator as recited in claim 10 wherein each of the trigger generators comprise:

means for converting the input signal to a specified domain according to the type of the trigger generator; and

means for processing the converted input signal in the specified domain in response to specified trigger criteria to generate the trigger signal when the criteria are satisfied.

12. The apparatus as recited in any of claims 8-12 wherein the input signal comprises a signal selected from the group consisting of a realtime signal, a stored signal and a simulated signal.