Patents by Inventor Mark L. Guenther

Mark L. Guenther has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230324439
    Abstract: A method of dynamically determining an oscilloscope noise characteristic includes retrieving a power spectral density (PSD) model of noise from a storage based upon a current configuration of the oscilloscope, generating a representation of any filtering being applied to a waveform generated by a device under test, using the PSD and the representation to produce a modified power spectral density, and using the modified power spectral density to determine a dynamic oscilloscope noise characteristic. A test and measurement instrument has one or more inputs to acquire waveforms from a device under test (DUT), one or more processors to retrieve a power spectral density (PSD) model of noise from a database, generate a representation of any filtering being applied to a waveform generated by the DUT, use the PSD and the representation to produce a modified PSD, and use the modified PSD to determine a dynamic instrument noise characteristic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2023
    Publication date: October 12, 2023
    Applicant: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark L. Guenther, Pavel R. Zivny
  • Patent number: 11624781
    Abstract: A test and measurement device includes an input for receiving a test waveform from a Device Under Test (DUT), where the test waveform has a plurality of input level transitions, a selector structured to respectively and individually extract only those portions of the test waveform that match two or more predefined patterns of input level transitions of the test waveform, a noise compensator structured to individually determine and remove, for each of the extracted portions of the waveform, a component of a jitter measurement caused by random noise of the test and measurement device receiving the test waveform, a summer structured to produce a composite distribution of timing measurements with removed noise components from the extracted portions of the test waveform, and a jitter processor structured to determine a first noise-compensated jitter measurement of the DUT from the composite distribution. Methods of determining noise-compensated jitter measurements are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Publication number: 20220299566
    Abstract: A test and measurement device includes an input for receiving a test waveform from a Device Under Test (DUT), where the test waveform has a plurality of input level transitions, a selector structured to respectively and individually extract only those portions of the test waveform that match two or more predefined patterns of input level transitions of the test waveform, a noise compensator structured to individually determine and remove, for each of the extracted portions of the waveform, a component of a jitter measurement caused by random noise of the test and measurement device receiving the test waveform, a summer structured to produce a composite distribution of timing measurements with removed noise components from the extracted portions of the test waveform, and a jitter processor structured to determine a first noise-compensated jitter measurement of the DUT from the composite distribution. Methods of determining noise-compensated jitter measurements are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2022
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Publication number: 20190227109
    Abstract: A test and measurement device for determining types of jitter, the test and measurement instrument including an input for receiving an input signal, a converter coupled to the input and structured to generate a spectral power signal for non-deterministic jitter from the received input signal, a threshold detector structured to identify ranges of the spectral power signal that are in excess of a threshold, a filter structured to filter the identified ranges of the spectral power signal, a Gaussian detector structured to determine whether the filtered ranges of the spectral power signal contain primarily Gaussian or non-Gaussian jitter, and a Q-scale analyzer structured to perform further signal analysis only if the Gaussian detector determined that the jitter in the filtered ranges of the spectral power signal contains a mixture of Gaussian and non-Gaussian jitter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Publication date: July 25, 2019
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 9294237
    Abstract: A method for determining jitter and noise of an input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark L. Guenther, Kan Tan
  • Publication number: 20160036568
    Abstract: A method for determining jitter and noise of an input signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2014
    Publication date: February 4, 2016
    Inventors: Mark L. Guenther, Kan Tan
  • Publication number: 20160018443
    Abstract: A method for determining a correlated waveform, including acquiring a generalized waveform record with a repeating pattern, determining a possibly corrected recovered clock signal for the generalized waveform record, selecting a new sample rate that is higher than the clock rate by N time, where N is an integer greater than 1, resampling the generalized waveform so that the new samples fall precisely on two clocks instants of the recovered clock signal that define each unit interval, and on N?1 additional instants equally spaced between the two clock instants of each unit interval to create a resampled waveform, and forming the correlated waveform by taking the mean values of all samples from the resampled waveform having the same offset into a pattern repeat in unit intervals or fractions thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2015
    Publication date: January 21, 2016
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 8670947
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method to measure and represent the measured value of a limit in terms of another measurement, such as clock values or cycles of the system. The system can include, for example, a test and measurement instrument such as an oscilloscope. In another embodiment of the present invention, slew rate de-rated values may be automatically determined through the use of configurable lookup tables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: G. R. N. Prasanth, Pechluck Pongched, Raghavendran N., Mark L. Guenther, Krishna N. H. Sri, Manisha D. Ajgaonkar, Anuradha V.
  • Patent number: 8594169
    Abstract: A method for analyzing jitter using a test and measurement instrument includes obtaining a collection of time interval error (TIE) values corresponding to composite jitter of a waveform, optionally decomposing the composite jitter into jitter components that are correlated to the data pattern and components that are uncorrelated to the data pattern, and using a spectral approach to decompose the jitter components into jitter components that are recognizable as deterministic and jitter components that are unrecognizable as deterministic. Thereafter, the jitter components analyzed in the frequency domain are converted back to the time domain, and subtracted from the composite jitter, thereby isolating uncorrelated residual jitter. The uncorrelated residual jitter is decomposed into bounded uncorrelated jitter and random jitter, for example, by integrating a probability density (PDF) function of the residual jitter and analyzing the resulting cumulative distribution function (CDF) curve in Q-space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Pavel Zivny, Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 8165184
    Abstract: An Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) synthesizes and generates an SSC modulated signal by generating a modulating waveform with a frequency of an SSC modulation frequency, calculating the number of samples per data bit (SPUI) as a ratio of an upsampling frequency to a data rate of a data stream, calculating an amplification factor as the ratio of SSC deviation frequency to data rate of the data stream, generating the array of SSC Edges containing the edge variation with respect to single sample per bit, multiplying the amplification factor to the modulating waveform, generating an array of SSC Edges Upsampled, containing edge variations with respect to an Upsample factor per bit, and multiplying SSC Edges with SPUI; calculating the resultant bit duration SSC Bit Duration as the sum of SSC Edges Upsampled and SPU, and calculating the successive summation of SSC Bit Duration, to get SSC Bit Position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Ramachandra Cv, Mark L. Guenther, John C. Calvin
  • Publication number: 20110292987
    Abstract: A method for analyzing jitter using a test and measurement instrument includes obtaining a collection of time interval error (TIE) values corresponding to composite jitter of a waveform, optionally decomposing the composite jitter into jitter components that are correlated to the data pattern and components that are uncorrelated to the data pattern, and using a spectral approach to decompose the jitter components into jitter components that are recognizable as deterministic and jitter components that are unrecognizable as deterministic. Thereafter, the jitter components analyzed in the frequency domain are converted back to the time domain, and subtracted from the composite jitter, thereby isolating uncorrelated residual jitter. The uncorrelated residual jitter is decomposed into bounded uncorrelated jitter and random jitter, for example, by integrating a probability density (PDF) function of the residual jitter and analyzing the resulting cumulative distribution function (CDF) curve in Q-space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2011
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Applicant: TEKTRONIX, INC.
    Inventors: Pavel R. ZIVNY, Mark L. GUENTHER
  • Publication number: 20110119688
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method to measure and represent the measured value of a limit in terms of another measurement, such as clock values or cycles of the system. The system can include, for example, a test and measurement instrument such as an oscilloscope. In another embodiment of the present invention, slew rate de-rated values may be automatically determined through the use of configurable lookup tables.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Applicant: TEKTRONIX, INC.
    Inventors: G R N Prasanth, Pechluck Pongched, Raghavendran N, Mark L. Guenther, Krishna N. H. Sri, Manisha D. Ajgaonkar, Anuradha V
  • Publication number: 20090207886
    Abstract: A system and method for synthesizing and generating the SSC modulated signal with precision and in a controlled manner is provided. In one embodiment the system may be integrated in an arbitrary waveform generator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2009
    Publication date: August 20, 2009
    Applicant: Tektronix.com
    Inventors: Ramachandra CV, Mark L. Guenther, John C. Calvin
  • Patent number: 7254168
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for decomposing timing jitter on arbitrary serial data sequences. Specifically, in one embodiment according to the present invention, a method is provided of decomposing timing jitter on a signal under test (SUT) comprising an arbitrary serial data stream. The method comprises performing a statistical analysis on a group of measurements, where each measurement comprises a timing jitter value and an associated bit pattern representing the bits falling within an analysis window, said window being successively located at a plurality of positions within the data stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 7006092
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for representing a complex vector signal by determining representative coordinates for the complex vector signal, wherein at least some of the determined representative coordinates are associated with corresponding reference coordinates; associating each of at least a portion of the determined representative coordinates and corresponding reference coordinates with at least one of a plurality of temporal spans; and selectively processing each of a plurality of temporal spans.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2006
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 6853933
    Abstract: A method for identifying spectral impulses applies a window filter to an acquired waveform to produce a filtered waveform, and performs an FFT function on the filtered waveform to produce a spectrum of bins. An estimating window is located on the spectrum and centered on a target bin. Bins adjacent to the target bin are excluded and the remaining bins are used to form a noise estimate. The estimate is compared to the target bin and if the result exceeds a threshold value, a spectral impulse is identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Kan Tan, Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 6832172
    Abstract: A jitter separation apparatus and method, based on spectrum analysis, separates deterministic jitter and random jitter using their spectral properties. Deterministic jitter is periodic and nature and exhibits a spectrum of impulses, whereas random jitter exhibits a broad, flat spectrum. A time domain histogram and a frequency domain histogram of the signal are investigated to obtain jitter components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2004
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin A. Ward, Kan Tan, Mark L. Guenther
  • Publication number: 20040136450
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for decomposing timing jitter on arbitrary serial data sequences. Specifically, in one embodiment according to the present invention, a method is provided of decomposing timing jitter on a signal under test (SUT) comprising an arbitrary serial data stream. The method comprises performing a statistical analysis on a group of measurements, where each measurement comprises a timing jitter value and an associated bit pattern representing the bits falling within an analysis window, said window being successively located at a plurality of positions within the data stream.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2003
    Publication date: July 15, 2004
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Patent number: 6735554
    Abstract: A method for representing a modulated signal vector by determining complex coordinates for the signal vector where the complex coordinates define respective locations on a complex plane that is logically segmented into a plurality of regions, and by generating, for each logical region, a respective signal density indicative magnitude value to form a histogram of the logical regions and their respective magnitude values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2004
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther
  • Publication number: 20030216892
    Abstract: A method for representing a modulated signal vector by determining complex coordinates for the signal vector where the complex coordinates define respective locations on a complex plane that is logically segmented into a plurality of regions, and by generating, for each logical region, a respective signal density indicative magnitude value to form a histogram of said logical regions and their respective magnitude values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2002
    Publication date: November 20, 2003
    Inventor: Mark L. Guenther