Streaming architecture for waveform processing

摘要

An oscilloscope apparatus and method of processing waveform data using a streaming architecture. The apparatus has multiple processing objects (processors) that share a common cache memory in which the waveform data is stored during processing. Each processing object performs a sequential processing operation by retrieving a "chunk" or portion of the waveform from the memory, processes the chunk of data, and re-stores the processed data into the same location in the cache memory. This process is generally repeated until the entire waveform has been sequentially processed. The apparatus operates using a "pull" design wherein the last processor requests the next chunk to be processed from the preceding processor. In this manner, the waveform data is essentially processed by pulling it through the sequence of processing objects. The multiple processing objects may be implemented as a sequence of software processing objects in a processing thread or as separate hardware processors.