Access method to acquired waveform, testing measurement system and remote user device

Abstract

To access while collaborating acquired waveforms from a testing measurement device.SOLUTION: An access method includes: storing acquired waveforms from a testing measurement device 102 in a cloud-based platform 106; and rendering a time line indicating the acquired waveforms from the testing measurement device 102 in time series on a display unit 144 of a first remote user device 108N in responce to storage of the acquired waveforms in the cloud-based platform 106. The acquired waveforms on the time line are selected for display, and at least one user-selectable function display unit is set so as to display corresponding characteristics of the selected acquired waveforms. A file from the cloud-based platform 106 is received including data for the at least one user-selectable function display unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to test and measurement systems, and more particularly to a cloud-based platform that provides a user interface that enables collaboration by multiple users in streaming, displaying and analyzing acquired waveforms from test and measurement instruments. [Background technology]

[0002] Test and measurement equipment, such as oscilloscopes, acquire waveforms of one or more signals under test. These waveforms can be very large in size and contain gigabytes of data, making it difficult to share such waveforms among multiple users interested in viewing and analyzing them. Previous approaches to sharing acquired waveforms include taking a screen shot of the waveform on a user's computer and sending the screen shot to others to avoid the time and bandwidth limitations of transmitting the actual data of the acquired waveform. While this approach allows for some collaboration, it is of limited usefulness and severely limits analysis for all those who do not have access to the acquired waveform.

[0003] Sharing acquired waveforms through an internet-connected cloud platform improves collaboration across multiple groups to some extent. The cloud platform includes components for storing, managing, and processing acquired waveforms from test and measurement instruments. The acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instruments may be referred to in this description as "test measurement data" or "measurement data." The cloud platform allows multiple users to access the measurement data and utilize it for any purpose they need. Although such a cloud platform allows multiple users to access the measurement data, collaboration may still be difficult because different groups of users of the measurement data may have different needs, such as different displays showing different characteristics of the measurement data. For example, an embedded software engineer may be interested in protocol-related aspects of the measurement data and may want a display that shows the measurement data decoded according to the protocol used. In contrast, a radio frequency (RF) engineer may be interested in a display of the acquired waveform that shows RF-related transformations, such as a display showing the frequency spectrum of the waveform.

[0004] Test and measurement equipment manufacturers offer cloud platforms that offer the advantage that captured waveforms from test and measurement equipment, such as oscilloscopes, can be easily distributed to multiple users for viewing and analysis. Providing the captured waveforms through a cloud platform allows for multi-user collaboration. However, accessing the multi-gigabyte files that make up the captured waveforms can be a time-consuming process, resulting in a poor user experience. To mitigate these issues, some cloud platforms include a user interface in the form of a web browser-based interface, allowing users to access these multi-gigabyte files. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] US Patent Application Publication No. 2022 / 0252647 [Patent Document 2] US Patent Application Publication No. 2022 / 0163566 [Patent Document 3] Patent Publication No. 2022-121416 [Patent Document 4] Patent Publication No. 2022-82531 [Non-patent literature]

[0006] [Non-Patent Document 1] "TekCloud", Tektronix, [online], [Retrieved July 10, 2024], Internet<https: / / www.tekcloud.com / > Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] Although these web browser-based interfaces have overcome the issues associated with memory management and loading and displaying desired multi-gigabyte files with good performance, the collaborative capabilities of such solutions are still limited. Collaborative capabilities that provide the ability to create specific displays showing desired specific measurements of acquired waveforms are highly desirable for cross-functional engineering teams with multiple sub-teams of users interested in various measurements and displays of acquired waveforms. Therefore, a method and system is needed to improve the ability of user groups to collaboratively access acquired waveforms from test and measurement equipment. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the technical field of test and measurement instruments, such as oscilloscopes, and disclose methods and systems that improve the ability of multiple users to collaboratively access and analyze test measurement data generated by the oscilloscope during testing of a device under test. Generally, embodiments of the present disclosure include cloud-based storage and processing of acquired waveforms generated by such test and measurement instruments, in combination with remote user devices that can access and analyze the acquired waveforms. The remote user devices allow users to perform desired data transformations on the acquired waveforms and display desired characteristics of the acquired waveforms on the remote user devices, and also allow the acquired waveforms to be shared and collaborated with by multiple users who have access to the acquired waveforms through their respective remote user devices.

[0009] In an embodiment of the disclosed technology, each remote user device has one or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause the one or more processors to render a user interface on a display of the remote user device. The user interface has a presentation layer that displays a timeline that chronologically depicts each of the acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instrument in response to the acquired waveforms being stored in the cloud-based platform. A replacement layer receives user input and selects a desired acquired waveform from among the acquired waveforms depicted on the timeline for display on a display of the first remote user device. The presentation layer is capable of simultaneously displaying multiple configurable display windows, each configurable display window having at least one user-selectable function display for displaying a corresponding characteristic of the selected acquired waveform. The presentation layer may receive user input to select one of the configurable display windows to be shared with other remote user devices, and the user may share the selected configurable display window with the other remote users such that the other remote users can view the selected configurable display window. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a test and measurement system including multiple remote user devices, each having a user interface that enables collaboration between users in accessing test and measurement data from test and measurement instruments stored over a network on a cloud-based platform according to an embodiment of the disclosed technology. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is an example of a display window rendered by the presentation layer of the user interface of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosed technique. [Diagram 3]FIG. 3 is another example of a display window rendered by an alternate layer of the user interface of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosed technique. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a display process performed through the alternate layers and display windows of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the disclosed technique. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a test and measurement system 100 including a test and measurement instrument (referred to as instrument 102) connected to a cloud-based platform 106 via a network 104. The test and measurement system 100 includes a number of remote user devices 108A-108N, each having a respective user interface 110A-110N according to an embodiment of the disclosed technology. The internal functional components of the remote user device 108N are shown in detail in FIG. 1, but for simplicity of illustration, each of the other remote user devices 108A-108N is shown to have a corresponding user interface 110A-110N. Additionally, each of the user interfaces 110A-N includes a respective presentation layer 112A-N, which allows collaboration between users in accessing measurement data from the test and measurement instrument 102 stored in the cloud-based platform 106. Measurement data generated by the test and measurement instruments 102 is communicated over the network 104 and stored in the cloud-based platform 106 for access by the remote user devices 108A-N. Accessing the measurement data stored in the cloud-based platform 106 includes using the presentation layers 112A-N of the user interfaces 110A-N of the remote user devices 108A-N to set up and share displays that include various data transformations of the measurement data from the instruments 102, and to stream, display and analyze the data, as described in more detail below.

[0012] In the test and measurement system 100 of FIG. 1, the test and measurement instrument 102 includes one or more processors 114, memory 116, a display 118, and a user interface 120, which may be present as part of a touch screen display or may take the form of knobs and other user input devices. The one or more main processors 114 are configured to execute instructions from the memory 116 to implement any method and associated steps defined by such instructions to control the overall operation of the instrument 102. One or more measurement units 122 within the instrument 102 perform the primary function of measuring parameters and other characteristics of signals from a device under test (DUT) 124 being tested or analyzed by the test and measurement system 100. Some measurements made by the one or more measurement units 122 include measuring the voltage, current, and power of the input signal in the time domain as well as measuring the characteristics of the signal in the frequency domain. The one or more measurement units 122 generally represent any component for performing any measurement performed in the test and measurement instrument. The test and measurement instrument 102 is coupled to the DUT 124 via connections 126, such as one or more cables or other suitable types of electrical connections.

[0013] Testing of the DUT 124 by the test and measurement instrument 102 generates acquired waveforms that are uploaded to the cloud-based platform 106 over the network 104. For these uploads, the network port 128 of the instrument 102 is coupled to the network 104 via network connection 130 and further coupled to the cloud-based platform 106 via network connection 132. In this manner, the network port 128 enables the instrument 102 to upload the acquired waveforms over the network 104 to the cloud-based platform 106 for storage and subsequent access by the remote user devices 108A-N.

[0014] The cloud-based platform 106 is coupled to the test and measurement instruments 102 via the network connection 132 and via the network 104. The cloud-based platform 106 may include one or more servers 134, each of which may have one or more processors (not shown) and dedicated memory (not shown), as well as other server components not explicitly shown in FIG. 1 . In some examples, the cloud-based platform 106 may have a common memory 136, which may be shared by one or more servers 134, that allows the cloud-based platform 106 to store original acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instruments 102 in native format. The "native format" of the acquired waveforms from the instruments 102 refers to the original format of the files corresponding to each acquired waveform generated by the instruments 102. These native format files may be very large, up to several gigabytes in size, as described above. The common memory 136 of the cloud-based platform 106 typically has a large enough capacity to store many acquired waveforms generated by the instruments 102 in native format. In this manner, the common memory 136 allows for the storage of multiple acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instruments 102 (many more than can be stored in the memory 116 of the instruments 102).

[0015] In an embodiment of the test and measurement system 100, the cloud-based platform 106 not only stores native format files of the acquired waveforms or measurement data from the devices 102, but also performs additional processing of the measurement data, including conversion of the measurement data, to enable the presentation layers 112A-N of the user interfaces 110A-N to improve user collaboration in analyzing the measurement data, as described in more detail below. In an embodiment, the cloud-based platform 106 attaches measurements as metadata to the acquired waveform files or measurement data from the devices 102 to create a library of measurements, classifications, decoding, and other algorithms that are stored in the common memory 136. The cloud-based platform 106 generates this metadata each time a new acquired waveform is stored in the cloud-based platform. The "measurements" generated by the cloud-based platform 106 are any measurements, queries, searches, filters, classifications, decoding, etc. that are performed on the new acquired waveforms or measurement data. The cloud-based platform 106, in some embodiments, may also implement a method for automatically crawling existing measurement data already stored in the platform 106 and updating the memory 136 as new measurements are added. Processing of acquired waveforms or measurement data in the cloud-based platform 106 to generate metadata in accordance with embodiments of the disclosed technology is described in detail in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022 / 0252647A1, filed February 4, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0016] In embodiments of the test and measurement system 100, the cloud-based platform 106 is further operable to not only transfer or upload acquired waveforms in their native format from the test and measurement instruments 102, but also to compress and / or segment these acquired waveforms to generate one or more compressed or segmented versions of the acquired waveforms and store them on the cloud-based platform 106. The term "compression" in this context refers to any method of reducing the size of a file corresponding to an acquired waveform or measurement data from the test and measurement instrument 102. Alternatively or additionally, the cloud-based platform 106 may split each of the original acquired waveforms in their native format into smaller segments and store each of the smaller segments at the original resolution of the acquired waveform.

[0017] In operation, the cloud-based platform 106, in response to user input, may transmit segments of the original acquired waveform to corresponding presentation layers 112A-N of the remote user devices 108A-N to enable the user to zoom in on a desired portion of the acquired waveform, which may be considered a "zoomed display" of the desired portion of the acquired waveform. The cloud-based platform 106 may store multiple segments of the acquired waveform in their original native format (i.e., uncompressed), thereby enabling such zooming by the user through the presentation layers 112A-N. In this manner, the presentation layers 112A-N of the user interfaces 110A-N at the remote user devices 108A-N may use compressed or segmented versions of the acquired waveform to enable multiple users to view and collaborate on the analysis of the acquired waveform, as described in more detail below. Each of the remote user devices 108A-N may be, for example, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, or any other suitable type of electronic device on which the user interface 110A-N may be displayed and controlled by a user of the remote user device.

[0018] Operation of the cloud-based platform 106 to generate one or more compressed and segmented versions of acquired waveforms of a measurement device, such as device 102 of FIG. 1, is described in further detail in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022 / 0163566A1, filed November 19, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Use of these compressed versions of acquired waveforms on the cloud-based platform 106 in connection with operation of the presentation layers 112A-N and user interfaces 110A-N of the remote user devices 108A-N is described in more detail below.

[0019] Once the acquired waveforms from the apparatus 102 have been transferred or uploaded to the cloud-based platform 106, multiple users may simultaneously, at least partially simultaneously, or sequentially, through configuration of the remote user devices 108A-N, access the native format of the acquired waveforms, as well as compressed and segmented versions of the acquired waveforms, to work on the acquired waveforms and analyze various aspects of the acquired waveforms. The remote user devices 108A-N are coupled to the cloud-based platform 106 through network connections 138A-N and the network 104. As described in more detail below, the presentation layers 112A-N of the user interfaces 110A-N of the remote user devices 108A-N can be configured to access, display, and share desired versions of the acquired waveforms stored on the cloud-based platform 106, thereby improving collaboration between users.

[0020] Example components of the remote user device 108N will now be described in more detail. As noted above, the remote user device 108N is the only one of the remote user devices illustrated in FIG. 1 that illustrates the functionality of its internal components, but each of the other user devices 108A-108N have similar components and corresponding user interfaces 110A-110N and presentation layers 112A-112N. The remote user device 108N includes one or more processors 140, a memory 142, a display 144, and a user interface 110N. The one or more processors 140 are configured to execute instructions from the memory 142 and implement methods defined by such instructions, thereby controlling the overall operation of the remote user device 108N, including the operation of the presentation layer 112N that allows a user to access a desired version of an acquired waveform stored in the cloud-based platform 106. The display 144 may be any suitable type of digital screen, such as an LED display or LCD, or any other suitable type of display. The display unit 144 renders or displays windows generated by the presentation layer 112N of the user interface 110N for viewing by a user of the remote user device 108N. The user interface 110N may include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, or any other suitable operating device available for a user to interact with the remote user device 108N.

[0021] In the test and measurement system 100, the network 104 may include a closed network (i.e., a network available only to users in a particular company or building) or a private network, an open network (e.g., including the Internet), a virtual private network (VPN), or any other suitable type of network architecture. The network connections 130, 132, and 138A-N between the components of the test and measurement system 100 may be any suitable type of wired or wireless network, including near field communication (NFC) connections, infrared (IR) connections, Bluetooth® connections, Wi-Fi connections, Ethernet® connections, etc.

[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates an example display window 200 rendered by the presentation layer 112A-N of the user interface 110A-N of the remote user device 108A-N in the test and measurement system 100 of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosed technique. As described above, the test and measurement system 100 is a cloud-based system. In operation, after one of the remote user devices 108A-N makes a request, one or more servers 134 of the cloud-based platform 106 retrieve data corresponding to the request from the common memory 136. After the requested data is retrieved, the cloud-based platform 106 transmits the requested data over the network connection 132 and the network 104 (FIG. 1) to the requesting remote user device, where the requested data is received by a client program, such as a browser, executing on the remote user device 108A-N. The client program implements the user interface 110A-N and the presentation layer 112A-N on the remote user device 108A-N.

[0023] A user of one of the remote user devices 108A-N generally interacts with the user interface 110A-N of the remote user device 108A-N to make data selections or generate other user input. These user inputs are then communicated via network connections 138A-N, network 104, and network connection 132 to one or more servers 134 executing on the cloud-based platform 106. In response to the user input, the one or more servers 134 select or generate an update file corresponding to the display window selected by the user and communicate the file to the remote user device 108A-N for rendering on the remote user device 108A-N. The architecture of the remote user devices 108A-N and the one or more servers 134 of the cloud based platform 106 is a client-server architecture, and the operations between the client programs running on the remote user devices 108A-N and the one or more servers 134 running on the cloud based platform 106 will be understood by those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein.

[0024] Through the display window 200 and user interface 110N, a user can select desired ones of the acquired waveforms generated by the device 102 and configure the display to show desired properties or characteristics of the acquired waveforms for viewing and sharing with other users, as will be described in more detail. The example display window 200 of FIG. 2 includes a timeline TL that chronologically depicts, from left to right, each acquired waveform that was previously generated by the device 102 and stored in the cloud-based platform 106.

[0025] In the example embodiment of FIG. 1, each of the acquired waveforms is represented as an icon along a timeline TL, each of which represents a corresponding acquired waveform, which may also be referred to as a frame F in this description. The example of FIG. 2 shows three frames F1-F3 on the timeline TL. The intervals between frames F1-F3 on the timeline TL indicate when each frame was acquired relative to the other frames. For example, frame F2 occurs before F3. To select one of the frames F1-F3, a user of a remote user device 108N, which includes a user interface 110N and a presentation layer 112N displaying or rendering a display window 200, utilizes a user input device (not shown). The user input device is part of the user interface and may be, for example, a computer mouse or a touch screen. The selected one of the frames F1-F3 is then displayed in a configurable display window 202. The particular manner in which the data for the selected frames F1-F3 is displayed in the configurable display window 202 is subject to change and is configurable by the user, as described in more detail below.

[0026] In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the timeline TL further includes an icon representing a live stream or live frame LF. The live frame LF represents measurement data currently being acquired by the test and measurement instrument 102 from the DUT 124 (FIG. 1) in real time. A user may select the live frame icon LF to display in the configurable display window 202 the current measurement data being acquired by the instrument 102 during acquisition of a live acquired waveform or to display a live frame currently being acquired by the instrument 102. Of course, there will be some delay between the measurement data currently being acquired by the instrument 102 (i.e., the measurement data of the live frame LF) and the display of this measurement data on the corresponding remote user device 108A-N. Thus, the term "real time" used to describe the measurement data of the live frame LF includes this delay. The frames F1-F3, LF on the timeline TL represent continuous measurement data being generated or acquired by the instrument 102. The acquisition waveforms or frames of measurement data acquired by the device 102 are defined by setting operating parameters or triggers on the device 102. The device 102 may be configured directly on the device 102, but configuration of the device 102 may also be performed remotely on a remote user device 108N via a presentation layer 112N. More specifically, the presentation layer 112N renders an device control panel 203 as part of a configurable display window 202. The device control panel 203 includes a pause icon 204 that, when selected by a user, causes the device 102 to pause acquisition of measurement data from the DUT 124 (FIG. 1), thereby pausing the acquisition of additional acquisition waveforms or frames F. A settings icon 206 in the device control panel 203 allows a user to set the operating parameters of the device 102 to configure and control the device 102.For example, if the test and measurement instrument 102 is an oscilloscope, the user may select the settings icon 206 to set the sample rate, the record length of each acquired waveform or frame F, the horizontal and vertical settings for triggering and acquired measurement data, and the acquired waveform or frame is then updated to include the set operating parameters. Selecting the settings icon 206 allows the user to set the desired operating parameters of the instrument 102. In the example embodiment of FIG. 2, the instrument control panel 203 further includes a connection icon 208, which indicates whether the test and measurement instrument 102 is currently connected to the cloud-based platform 106 (FIG. 1). The connection icon 208 may indicate "connected" if the instrument 102 is connected or may display another description, such as "not connected," if the instrument 102 is not connected to the cloud-based platform 106, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0027] Returning now to the configurable display window 202 in the display window 200 of FIG. 2, once the user has selected a desired one of the frames F1-F3 on the timeline TL or the live frame LF, the user may then configure the configurable display window 202 to show desired characteristics of the selected frame for review and analysis, and may share this display window with other users, as described in more detail herein. The configurable display window 202 may have multiple individually configurable display windows created by the user. In the example display window 200 of FIG. 2, multiple individually configurable display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 have been created by the user. The first individually configurable display window 210-1 is labeled "Source" and is the initial default display window displayed in the display window 200 when the display window 200 is first accessed. This display window 210-1, labeled "Source," provides a default view of the acquired waveform's native format, which may be thought of as the source data or source file, allowing a user to visualize the data that makes up the acquired waveform. The default view of the acquired waveform's native format is a time domain view of the waveform, allowing a user to visualize the measurement data of the acquired waveform.

[0028] The user can then create a new individually configurable display window by selecting the create new display icon 212 in the display window 200. The individually configurable display window created by selecting the new display icon is displayed as a new tab at the top of the configurable display window 202. In the example of FIG. 2, display window 210-1 is shown at the far left, then a second individually configurable display window 210-2 created by the user is displayed to the right of the tab of display window 210-1, and finally a third individually configurable display window 210-3 created by the user is then displayed to the right of the tab of display window 210-2. By way of example, three display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 are shown, and more or fewer may be rendered in the display window depending on user input. Additional individually configurable display windows 210 may be created by the user as needed using the new display icon 212. The current or selected individually configurable display window 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 shown in configurable display window 202 is selected by selecting the tab corresponding to the desired one of individually configurable display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3. The current individually configurable display window is indicated by displaying an indicator in the tab of that display window. This selection indicator is seen in display window 200 where the tab of individually configurable display window 210-3 is shaded, thereby indicating that individually configurable display window 210-3 is the current or selected display window in configurable display window 202.

[0029] Each of the individually configurable display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 is individually configurable and a user may insert into each of the individually configurable display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 a desired display or transformation of acquired waveforms or data forming frames F1-F3, LF in the timeline TL. A separate frame F1-F3, LF may be selected for each individually configurable display window 210-1, 210-2, 210-3. Additionally, within each of the individually configurable display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3, a user may create or add one or more user selectable feature views FV that display desired data transformations for a selected acquired waveform. Each of the user selectable feature views FV is positioned by the user at a desired location within the corresponding individually configurable display window 210-1, 210-2, 210-3. The user may also adjust the size of each user selectable functionality display portion FV so that all of the desired functionality displays fit within the current individually configurable display window 210-1, 210-2, 210-3.

[0030] In the example of FIG. 2, the current individually configurable display window 210-3 illustratively has three user selectable function display portions FV1-FV3. Each of the function display portions FV1-FV3 is created by the user by selecting a function add icon 214 displayed in the individually configurable display window 210-3. The function add icon 214 is selected by the user to create and configure all of the desired function display portions FV1-FV3 in the individually configurable display window 210-3. In this way, the function add icon 214 allows the user to visualize any desired data transformation for any of the selected frames F1-F3 and LF for the individually configurable display window 210-3. The user can customize each of the individually configurable display windows 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 by selecting any data transformation and displaying information about the selected frames F1-F3 and LF to be analyzed.

[0031] A user may utilize the user selectable functional display portions to perform a desired format data conversion on a selected one of the frames F1-F3 and LF and to display characteristics of the selected one of the frames F1-F3 and LF to facilitate testing or analysis of the DUT 124 (FIG. 1). In the example of FIG. 2, the individually configurable display window 210-3 includes a first functional display portion FV1 that provides a visual display of the native format of the selected frames F1-F3 and LF. A second functional display portion FV2 indicates a channel of acquired waveform or data contained in frames F1-F3 and LF from the device 102. Functional display portion FV2 may be referred to as a channel display and indicates a selected channel of the device 102 having an acquired waveform. In the illustrated example, six data channels C1-C6 are contained in frames F1-F3 and LF. These six data channels C1-C6 are also seen in the first function display FV1, where the six channels C1-C6 are shown for visual display of the native format of the selected frames F1-F3 and LF. Any of the selected channels C1-C6 can be deselected by the user by clicking on the corresponding icon displayed for that channel in the function display FV2. When a channel C1-C6 is deselected, the data of that channel is no longer displayed in the function display. For example, when channel C3 is deselected in the function display FV2, the signal or data of channel C3 is removed from the function display FV1. The third function display FV3 shows, as an example, an I2C decoding of the acquired waveforms or frames F1-F3 and LF, where I2C is a serial communication bus protocol for communication between processors and microcontrollers and low-speed peripheral integrated circuits.

[0032] 2 and other exemplary embodiments described herein, the measurement data acquired by the test and measurement instrument 102 corresponds to signals communicated on an I2C serial bus according to an I2C serial communications bus protocol. However, embodiments of the disclosed technology are not limited to the I2C serial communications bus protocol. In some embodiments, the measurement data acquired by the instrument 102 corresponds to signals transmitted on other types of electrical buses according to other protocol standards, such as universal serial bus (USB) signals, controller area network (CAN) signals, serial peripheral interface (SPI) signals, or signals for other types of protocols, which may be acquired and decoded by the instrument 102.

[0033] The user selectable function indicators may be utilized to perform a wide variety of types of data conversions on the measurement data selected from among frames F1-F3 and LF. For example, if the test and measurement instrument 102 is an oscilloscope, the user may configure the function indicators to perform automated tasks such as protocol decoding of signals in the acquired waveforms for various signal protocols and generating data eye diagrams for such signals. The protocol decoding of signals in the acquired waveform function indicator provides a protocol decode display of the selected acquired waveform so that the user can analyze the signals in the acquired waveform to determine whether they were properly decoded. The user may also utilize other automated tasks that can be performed by the instrument 102 when configuring the function indicator to indicate a desired data conversion of the measurement data from the instrument 102. Additionally, in some embodiments, measurement data from multiple instruments 102 may be acquired, and there may be a desired function indicator to set a desired data conversion for the measurement data from each of the multiple instruments.

[0034] When the user selects the add function icon 214 to configure the function indicators FV1-FV3 in the individually configurable display window 210-3, one or more additional windows (not shown in FIG. 2) are opened. The one or more additional windows display fields or options that allow the user to configure the function indicator FV to be created. Creating a configured function indicator FV includes selecting a desired data transformation for the function indicator FV and setting various parameters associated with the desired data transformation. A wide variety of data transformations are provided by the cloud-based platform 106 and made available for the function indicator FV to be created in the individually configurable display window 210. The user selects the data transformation that best performs the desired analysis of the selected frames F1-F3 and LF, which will vary depending on the user analyzing the acquired waveforms of the frames. For example, an RF engineer may be interested in the frequency content of the signals contained in the acquired waveform, while a software engineer may be interested in I2C decoding of the signals contained in the acquired waveform. Data transformations that may be performed by cloud-based platform 106 in accordance with embodiments of the disclosed technology are described in the above-referenced U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2022 / 0252647 A1 and 2022 / 0163566 A1. Cloud-based platform 106 may perform additional data transformations in embodiments of the disclosed technology.

[0035] Finally, the display window 200 also includes notification and sharing options that may be set by the user. Specifically, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the display 200 includes a notification icon 216 in the upper right corner. Selection of the notification icon 216 opens a further window (not shown in FIG. 2) that displays fields or options that allow the user to set notifications as desired. Notifications may be set, for example, so that a particular user receives a notification every time a new acquired waveform or frame F is added to the timeline TL. Such notifications improve collaboration among multiple users interested in testing the DUT 124 (FIG. 1) by making the desired users aware that new frames F have been acquired for their review and analysis.

[0036] Sharing of the individually configurable display window 210 with selected users is accomplished by a share icon 218 in the upper right corner of the display window 200. Selection of the share icon 218 opens one or more windows (not shown in FIG. 2) that display fields or otherwise allow a user to identify users with whom the desired individually configurable display window 210 is to be shared. Upon identifying the users with whom the desired individually configurable display window 210 is to be shared, a notification, such as an email or text message, is sent to each user with whom the individually configurable display window 210 is to be shared. Each user with whom the desired individually configurable display window 210 is shared can then display the display window on a corresponding remote user device 108A-N. Each such user can also add or modify functionality indicators FV within the shared individually configurable share window 210.

[0037] Finally, the display 200 includes a download icon 220 in the upper right corner. A user can select the download icon 220 to download a selected frame F on the timeline TL to his or her remote user device 108A-N. The user may have a local program running on the remote user device 108A-N to analyze the frame F on the timeline TL. The download icon 220 allows the user to download the desired frame F to the remote user device 108A-N and then utilize the local program to perform further analysis on the frame.

[0038] FIG. 3 is another example of a display window 300 rendered by one of the user interfaces 110A-N of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosed technique. Display window 300 is similar to display window 200 of FIG. 2, except that display window 300 includes a configurable display window 302 having an additional user-selectable function indicator, display FV4, that shows a frequency or spectral display of a selected acquired waveform. The spectral display of the selected acquired waveform in function indicator FV4 is a frequency domain display of the selected acquired waveform. Function indicators FV1-FV3 are the same as function indicators FV1-FV3 in configurable display window 202 of FIG. 2, except that function indicator FV1 of FIG. 3 has been resized to accommodate inclusion of additional function indicator FV4 within configurable display window 302. Display window 300 illustrates how configurable display window 302 can be easily modified to add or remove desired user-selectable function indicators FV. These modifications may be made by the original user who created and shared a particular configurable display window 302, or by other users with whom the configurable display window 302 is shared. Display window 300 in the example embodiment of Figure 3 further includes components 304-320, which are identical to corresponding components 204-220 described above with reference to display window 200 of Figure 2. As such, these components 304-320 will not be described in detail again with respect to display window 300 of Figure 3.

[0039] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of a display process 400 executed via the presentation layer 112N and the user interface 110N of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the disclosed technique. The display process 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4. The display process 400 begins at step 402, in which the presentation layer 112A-N on a first remote user device of the remote user devices 108A-N renders a timeline TL on the display 144 of the first remote user device, which timeline TL shows each of the acquired waveforms generated by the apparatus 102. The acquired waveforms are stored in the cloud-based platform 106. The process 400 proceeds from step 402 to step 404, in which a user provides an input to cause the presentation layer 112A-N to select one of the acquired waveforms or frames F1-F3 and LF shown on the timeline TL and display it on the display 144 of the first remote user device 108A-N. The process 400 then proceeds to step 406, where the presentation layer 112A-N renders a configurable display window 202 including at least one user selectable functionality display portion FV on the display 144 of the first remote user device 108A-N. The process 400 continues from step 406 to step 408, where the user, through input provided in the presentation layer 112A-N, configures the at least one user selectable display window 202 to display corresponding characteristics of a selected one of the plurality of acquired waveforms or frames F1-F3 and LF. After step 408, the process 400 proceeds to step 410, where the user provides input through a share icon 218 in the configurable display window 202 to share the configurable display window with at least one other remote user device 108A-N. This sharing allows the configurable display window 202 to be viewed by a user of the at least one other remote user device 108A-N. Process 400 then proceeds to step 412 and ends.

[0040] Aspects of the disclosed technology can operate on specially created hardware, firmware, digital signal processors, or specially programmed general-purpose computers, including processors that operate according to programmed instructions. The term "controller" or "processor" in this application contemplates microprocessors, microcomputers, ASICs, and dedicated hardware controllers, among others. Aspects of the disclosed technology can be implemented in computer-available data and computer-executable instructions, such as one or more program modules, executed by one or more computers (including a monitoring module) or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like, which, when executed by a processor in a computer or other device, perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data formats. The computer-executable instructions may be stored in computer-readable storage media, such as hard disks, optical disks, removable storage media, solid-state memory, RAM, and the like. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. Furthermore, such functionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents, such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. Certain data structures may be used to more effectively implement one or more aspects of the disclosed techniques, and such data structures are considered to be within the scope of the computer-executable instructions and computer-usable data described herein.

[0041] The disclosed aspects may, in some cases, be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. The disclosed aspects may also be implemented as instructions carried by or stored on one or more computer-readable media that may be read and executed by one or more processors. Such instructions may be referred to as computer program products. A computer-readable medium as described herein means any medium that can be accessed by a computing device. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may include computer storage media and communication media.

[0042] Computer storage media means any medium that can be used to store computer-readable information. By way of example and not limitation, computer storage media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital video disc (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, and any other volatile or non-volatile removable or non-removable media implemented in any technology. Computer storage media excludes signals themselves and transitory forms of signal transmission.

[0043] A communication medium refers to any medium that can be used to communicate computer readable information. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, air, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW), glass / quartz substrate waveguide, or any other medium suitable for communication of electrical, optical, radio frequency (RF), infrared, acoustic, or other types of signals. Working Example

[0044] In the following, examples useful for understanding the technology disclosed in the present application are presented. The embodiment of the technology may include one or more of the examples described below and any combination thereof.

[0045] Example 1 is a method for providing access to an acquired waveform from a test and measurement instrument, comprising: storing the acquired waveforms from the test and measurement device in a cloud-based platform; responsive to the captured waveforms being stored in the cloud-based platform, rendering on a first remote user device a timeline illustrating each of the captured waveforms from the test and measurement instruments in chronological order; selecting, on the first remote user device, one of the acquired waveforms shown on the timeline for display on the first remote user device; rendering on the first remote user device a configurable display window including at least one user selectable feature display portion; configuring the at least one user selectable feature display on the first remote user device to display a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; receiving on the first remote user device from the cloud based platform a file including data for the at least one user selectable feature indicator configured on the first remote user device; using the file received from the cloud based platform to render on the first remote user device the configurable display window including the at least one user selectable feature display indicative of a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; sharing said configurable display window with at least one other remote user device in response to user input at said first remote user device; Equipped with The sharing process enables a user of the at least one other remote user device to view the configurable display window.

[0046] Example 2 is a method according to Example 1, further comprising: configuring an additional configurable display window on the at least one other remote user device, the additional configurable display window including at least one user selectable function display displaying a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; and sharing the additional configurable display window with the first remote user device in response to user input on the at least one other remote user device.

[0047] Example 3 is a method according to example 1, wherein the file from the cloud-based platform includes data for a desired data conversion of measurement data from the test and measurement instrument for a selected one of the acquired waveforms.

[0048] Example 4 is a method according to Example 2, wherein each of the at least one user selectable functional display portion rendered in the configurable display window is one of a time domain display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms in a native format, a zoomed display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms, a channel display indicating a channel selected for display of a test and measurement instrument in which a selected one of the acquired waveforms is included, a frequency domain display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms, and a protocol decode display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms.

[0049] Example 5 is a method according to Example 1, wherein the timeline includes a plurality of icons, and each of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument corresponds to one of the plurality of icons on the timeline.

[0050] Example 6 is a method according to Example 1, in which sharing the configurable display window with at least one other remote user device includes rendering a sharing icon on the first remote user device, selecting the sharing icon in response to user input on the first remote user device, identifying in response to user input on the first remote user device a other remote user device with which the configurable display window is to be shared, and sharing the configurable display window with the other remote user device.

[0051] Example 7 is the method according to Example 1, further comprising: rendering a notification icon on the first remote user device; selecting the notification icon in response to user input on the first remote user device; and configuring, in response to user input at the first remote user device, a notification that the first remote user device receives in response to a new acquired waveform being generated by the test and measurement instrument and stored in the cloud-based platform.

[0052] Example 8 is a method according to example 1, further comprising: rendering an instrument control panel on the first remote user device; and controlling operation of the test and measurement instrument via the instrument control panel on the first remote user device.

[0053] Example 9 is a method according to example 8, wherein the rendering of the instrument control panel includes rendering a pause icon on the first remote user device as part of the instrument control panel that, when selected in response to user input, causes the test and measurement instrument to pause the process of acquiring additional acquired waveforms, and rendering a settings icon on the first remote user device that, when selected in response to user input, allows a user to set operating parameters of the test and measurement instrument.

[0054] A tenth embodiment is a test and measurement system, comprising: a test and measurement instrument configured to generate acquired waveforms of one or more signals of a device under test; a cloud-based platform coupled to the test and measurement device and configured to store acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement device; a plurality of remote user devices, each having one or more processors; Equipped with The one or more processors are configured to execute instructions that cause the processors to render a user interface on a display of the remote user device, the user interface comprising: In response to the captured waveforms being stored in the cloud-based platform, displaying a timeline illustrating each of the captured waveforms from the test and measurement instruments in chronological order. receiving user input for selecting one of the acquired waveforms shown on the timeline for display on the display of the remote user device; It has a presentation layer that performs the following:

[0055] Example 11 is a test and measurement system of Example 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to process a plurality of configurable display windows, each of the configurable display windows having at least one user-selectable function display portion that displays a corresponding characteristic of a selected acquired waveform.

[0056] Example 12 is the test and measurement system of Example 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to perform processing to display an add-function icon within each of the configurable display windows that enables a user to add a new user-selectable function display portion to the configurable display window.

[0057] Example 13 is a test and measurement system of Example 11, wherein each of the plurality of configurable display windows displays at least one user-selectable function display portion which is one of a time domain display of a selected acquired waveform in its native format, a zoomed-in display of the selected acquired waveform, a channel display indicating a channel selected for display on the test and measurement device which includes one acquired waveform selected from the acquired waveforms, a frequency domain display of the selected acquired waveform, and a protocol decoded display of the selected acquired waveform.

[0058] Example 14 is the test and measurement system of example 10, wherein the one or more processors further comprise: receiving user input to select a configurable display window from among the configurable display windows to share with another remote user device from the plurality of remote user devices; sharing the selected configurable display window with another remote user device of the plurality of remote user devices to enable a user of the other remote user device of the plurality of remote user devices to view the selected configurable display window; The presentation layer is configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to:

[0059] Example 15 is the test and measurement system of example 10, wherein the one or more processors further comprise: Rendering a share icon on a display of a corresponding remote user device; receiving a user input selecting the share icon; receiving a user input identifying a user of another remote user device of the plurality of remote user devices with which to share a selected configurable display window; sharing a selected configurable display window in response to a user input identifying another remote user device among the plurality of remote user devices; The presentation layer is configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to:

[0060] Example 16 is the test and measurement system of Example 10, wherein the cloud-based platform is further configured to store the acquired waveform generated by the test and measurement instrument in a native format.

[0061] Example 17 is the test and measurement system of Example 16, wherein the cloud-based platform is further configured to generate at least one of a compressed version of each of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument and a segmented version of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument.

[0062] An eighteenth embodiment is the test and measurement system of the eleventh embodiment, in which the test and measurement instrument is an oscilloscope.

[0063] Example 19 is Memory, One or more processors a remote user device comprising: rendering on a display of the first remote user device a timeline illustrating a chronological order of each of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument and stored on the cloud-based platform; selecting one acquired waveform from among the acquired waveforms shown on the timeline for display on the display of the first remote user device; rendering on the display of the first remote user device a configurable display window having at least one user selectable feature display window; setting the at least one user selectable functional display window to display a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; sharing said configurable display window with at least one other remote user device;

[0023] The sharing process enables a user of the at least one other remote user device to view the configurable display window.

[0064] Example 20 is the remote user device of Example 19, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to process, when the acquired waveforms are stored in the cloud-based platform, adding icons representing each of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument to the timeline.

[0065] The above-described versions of the presently disclosed subject matter have many advantages that have been described or that will be apparent to those of skill in the art. Nevertheless, not all of these advantages or features are required in every version of a disclosed device, system or method.

[0066] In addition, the present description refers to specific features. It should be understood that the disclosure herein includes all possible combinations of those specific features. When a specific feature is disclosed in connection with a particular aspect or embodiment, that feature can also be used in connection with other aspects and embodiments, to the extent possible.

[0067] Furthermore, when the application refers to a method having two or more defined steps or processes, those defined steps or processes may be performed in any order or simultaneously, unless the context precludes such a possibility.

[0068] For convenience of illustration, specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, but it will be understood that various modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention should not be limited, except as by the appended claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0069] 100 Test and Measurement Systems 102 Test and measurement equipment 104 Network 106 Cloud-Based Platforms 108 Remote User Devices 110 User Interface 112 Presentation Layer 114 processors 116 Memory 118 Display section 120 User Interface 122 Measurement Units 124 Device Under Test (DUT) 126 Connection 128 network ports 130 Network Connection 132 Network Connection 134 Server 136 Common Memory 138 Network Connection 140 processors 142 Memory 144 Display section 200 Display Window 202 Configurable Display Windows 203 Device Control Panel 204 Pause icon 206 Settings Icon 208 Connection Icon 210-1 Display window 210-2 Display window 210-3 Display window 212 New display icon 214 Added function icons 216 Notification Icon 218 Share Icon 220 Download Icon 300 Display Window 302 Configurable Display Windows 303 Device Control Panel 304 pause icon 306 Settings icon 308 connection icon 310-1 Display window 310-2 Display window 310-3 Display window 312 New display icon 314 Add-on icon 316 Notification Icon 318 Share Icon 320 Download Icon

Claims

1. 1. A method for providing access to an acquired waveform from a test and measurement instrument, comprising: storing the acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instrument on a cloud-based platform; responsive to the acquired waveforms being stored on the cloud-based platform, rendering on a first remote user device a timeline illustrating each of the acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instrument in chronological order; selecting, on the first remote user device, one of the acquired waveforms shown on the timeline for display on the first remote user device; rendering on the first remote user device a configurable display window including at least one user selectable feature display; configuring the at least one user selectable feature indicator on the first remote user device to display a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; receiving on the first remote user device from the cloud based platform a file including data for the at least one user selectable functionality indicator configured on the first remote user device; using the file received from the cloud based platform to render on the first remote user device the configurable display window including the at least one user selectable feature indicator indicative of a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; sharing the configurable display window with at least one other remote user device in response to user input at the first remote user device; Equipped with The sharing process provides access to acquired waveforms that allow a user of the at least one other remote user device to view the configurable display window.

2. configuring, on the at least one other remote user device, an additional configurable display window including at least one user selectable feature display that displays a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; sharing the additional configurable display window with the first remote user device in response to user input on the at least one other remote user device; 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

3. 2. The method of providing access to acquired waveforms of claim 1, wherein the file from the cloud-based platform includes data for desired data conversion of measurement data from the test and measurement instrument for a selected one of the acquired waveforms.

4. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the at least one user-selectable functional display rendered in the configurable display window is one of: a time domain display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms in its native format; a zoomed-in display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; a channel display indicating a channel selected for display on a test and measurement instrument in which a selected one of the acquired waveforms is contained; a frequency domain display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; and a protocol decoded display of a selected one of the acquired waveforms.

5. 2. The method of providing access to acquired waveforms of claim 1, wherein the timeline includes a plurality of icons, and each of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument corresponds to one of the plurality of icons on the timeline.

6. a test and measurement instrument configured to generate acquired waveforms of one or more signals of a device under test; a cloud-based platform coupled to the test and measurement device and configured to store acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement device; a plurality of remote user devices, each having one or more processors; Equipped with The one or more processors are configured to execute instructions that cause the processors to render a user interface on a display of the remote user device, the user interface comprising: responsive to the acquired waveforms being stored in the cloud-based platform, displaying a timeline illustrating each of the acquired waveforms from the test and measurement instruments in chronological order; receiving a user input for selecting one of the acquired waveforms shown on the timeline for display on the display of the remote user device; A test and measurement system having a presentation layer that performs the steps of:

7. The one or more processors further include: configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to display a plurality of configurable display windows; 7. The test and measurement system of claim 6, wherein each of said configurable display windows includes at least one user selectable function display for displaying a corresponding characteristic of a selected acquired waveform.

8. The one or more processors further include: receiving user input to select a configurable display window from among the configurable display windows to share with another remote user device from the plurality of remote user devices; sharing the selected configurable display window with the other remote user device of the plurality of remote user devices to enable a user of the other remote user device of the plurality of remote user devices to view the selected configurable display window; 7. The test and measurement system of claim 6, configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to:

9. The one or more processors further include: rendering a shared icon on a display of a corresponding remote user device; receiving a user input selecting the share icon; receiving a user input identifying a user of another remote user device of the plurality of remote user devices with which to share a selected configurable display window; sharing a selected configurable display window in response to a user input identifying the other remote user device among the plurality of remote user devices; 7. The test and measurement system of claim 6, configured to execute instructions that cause the presentation layer to:

10. Memory, One or more processors a remote user device comprising: Rendering on a display of the first remote user device a timeline illustrating a chronological order of each of the acquired waveforms generated by the test and measurement instrument and stored on the cloud-based platform; selecting one acquired waveform from the acquired waveforms shown on the timeline and displaying the selected waveform on the display of the first remote user device; rendering on the display of the first remote user device a configurable display window having at least one user selectable feature display; configuring the at least one user selectable functional indicator to display a corresponding characteristic of a selected one of the acquired waveforms; sharing the configurable display window with at least one other remote user device; [0023] The sharing process enables a user of the at least one other remote user device to view the configurable display window.

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