Jitter compensation and generation in testing communication devices

1. A method for compensating for jitter in a communication system, the method comprising:

measuring a transfer function of a transmission medium;

calculating an output signal that results from propagating an input signal through the transmission medium by convolving the transfer function with the input signal;

determining data dependent jitter in the output signal;

compensating edge positions of the input signal based on the determined data dependent jitter; and

in memory, storing compensated edge positions of the input signal, the compensated edge positions being arranged such that the data dependent jitter causes edge positions of the output signal to move closer to ideal edge positions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the transfer function comprises:

calculating an output signal of the transmission medium that results from propagating an approximated step function through the transmission medium;

calculating a step response of the transmission medium from the approximated step function and the calculated output signal; and

differentiating the step response to obtain the transfer function.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

convolving a signal having the compensated edge positions with the transfer function to calculate compensated edge positions that correct the data dependent jitter to second order.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a first distribution of transition windows for the output signal, the transition windows being time intervals over which edge transitions are expected occur when data dependent jitter is present in the output signal.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

calculating a second distribution of transition windows for a second output signal that results from propagating a second input signal through the transmission medium;

and, at the receiving device, storing the distributions of transition windows in memory.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein calculating the output signal further comprises injecting data dependent jitter calculated for a second transmission medium such that the receiving device receives data dependent jitter contributed from the first transmission medium and the second transmission medium.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

capturing a signal at the receiving device; and

comparing transition times of the signal to the distributions of transition windows stored in memory; and

looking up a bit sequence that corresponds to the distribution that most closely matches the transitions times of the signal.

8. A system for compensating for jitter in a communication system, the system comprising:

a measuring instrument configured to:

measure a transfer function of a transmission medium;

calculate an output signal that results from propagating an input signal through the transmission medium by convolving the transfer function with the input signal;

determine data dependent jitter in the output signal; and

compensate edge positions of the input signal based on the determined data dependent jitter;

memory for storing compensated edge positions of the input signal, the compensated edge positions being arranged such that the data dependent jitter causes edge positions of the output signal to move closer to ideal edge positions; and

a testing instrument for propagating an approximated step function through the transmission medium,

wherein the measuring instrument is further configured to:

calculate an output signal of the transmission medium that results from propagating an approximated step function through the transmission medium;

calculate the step response of the transmission medium from the approximated step function and the calculated output signal; and

differentiate the step response to obtain the transfer function.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the testing instrument further comprises memory for storing the table of compensated edge positions of the initial output signal.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the memory stores compensated edge positions that correct the data dependent jitter to second order.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the measuring instrument is further configured to:

calculate a first distribution of transition windows for the output signal, the edge transition windows being time intervals over which edge transitions are expected occur when data dependent jitter is present in output signal; and

calculate a second distribution of transition windows for a second output signal that results from propagating a second input signal through the transmission medium.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:

a receiving device comprising memory for storing the distributions of transition windows calculated by the measuring instrument, wherein the receiving device is configured to:

capture a signal;

compare transition times of the signal to the distributions of transition window stored in the memory; and

look up a bit sequence that corresponds to the distribution that most closely matches the transitions times of the signal.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the memory stores only one distribution of transition windows from a set of redundant distributions of transition windows.

14. A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier, the computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more programmable processors, cause one or more computers to:

measure a transfer function of a transmission medium;

calculate an output signal that results from propagating an input signal through the transmission medium by convolving the transfer function with the input signal;

determine data dependent jitter in the output signal;

compensate edge positions of the input signal based on the determined data dependent jitter;

and store, in memory, compensated edge positions of the input signal, the compensated edge positions being arranged such that the data dependent jitter causes edge positions of the output signal to move closer to ideal edge positions.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 comprising further instructions that cause the one or more computers to:

calculate an output signal of the transmission medium that results from propagating an approximated step function through the transmission medium;

calculate a step response of the transmission medium from the approximated step function and the calculated output signal; and

differentiate the step response to obtain the transfer function.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 comprising further instructions that cause the one or more computers to:

convolve a signal having the compensated edge positions with the transfer function to calculate compensated edge positions that correct the data dependent jitter to second order.

17. The computer program product of claim 14 comprising further instructions that cause the one or more computers to calculate a distribution of transition windows for the output signal, the transition windows being time intervals over which edge transitions are expected occur when data dependent jitter is present in the output signal.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 comprising further instructions that cause the one or more computers to calculate a second distribution of transition windows for a second output signal that results from propagating a second input signal through the transmission medium.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 comprising further instructions that cause the one or more computers to store the distributions of transition windows in memory.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 comprising further instructions that cause the one or more computers to:

capture a signal at the receiving device;

compare transition times of the signal to the distributions of transition window stored in memory; and

and look up, in the memory, a bit sequence that corresponds to the distribution that most closely matches the transitions times of the signal.