Displaying eye-diagram and digital diagnostic data using network analyzers

1. In a communications system, a method for displaying information describing a signal transmitted in the communication system, the method comprising the following:

receiving the signals with a tapping device;

transmitting the signal to a transceiver, the transceiver including a monitoring interface for performing digital diagnostic analysis of the signal, including real time access to access describing signal parameters;

sampling the signal at a percentage of the harmonic frequency of the signal, the harmonic frequency of the signal being equal to the bit-rate divided by an integer;

identifying a target as a midpoint between a maximum signal sample and the minimum signal sample;

constructing an eye-diagram using the target as a reference point by identifying a point where multiple waveform crossings are displayed simultaneously in an overlaid time base; and

displaying the digital diagnostic data received from the monitoring interface of the transceiver together with the eye-diagram for the signal.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the digital diagnostic data displayed comprises at least one of the following:

a type of transceiver;

connector type;

electronic compatibility or optical compatibility;

serial encoding algorithm;

nominal bit rate;

link length supported for optical fiber;

link length supported for copper fiber;

SFP vendor name (ASCII);

SFP vendor IEE company ID;

part number;

laser wavelength;

upper bit rate margin;

lower bit rate margin;

serial number provided by vendor (ASCII);

vendor's manufacturing data code;

data indicating which type of diagnostic monitoring is implemented (if any) in the transceiver;

data indicating which optional enhanced features are implemented (if any) in the transceiver;

data indicating which revision of SFF-8472 the transceiver complies with;

and check code for extende3d ID fields; or

vender specific EEPROM.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the digital diagnostic data displayed comprises I 2 C data.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is one of an SFP or a GBIC transceiver or an XFP transceiver.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the digital diagnostic data and the eye-diagram are displayed together with network protocol analysis on a display of a network analyzer.

6. A method according to claim 5 , wherein the display of the digital diagnostic data, the network protocol analysis result, and the eye-diagram is selectable by a user on the display of a network analyzer.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the percentage is between about 90 percent and 99.99 percent or between about 100.01 percent and 110 percent.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a clock provides a clock signal at the percentage of the harmonic frequency to a sample and hold circuit to sample the signal at the percentage of the harmonic frequency.

9. A method according to claim 7 , wherein the bit-rate is between 1 gigabytes per second and 10 gigabytes per second.

10. An apparatus for displaying digital diagnostic data along with an eye-diagram, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive the signal, the transceiver including a monitoring interface providing digital diagnostic data including real time access to information describing signal parameters;

a processor including computer executable instructions that cause the processor to generate an eye-diagram when the computer executable instructions are executed; and

a display configured to receive and display the digital diagnostic data along with the eye-diagram;

wherein the processor selectably displays the digital diagnostic data, the eye-diagram, together with network protocol analysis result on the display.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the digital diagnostic data displayed comprises I 2 C data.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the transceiver is a SFP transceiver or a GBIC transceiver.

13. An apparatus for displaying digital diagnostic data along with an eye-diagram, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive the signal, the transceiver including a monitoring interface providing digital diagnostic data including real time access to information describing signal parameters;

a processor including computer executable instructions that cause the processor to generate an eye-diagram when the computer executable instructions are executed;

a display configured to receive and display the digital diagnostic data along with the eye-diagram;

wherein the digital diagnostic data displayed comprises at least one of:

a type of transceiver;

connector type;

electronic compatibility or optical compatibility;

serial encoding algorithm;

nominal bit rate;

link length supported for optical fiber;

link length supported for copper fiber;

SFP vendor name (ASCII);

SFP vendor IEE company ID;

part number;

laser wavelength;

upper bit rate margin;

lower bit rate margin;

serial number provided by vendor (ASCII);

vendor's manufacturing data code;

data indicating which type of diagnostic monitoring is implemented (if any) in the transceiver;

data indicating which optional enhanced features are implemented (if any) in the transceiver;

data indicating which revision of SFF-8472 the transceiver complies with;

and check code for extende3d ID fields; or

vender specific EEPROM.

14. An apparatus for displaying digital diagnostic data along with an eye-diagram, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive the signal, the transceiver including a monitoring interface providing digital diagnostic data including real time access to information describing signal parameters;

a processor including computer executable instructions that cause the processor to generate an eye-diagram when the computer executable instructions are executed;

a display configured to receive and display the digital diagnostic data along with the eye-diagram;

a clock configured to provide a clock signal at a harmonic sample frequency of a bit-rate of the signal, wherein the harmonic sample frequency is a percentage other than 100% of the frequency of a bit-rate of the signal;

a sampling device for sampling the signal, wherein the sampling device samples the signal at the harmonic sample frequency of the clock;

an analog to digital converter for receiving the samples and converting the samples from analog samples to digital samples;

a memory for receiving and storing the digital samples; and

a display controller for receiving the digital diagnostic data and at the eye-diagram and displaying the digital diagnostic data and the eye-diagram.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the processor selectably displays the digital diagnostic data, the eye-diagram, together with network protocol analysis result on the display.

16. An apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is either a standalone device for generating and displaying the eye-diagram or a network analyzer for generating and displaying the eye-diagram and digital diagnostic information together with a result of network protocol analysis conducted by the network analyzer.

17. An apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the processor further comprises computer executable instructions that cause the processor to display an eye mask along with the eye-diagram on the display.

18. An apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the percentage is between about 90 percent and 99.99 percent or between about 100.01 percent and 110 percent.

19. An apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the harmonic frequency is calculated by dividing the bit-rate by an integer to obtain a harmonic frequency that is within a maximum capability of either the sampling device or the analog to digital converter.

20. An according to claim 19 , wherein the integer is between 1 and 100.