Patent ID: 7277820

Claim:
Apparatus for generating a complementary Cumulative Distribution Function (CCDF) curve for an input signal, the apparatus comprising: a. an Analog-to-digital Converter (ADC) having an input for receiving the input signal and an output the ADC sampling the input signal at sampling points to provide a parameter value corresponding to a desired parameter of the input signal at each sampled point at the output; b. a plurality of memory elements for storing frequency counts of occurrences of each received parameter value in respective, differing ranges of parameter values, each memory element having an input coupled to the output of the ADC for receiving parameter values and an output for providing a frequency count from an address in the memory corresponding to the received parameter value; c. a plurality of adders each associated with a respective one of the plurality of memory elements, and each having an input coupled to the output of the memory element for receiving the frequency count, for incrementing that frequency count and for providing the incremented frequency count at an output coupled to an input of the memory element for writing back into the address corresponding to the received parameter value; and d. a CCDF curve generating module having an input coupled to an output of the memory elements for reading the frequency counts stored in the memory elements corresponding to each parameter value and for generating a CCDF curve therefrom.