Patent ID: 7069488

Claim:
A signal-analyzing unit adapted for analyzing a digital test signal, comprising: a sampling path for receiving the test signal and comprising: a first comparator for comparing the test signal against a first threshold value and providing a first comparison signal as result of the comparison, and a first sampling device for receiving as input the first comparison signal together with a first timing signal comprising a plurality of successive first timing marks, wherein the first sampling device derives a value of the first comparison signal for one or more of the first timing marks; a reference path for receiving the test signal and comprising: a second comparator for comparing the test signal against a second threshold value and providing a second comparison signal as result of the comparison, and a second sampling device for receiving as input the second comparison signal together with a second timing signal comprising a plurality of successive second timing marks, wherein the second sampling device is to derive a value of the second comparison signal for one or more of the second timing marks; and an analysis unit for receiving and jointly analyzing the output of both of the sampling and reference path.