US Patent 7336749 Statistical margin test methods and circuits

Margin-testing circuits and methods rely upon the statistics of sampled data to explore the margin characteristics of received data. One margining circuit samples an incoming data stream N times at each of many sample points, each sample point representing a unique sample voltage, unique sample timing, or a unique combination of sample voltage and sample timing. The number of ones sampled at a particular point is a measure of the ones probability for that sample point. The ones probabilities for the collection of unique sample points are then analyzed to measure various aspects of the received data stream, including the data margin.