LOGIC STATE ANALYZER WITH FORMAT SPECIFICATION

Ongoing succession of states occurring in a collection of digital signals is monitored by a logic state analyzer which stores either all such states or a selected subset thereof meeting certain qualification criteria. The memory into which the states are stored is updated with oldest stored states being overwritten as the newest states are stored, the collectivity of which may be termed a captured trace. The above-mentioned qualification and sequential criteria are termed a trace specification. The utility of such a trace in a logic state analyzer is enhanced by allowing the user to divide the collection of digital signals into groups of related signals, assign symbolic labels to the groups, and indicate a radix for each group. Such division, assignment and indication may be termed a format specification. Subsequent trace specifications as well as the displayed or printed form of the trace itself then incorporate the format specification.