Chapter 5 Trigger    RIGOL 
MSO4000/DS4000 User’s Guide  5-7 
Trigger and the Pre-trigger/Post-trigger Buffer 
The following is the schematic diagram of the acquisition memory. To easily 
understand the trigger event, the acquisition memory is divided into the pre-trigger 
buffer and post-trigger buffer. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After the system runs, the oscilloscope operates by first filling the pre-trigger buffer. 
It starts searching for a trigger after the pre-trigger buffer is filled. While searching 
for the trigger, the oscilloscope overflows the pre-trigger buffer and the first data put 
into the buffer is first pushed out (FIFO). When a trigger is found, the pre-trigger 
buffer contains the data acquired just before the trigger. Then, the oscilloscope will 
fill the post-trigger buffer and display the data in the acquisition memory. If the 
acquisition is activated via RUN/STOP, the oscilloscope will repeat this process; if 
the acquisition is activated via SINGLE, the oscilloscope will stop after finishing a 
single acquisition (you can pan and zoom the waveform currently displayed). 
 
 
 
 
Pre-trigger Buffer  Post-trigger Buffer 
Trigger Event 
Acquisition Memory 
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