Patent ID: 7158567

Claim:
A method for performing adaptive equalization comprising: receiving a Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoded signal from a channel; filtering the received FEC encoded signal using a filter according to at least one adjustable filter coefficient to produce a filtered signal; evaluating the filtered signal to generate a signal error output; adjusting the at least one adjustable filter coefficient in response to the signal error output; performing FEC decode processing dependent on the filtered signal to generate an FEC output; adjusting the at least one adjustable filter coefficient in response to the FEC output; wherein the at least one adjustable filter coefficient is first adjusted in response to the signal error output, then adjusted in response to the FEC output; wherein the at least one adjustable filter coefficient is first adjusted in response to the signal error output until a specified condition is met, then adjusted in response to the FEC output; and wherein the specified condition relates to an error measure varying less than a predetermined amount in N iterations of adjusting the at least one adjustable filter coefficient, where N is a positive integer.