Patent ID: 8155538

Claim:
A method for calibrating an optical receiver, comprising: receiving, in a front-end circuit in the optical receiver, an optical signal that corresponds to a sequence with alternating groups of symbol types that correspond to binary values, wherein durations of the groups of a given symbol type, which can correspond to a first binary value or a second binary value, progressively decrease during the sequence; wherein initial durations of groups corresponding to the first binary value and the second binary value are each sufficient for a feedback circuit in the optical receiver to reach steady state so that an output of a front-end circuit in the optical receiver dithers around a decision threshold of a digital slicer in the optical receiver; adjusting an output of the feedback circuit based at least on the sequence; and when the durations of groups corresponding to the first binary value and the second binary value reach their minimum values in the sequence, storing a calibration value corresponding to the output of the feedback circuit for use during a normal operating mode of the optical receiver.