Patent ID: 8457191

Claim:
An 8-QAM adaptive equalizer comprising: a signal filter; an adaptive processor configured to limit processing to one sample per symbol, the one sample per symbol collected at a time when a signal corresponds to at least one modulation constellation point, the adaptive processor coupled to the signal filter; and a slicer coupled to the signal filter and the adaptive processor; wherein the slicer is configured to utilize a plurality of desired signals corresponding to an 8-QAM signal constellation comprising four quadrants, four levels disposed along the I-axis, and three levels disposed along the Q-axis; wherein the slicer is configured to output an error signal by receiving an equalized output signal, processing the equalized output signal by correlating the equalized output signal with a decision region within one of the four quadrants, selecting one of a plurality of desired signals corresponding to the decision region, and calculating the error signal using the selected desired signal and the equalized output signal; and wherein the 8-QAM adaptive equalizer operates without correcting a symbol timing error in a symbol clock recovery circuit.