Patent ID: 7616685

Claim:
A method of channel tracking in an adaptive equalizer for a digital data receiver, the receiver configured to receive radio frequency signals modulated with data including coded symbols and uncoded symbols, the method comprising: demodulating, in a demodulator, the received radio frequency signals to produce the coded symbols and the uncoded symbols; decoding, in a decoder, the coded symbols to produce corresponding decoded symbols; determining, in a tap weight module, a first set of equalizer tap weights at a first time and a second set of equalizer tap weights at a second time; calculating, in a difference module, a difference between the first and second sets of equalizer tap weights; determining, in an error estimator, an error estimate based on the symbols received at the receiver; comparing, in a comparison module, the error estimate with a divergence threshold; determining, in a step size factor module, a step size factor based on the difference between the first and second sets of equalizer tap weights and the comparison of the error estimate with the divergence threshold, wherein the step size factor is adjusted when the error estimate is less than the divergence threshold; and calculating a new step size value as a function of the step size factor and a current step size value.