Patent ID: 7376181

Claim:
A decision feedback equalizer having a symbol clock frequency, the decision feedback equalizer comprising a series of cascaded fast-feedback pipes, each fast-feedback pipe comprising: a filter input, a control input, a data input, and a multiplexed tap coefficient input; a reuse clock having a reuse clock frequency that is greater than the symbol clock frequency, the reuse clock determining the clock period for all other components in the fast-feedback pipes; a multiplier, having as input the data input and the multiplexed tap coefficient input, and having a multiplier output; a multiplexer having as input the filter input, the control input, and an adder output, the multiplexer also having a multiplexer output, and being configured to pass the filter input to the multiplexer output when the control input is in a first state, and to pass the adder output to the multiplexer output when the control input is in a second state; a series of data registers, having as input the multiplexer output, and having as output a delay line output, each of the series of data registers having a single reuse clock period delay; an adder, having as inputs the delay line output and the multiplier output, and having as output the adder output; a final data register having as input the adder output and the control input, and having a final output, the final data register being configured to latch the adder output only when the control input is in the first state; wherein the multiplexed tap coefficient input inputs tap coefficients; and wherein each of the fast-feedback pipes receives a common control input and a common data input, and each of the fast-feedback pipes after a first reuse pipe has as its filter input the final output from a prior fast-feedback pipe.