Patent ID: 8442106

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a first circuit configured to determine values for a predefined metric for a plurality of tap positions within a range covered by a decision feedback equalizer (DFE), wherein said values for a number of taps are determined in parallel; and a second circuit configured to set one or more floating taps in a feedback path of the DFE to tap positions based upon said values of said predefined metric, wherein the tap positions of the one or more floating taps in the feedback path of the DFE are determined by a sliding window process using a sliding window containing a plurality of tap positions, and said sliding window process comprises adapting tap weights of the DFE to obtain current tap weight magnitudes and, when the tap weights converge, updating tap positions and tap weights of the DFE based upon a comparison of current tap positions and tap weight magnitudes with previous tap positions and tap weight magnitudes.