Patent ID: 7609759

Claim:
A nonlinear equalizer for treating the nonlinear component of a distorted digital signal, said nonlinear equalizer comprising: (a) a first processing unit adapted to receive the distorted digital signal and yield an appropriate output signal in response thereto, (b) a second processing unit adapted to receive the distorted digital signal and yield an appropriate output signal in response thereto, and (c) a summation module for summing together the output signals from the first and second processing units so as to yield an equalized digital signal, (d) wherein each of said first and second processing units comprises (i) means for partitioning the distorted digital signal into a plurality of sub-components, (ii) a linear filter comprising at least one equalization coefficient that is optimized to treat nonlinear modalities present within one sub-component of the partitioned digital signal, and (iii) a multiplier for multiplying together the output of said linear filter with the output of said partitioning means.