Patent ID: 7646806

Claim:
An apparatus for improving reception of a signal, comprising: an equalizer, including: at least two cascaded maximum-likelihood detectors; and an adjustable delay unit, wherein the equalizer and the adjustable delay unit are configured for adaptation in accordance with one or more multi-path signals in a communication channel that conveys the signal; and wherein the cascaded maximum-likelihood detectors include a first maximum-likelihood detector and a second maximum-likelihood detector, the first maximum-likelihood detector includes a first feedback loop based on a first path memory that has a delay that is shorter than a pre-determined value and has a first output that corresponds to a second path memory that has a delay that is longer than the pre-determined value, and wherein the second maximum-likelihood detector is coupled to the first output and has an output that corresponds to a third path memory that has a delay that is longer than the pre-determined value.