Patent ID: 7039330

Claim:
A method of mitigating dispersion effects in a high frequency communications channel, the method comprising: passing a signal through an adjustable linear filter, the adjustable linear filter having a plurality of coefficients, the output of the adjustable linear filter being an electrical signal; calculating a figure of merit that represents a quality of the electrical signal; and adjusting the coefficients of the adjustable linear filter based at least on the value of the figure of merit so as to minimize the figure of merit and improve the quality of the electrical signal; wherein the figure of merit is determined from the equation: F = M 4 ( M 2 ) 2 wherein F is the value of the figure of merit; A(t) is the amplitude of the electrical signal; M 4 is the fourth moment of the electrical signal and equals the time average of A 4 (t), and M 2 is the second moment of the electrical signal and equals the time average of A 2 (t).