Patent ID: 8711906

Claim:
An apparatus for monitoring operating margin in a receiver, the apparatus comprising: an eye monitor configured to generate a data eye from a data stream received from a channel; at least one margin detector, each margin detector configured to: monitor at least one inner position of the data eye based on a corresponding threshold, the threshold corresponding to a relative minimum target operating margin, and compare the monitored inner position of the data eye to a substantially center position of the data eye to generate an indication of operating margin; and a first controller configured to, if the indication of operating margin reaches the minimum target operating margin, adaptively set parameters of one or more devices in a signal path of the data stream in the receiver based on the indication of operating margin, the one or more devices adapted in a determined order, wherein the first controller is further configured to perform steady state adaptation of parameters in accordance with a determined rate in a determined timeslot of operation of the receiver.