Patent ID: 8045608

Claim:
Apparatus for signal equalization, the apparatus comprising: an equalizer applying equalization to an input signal, the equalization characterized by an eye profile; a threshold checking module (TCM) adapted to i) monitor the eye profile of the equalized input signal for the presence or absence of a predetermined signal pattern, and ii) detect the presence or absence of the predetermined signal pattern from the eye profile; wherein the equalizer is further adapted to modify the equalization applied to the input signal based upon the detected presence or absence of the predetermined signal pattern, and the equalizer comprises: an analog equalizer adapted to apply analog equalization to the input signal based on analog equalizer parameters from an adaptive equalizer to provide an analog equalized signal; and a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) configured to apply decision feedback equalization to the analog equalized signal, where the decision feedback equalization is based on associated DFE parameters from the adaptive equalizer and on previous decisions for data in the input signal.