Patent ID: 7995648

Claim:
A digital receiver for processing a signal received from a channel, comprising: a digital demodulator; an equalizer coupled to the demodulator, the equalizer including a feedforward filter and a decision feedback equalizer (DFE), wherein the feedforward filter includes a plurality of feedforward filter taps, and wherein coefficients are associated with the plurality of feedforward filter taps and wherein the values of all of the coefficients associated with the plurality of feedforward filter taps are dynamically determined as part of at least two operating modes of the equalizer, wherein a first operating mode and a second operating mode of the at least two operating modes of the equalizer each use a different method to determine the values of all of the coefficients; an apparatus for controlling the feedforward filter, wherein the feedforward filter receives a signal resulting from the transmission of a series of symbols through a channel, wherein the series of symbols includes a predetermined sequence of symbols, and wherein the controlling apparatus includes means for developing a plurality of samples from the received symbols wherein a sequence of samples corresponds to the predetermined sequence of symbols, means for estimating a channel impulse response from the plurality of samples, means for calculating a characteristic of the estimated channel impulse response, and means for synchronizing the feedforward filter in accordance with the characteristic of the estimated channel impulse response; and an apparatus for operating the equalizer in a selected one of the first mode if the plurality of samples is identified, wherein the operating apparatus includes means for developing a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from the set of samples, the second mode if the plurality of samples is identified and the SNR is greater than a first predetermined threshold, and a third mode if the plurality of samples is identified and the SNR is greater than a second predetermined threshold.