Digital equalizer with overlappable filter taps

An equalization method that comprises:

• providing an array of delay elements having receive signal samples available at corresponding taps, the corresponding taps including one or more fixed taps and one or more selectable taps;
• providing an array of multipliers, each multiplier multiplying one of said receive signal samples by a respective coefficient to produce a product;
• with at least one of said multipliers coupled to a respective one of the fixed taps;
• coupling each multiplexer in an array of multiplexers to an associated one of said multipliers to supply that multiplier with a receive signal sample from a respective one of the selectable taps;
• and
• providing a summer that sums the products to produce a filtered output signal,
• wherein at least one of the selectable taps is shared by multiple multiplexers in said array.

An equalization method that comprises:

• periodically sampling an analog receive signal to fill an array of delay elements with receive signal samples;
• forming a weighted sum of the receive signal samples with a feed forward equalizer employing selectable taps from the array of delay elements;
• combining the weighted sum with a feedback signal to form a combined signal;
• and
• deriving a sequence of symbol decisions from the combined signal using a decision element,
• wherein the feed forward equalizer employs an array of multiplexers, and wherein at least one of the selectable taps is shared by multiple multiplexers in said array.