Adaptive equalizer circuit including multiple equalizer units

An equalizer circuit for compensating for waveform distortion of an information bearing signal that is transmitted through a lossy transmission cable from a signal transmitter to a signal receiver, said equalizer circuit comprising:

• equalizing circuit means including a plurality of equalizer units, said equalizing circuit means having an input for receiving an information bearing signal transmitted through said transmission cable, and a plurality of taps for providing a plurality of partially equalized signals which represent a version of the information bearing signal that is received by said equalizing circuit means;
• control means for processing said plurality of partially equalized signals provided at all of said taps to determine the one of said plurality of partially equalized signals that exhibits minimum error relative to the information bearing signal at said signal transmitter, wherein said control means maintains said one partially equalized signal selected upon termination and reassertion of the received signal;
• and
• select means responsive to said control means for selecting the tap of said plurality of taps at which said one partially equalized signal, to be provided to an output of said equalizer circuit, appears.

An equalizer circuit for compensating for waveform distortion of an information bearing signal that is transmitted through a lossy transmission cable from a signal transmitter to a signal receiver, said equalizer circuit comprising:

• equalizing circuit means including a plurality of equalizer units, said equalizing circuit means having an input for receiving an information bearing signal transmitted through said transmission cable, and a plurality of taps for providing a plurality of partially equalized signals which represent a version of the information bearing signal that is received by said equalizing circuit means;
• control means for processing said plurality of partially equalized signals provided at all of said taps to determine the one of said plurality of partially equalized signals that exhibits minimum error relative to the information bearing signal at said signal transmitter, wherein said control means includes feedback means having integrated circuit means for integrating said selected one partially equalized signal to produce an offset signal for compensating for offset in said one partially equalized signal;
• and
• select means responsive to said control means for selecting the tap of said plurality of taps at which said one partially equalized signal, to be provided to a signal output of said equalizer circuit appears.