Optimal equalization partitioning

1. A module configured to electrically connect to a host, the module comprising:

a linear equalizer configured to perform linear equalization on the outgoing signal to create an equalized signal;

a driver configured to receive and amplify the equalized signal;

an electrical to optical device configured to convert the equalized signal from the driver to an optical signal, and transmit the optical signal over a fiber optic cable;

a memory configured to store supplemental FFE or other pre-distortion settings;

a low-speed interface configured to communicate with the host; and

a controller configured to control communication over the low-speed interface and communicate with the memory to communicate the supplemental FFE or other pre-distortion settings to the host.

2. The module of claim 1 wherein the module is a linear module which does not perform signal retiming.

3. The module of claim 1 wherein the low-speed interface comprises an I2C interface or a SPI type interface.

4. The module of claim 1 wherein the supplemental FFE or other pre-distortion settings are generated during a module testing operation and stored in the memory.

5. The module of claim 1 wherein the supplemental FFE or other pre-distortion settings modify host pre-distortion settings to force the pre-distortion processing to also account for the module.

6. The module of claim 1 wherein the controller comprises one of a processor, microprocessor, microcontroller, or ASIC.

7. The module of claim 1 wherein the supplemental FFE or other pre-distortion settings are calculated during a training process, when the module is connected to the host, and stored in the memory.

8. A method for configuring a host FFE and processing a signal prior to transmission of the signal over a channel comprising:

retrieving supplemental equalizer settings from a memory in a module;

transmitting the supplemental equalizer settings to a host, the host receiving the supplemental equalizer settings over a low-speed interface from the module;

modifying host equalizer settings based on the supplemental equalizer settings to create updated equalizer settings;

receiving and processing an outgoing data signal with a host equalizer using the updated equalizer settings to create a host processed outgoing signal; and

receiving and processing the host processed outgoing signal with the module to create a module processed outgoing signal, wherein the processing by the module is linear and the processing by the host equalizer accounts for a signal path through the module.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the module transmits an optical signal over an optical channel.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the module does not perform clock and data recovery.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the non-linear processing by the host includes non-linear equalization.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the module is configured to plug into a port of the host and communicate with the host over one or more electrically conductive channel.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the supplemental equalizer settings are generated during a testing phase or a training phase.

14. The method of claim 8 further comprising using a module temperature value to access a look-up table that associates supplemental equalizer settings with two or more different temperature values.

15. An optical module configured to electrically connect to a host, the optical module comprising:

a linear equalizer configured to perform linear equalization on a host equalized signal received from a host to create a module equalized signal;

a driver configured to present the module equalized signal from the linear equalizer to an electrical to optical conversion device at a magnitude suitable for the electrical to optical conversion;

an optical conversion device configured to:

receive the module equalized signal from the driver;

convert the module equalized signal to an optical signal; and

transmit the optical signal over an optical channel;

an interface configured to communicate supplemental equalizer settings from the optical module to the host;

a memory configured to store the supplemental equalizer settings, the supplemental equalizer settings based on the optical modules effect on a signal passing through the optical module; and

a controller configured to control communication of the supplemental equalizer settings to the host, the host using the supplemental equalizer settings to modify host equalizer settings such that the host equalizer performs pre-processing on an outgoing signal to create the host equalized signal.

16. The optical module of claim 15 wherein the supplemental equalizer settings modify the host equalizer settings.

17. The optic module of claim 15 wherein the host equalizer comprises a feed-forward equalizer.

18. The optical module of claim 15 wherein the supplemental equalizer settings comprise a look-up table with supplemental equalizer settings for two or more different temperatures or one or more different module age values.

19. The optical module of claim 15 wherein the supplemental equalizer settings are generated during a testing process prior to connection of the optical module to the host, or during a training process after connection of the optical module to the host.