Optical detecting circuit, optical transmitting apparatus, and optical detecting method

An optical transmitting apparatus including an optical detecting circuit that detects and outputs an optical level of an optical signal amplified by an optical amplifier,

• the optical detecting circuit comprising:
• an optical receiving unit that generates voltage depending on the optical level of input light;
• a first amplifying unit that amplifies the voltage generated by the optical receiving unit;
• a second amplifying unit that amplifies the voltage generated by the optical receiving unit by a gain larger than that of the first amplifying unit;
• an A/D converting unit that digitizes voltage levels of output voltages of the first amplifying unit and the second amplifying unit;
• a selecting unit that compares conversion results of the A/D converting unit with a threshold to select for output one of digitized values of the voltage levels of the output voltages of the first amplifying unit and the second amplifying unit;
• and
• an output correcting unit that obtains a correction value depending on a selection result of the selecting unit from a storage unit to add the correction value to the value selected by the selecting unit.

An optical detecting method for detecting and outputting an optical level of input light, the optical detecting method comprising:

• generating voltage depending on the optical level of the input light by using a photo-detector;
• amplifying the voltage generated at the generating by a first gain;
• amplifying the voltage generated at the generating by a second gain larger than the first gain;
• digitizing voltage levels of output voltages at the amplifying with the first and second gains;
• comparing the digitized results at the digitizing with a threshold to select for output one of the digitized values of the voltage levels of the output voltages at the amplifying with the first and second gains;
• and
• obtaining a correction value depending on the compared result at the comparing from a storage unit to add the correction value to the value selected at the comparing.