Multifunctional laser diode driving circuit, a module comprising the same, and a method using the same

Abstract

A multifunctional laser driving circuit, and an optical module and method of using the same, are disclosed. The circuit combines first and second optical signals having different functions to form a compound signal, and switches among the first optical signal, second optical signal and compound signal by enabling or disabling first and second laser drivers corresponding to the first and second optical signals. The circuit can provide functions to optical modules, including converting an electrical data signal into an optical data signal; converting an electrical line monitoring signal into an optical line monitoring signal; combining the optical data and line monitoring signals and synchronously transmitting them to a fiber; and providing an OTDR function. Relative to using external OTDR tools to detect line faults, the present circuit and method enables simple line connection, timely detection of lines faults, and low costs of implementation.