Optical receiver/transmitter with circuit for determining modulation amplitude

1. A method of determining a signal property of a first binary signal in a circuit for an optical transmitter, receiver or transceiver comprising:

a. providing a first binary signal, having a logic-low level and a logic-high level, said binary signal modulated by a signal content,

b. providing a reference binary signal by modulating a reference stage, having a reference logic-low level and a reference logic-high level, said reference signal modulated by said signal content by

i. modulating said reference stage with said first binary signal or substantially a copy thereof, or

ii. providing a second binary signal being a substantially limited copy of said first signal and applying said second binary signal in modulating said reference stage,

c. providing at least one first-peak-measure of one of said logic levels of said first binary signal,

d. providing at least one reference-peak-measure of the corresponding logic levels of said reference binary signal, and

e. comparing said first-peak-measure and said reference-peak-measure to obtain a measure of said signal property, said signal property being the modulation amplitude of said first binary signal.

2. The method of any of the preceding claims claim 1 wherein one or more of said reference logic-low level and said logic-low level is adjustable.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the method further comprises applying said comparing as an error signal in a feedback loop arranged to adjust one or more of said reference logic-low level and said first logic-low level so that said first peak measure and a corresponding reference-peak-measure are substantially equal.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of said reference logic-high level and said logic-high level is adjustable.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the method further comprises applying said comparing as an error signal in a feedback loop arranged to adjust one or more of said reference logic-high level and said first logic-high level so that said first peak measure and a corresponding reference-peak-measure are substantially equal.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining a measure of the average of the first binary signal, obtaining a measure of the average of the reference binary signal and comparing said averages to determine an error signal, and applying said error signal in a feedback loop arranged to adjust one or more of the average of the first binary signal and the average of the reference binary signal.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing said second binary signal is the output from a limiting amplifier having said first binary signal as an input and a reference voltage V REF as input.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing said first binary signal as a function of a received photo current in an optical receiver said function comprising applying a transimpedance amplifier (TIA).

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising demodulating said error signal to extract a data signal modulated onto the modulation amplitude of said received photo current.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing said first binary signal as a function of a current drive output of a driver stage for a light source.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said driver stage comprises an output stage comprising an emitter follower comprising a transistor having emitter, collector and base connections said driver stage being arranged to allow a light source to be connected to said emitter connector.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising applying one or more feedback loops to adjust one or more of the logic levels of the first signal binary signal to be substantially equal to the corresponding logic level of said reference binary signal.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising modulating one or more of the modulation amplitude, logic-mid level, first logic-low level and first logic-high level of said first binary signal with a link data stream.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said modulating the modulation amplitude comprises modulating one or more of said reference logic-low level and said reference logic-high level.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said modulating the modulation amplitude comprises modulating one or more of a bias current source and a modulation current source of the reference stage.

16. The method of claim 13 comprising calibrating adjustment of a current source in the driver stage with change in the first binary signal.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising implementing said method into a circuit suitable for operating with a first binary signal having a bit rate higher than or equal to 10 Gbit/s.

18. An optical receiver/driver circuit for processing a binary signal modulated by a signal content comprising:

a. circuitry for providing a first binary signal having a logic-low level and a logic-high level and modulated by said signal content,

b. a reference stage providing a reference binary signal, having a reference logic-low level and a reference logic-high level, modulated by said signal content,

i. a first peak detector arranged to provide at least one first-peak-measure of one of said logic levels of said first binary signal,

ii. A reference peak detector providing at least one reference-peak-measure of the corresponding logic levels of said reference binary signal,

c. circuitry arranged to compare said first-peak-measure and reference-peak-measure and thereby obtain a measure of a signal property of said first binary signal.

19. An optical transmitter or transceiver comprising a driver circuit according to claim 18 connected to semiconductor laser.

20. An optical receiver or transceiver comprising a receiver circuit according to claim 18 connected to a photo detector, such as a photo diode.