Patent ID: 8169871

Claim:
A hybrid laser diode driver (LDD) for driving a laser diode in response to receiving enable signals from a controller, the hybrid LDD comprising: a read channel to output a read current; a plurality of write channels, wherein each of the write channels includes a corresponding digital-to-analog converter (write DAC) that is used to produce a different write current, and wherein each of the write channels, downstream of the DAC of the write channel, includes a corresponding switch; an oscillator channel to output an oscillator current; registers to store amplitude values for the write channels, wherein the amplitude values stored in the registers are used to define amplitudes of the write currents produced by the write channels; and a state machine that receives a plurality of enable signals from the controller, and based on one or more of the enable signals, controls the switches of the write channels to thereby control which of the plurality of different write currents are summed with at least one of the read current and the oscillator current to produce a drive output current for driving the laser diode.