Patent ID: 8718470

Claim:
An optical packet switching apparatus comprising: a branching unit configured to branch off a received optical packet signal; an optical switch unit configured to switch a route of one of the branched-off optical packet signals so as to be outputted; an optical switch control unit configured to convert the other of the branched-off optical packet signals into an electrical packet signal, configured to then extract routing information from the packet signal, and configured to control the optical switch unit according to the routing information extracted, the optical switch control unit including: a first electrical circuit configured to perform a predetermined processing on the packet signal; and a second electrical circuit, provided at a stage subsequent to the first electrical circuit, configured to perform a predetermined processing on the packet signal, the second electrical circuit being capacitively coupled to the first electrical circuit; a packet density detector configured to detect a packet density of the received optical packet signal; and a DC offset adjustment unit configured to adjust a DC offset voltage of the packet signal, inputted to the second electrical circuit, according to information on the packet density detected by the packet density detector.