Patent ID: 8281126

Claim:
In an optical communication network including a local transceiver module capable of communicating via out-of-band data on a high-speed signal with a remote transceiver module, a method for independently determining an encryption scheme, the method comprising: initiating high-speed communication between the local transceiver module and the remote transceiver module; initiating out-of-band communication between the local transceiver module and the remote transceiver module; performing an authentication handshake using a predetermined public/private key between the local transceiver module and the remote transceiver module via out-of-band communication; initiating encrypted out-of-band communication between the local transceiver module and the remote transceiver module; and communicating encryption scheme change information between the local transceiver module and the remote transceiver modules using the encrypted out-of-band communication, wherein the encryption scheme change information is known only to the local transceiver module and the remote transceiver module, and wherein the encryption scheme change information includes instructions to change a wavelength of the high-speed communication to a new wavelength.