Patent ID: 6971805

Claim:
A data storage system, comprising: a host controller configured to communicate with a host, the host controller having a host-end transmitter and a host-end receiver; a disk controller configured to communicate with a set of disk drives, the disk controller having a disk-end transmitter and a disk-end receiver; and a set of optical fibers which interconnects the host-end transmitter with the disk-end receiver, and which further interconnects the disk-end transmitter with the host-end receiver; each transmitter being configured to receive a first electrical input signal and a second electrical input signal, and to provide a light signal having (i) light modulation based on that first electrical input signal and (ii) average power over time based on that second electrical input signal; and each receiver being configured to receive a light signal and to provide (i) a first electrical output signal based on light modulation of that light signal and (ii) a second electrical output signal based on average power of that light signal over time.