Patent ID: 8525649

Claim:
An identification device for providing connectivity information and/or identification information to an outside identification system in an optical network, comprising: an integrated circuit programmed with unique identification information; and a plurality of contacts communicably coupled to the integrated circuit, each of the plurality of contacts configured to be coupled to one of a plurality of external contacts of the outside identification system to allow the outside identification system to retrieve the unique identification information; wherein: the identification device is configured to be mechanically coupled externally and directly to an end of an optoelectronic transceiver or transponder, the end configured to receive an optical connector; an out of band device is coupled to the optical connector; the out of band device includes the plurality of external contacts of the outside identification system; the out of band device includes a wireless transmitter including a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag configured to supply power to the plurality of external contacts to read the unique identification information from the identification device through the plurality of contacts of the identification device the end of the optoelectronic transceiver or transponder configured to receive the optical connector includes an output port and an input port; the optical connector comprises a dual LC optical connector configured to be inserted into the output port and the input port in a sliding direction; a face of each of the plurality of contacts of the identification device exposed to be communicably coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of external contacts is substantially normal to the sliding direction; the optoelectronic transceiver or transponder includes an enhanced small form-factor pluggable transceiver module with a line side latch; the line side latch includes a plurality of posts; and the identification device further comprises a plurality of clips configured to engage the plurality of posts and thereby secure the identification device to the optoelectronic transceiver or transponder.