Patent ID: 6952531

Claim:
A fiber optic transceiver with safety features, comprising: a laser transmitter; a photodiode receiver; and a controller, wherein the controller comprises: a memory, including one or more memory arrays, configured to store digital equivalents of predetermined setpoints; communication circuitry configured to receive an input signal associated with operation of said fiber optic transceiver; comparison logic configured to compare said input signal to at least one of said predetermined setpoints and to generate an alarm flag if said input signal conflicts with said setpoint, wherein the alarm flag is stored in a predefined location in the memory; an interface for allowing a host to read from and write to host-specified locations within the memory, including the predefined location storing the alarm flag; and operation disable circuitry configured to disable operation of said fiber optic transceiver in response to a signal, wherein the signal is based on said alarm flag.