Patent ID: 8098993

Claim:
A transceiver subsystem for an optical communication link, the transceiver subsystem comprising: a transmission circuit receiving first electrical signals from a data processing unit representative of data to be transmitted over the optical communication link and converting the first electrical signals into first optical signals to be transmitted over the optical communications link; a receiving circuit receiving second optical signals from the optical communication link representative of data transmitted over the optical communication link and converting the second optical signals into second electrical signals to be provided to the data processing unit; a link controller circuit receiving third electrical control signals from the data processing unit representative of control signals to be transmitted over the optical communications link and converting the third electrical signals into third optical signals to be transmitted over the optical communications link, and receiving fourth optical signals from the optical communication link representative of control signals transmitted over the optical communication link and converting the fourth optical signals into fourth electrical signals to be provided to the data processing unit; and wherein the link controller circuit provides notification over the optical communications link when the data processing unit is connected and when the data processing unit is disconnected from the optical communications link.