Patent ID: 8111999

Claim:
In an optical transceiver that includes system memory and one or more processors, a method for altering the operation of the optical transceiver using an optical link, the method comprising: an act of the optical transceiver receiving an optical signal over the optical link; an act of the optical transceiver recovering firmware from the optical signal, wherein the recovered firmware is structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors, the operation of the optical transceiver is altered; an act of the optical transceiver providing the recovered firmware to system memory; and an act of the one or more processors executing the recovered firmware, wherein the act of the optical transceiver recovering firmware from the optical signal comprises: an act of receiving a double modulated optical signal containing both high-speed communication data and out-of-band firmware, wherein the out-of-band firmware has a frequency that is less than the frequency of the high-speed communication data; and an act of demodulating the out-of-band firmware from the high-speed communication data through use of an out-of-band demodulator, wherein the out-of-band demodulator demodulates the out-of-band firmware from the high-speed communication data prior to any post-amplification being performed on the high-speed communication data.