Patent ID: 8275256

Claim:
An optical communication serial interface for a device, said device having a controllable power supply capable of powering down to a powered down state and powering up to a powered on state, comprising: a low level power supply configured to provide power without regard to said powered up and powered down states of said device power supply; and an optical communication receiver configured to receive serial optical signals, comprising: an optical receiver element powered by said low level power supply configured to receive said serial optical signals and convert said received serial optical signals to electrical signals; and a low level reception converter powered by said low level power supply configured to detect and decode said electrical signals; to provide data and control words from detected and decoded normal said electrical signals to a high level command processor; to detect a particular abnormal sequence of said electrical signals; and to, in response to detecting said particular abnormal sequence of said electrical signals, assert a control signal to power up said device controllable power supply.