Patent ID: 7509445

Claim:
A system, comprising: a plurality of cartridge controllers; timing and data routing logic coupled to the plurality of cartridge controllers; a plurality of cartridges coupled to the cartridge controllers; and controlling software for controlling the plurality of cartridges, wherein the controlling software is coupled to the timing and data routing logic; wherein each of the plurality of cartridge controllers is operable to: detect and establish communications with a respective_cartridge based on information retrieved from the cartridge; and adapt input/output (I/O) signals of the respective cartridge in accordance with instructions specified by the timing and data routing logic to generate adapted I/O signals; wherein the timing and data routing logic is operable to: synthesize one or more data streams from the adapted I/O signals, wherein each of the one or more data streams comprises a respective subset of the adapted I/O signals received from a corresponding subset of the plurality of cartridges; and transmit the one or more data streams to the controlling software, wherein the synthesized one or more data streams appear as a corresponding one or more devices to the controlling software.