Patent ID: 8504218

Claim:
A control system for vehicles, said system comprising: a controller configured to generate output signals using first input signals received from a plurality of different first input devices disposed onboard a first vehicle, the first input devices configured to sense operating parameters of the first vehicle and to generate the first input signals; and a universal input module corresponding to the plurality of different first input devices and associated with threshold settings used for the first input signals received from the first input devices, said universal input module is configured to: receive the first input signal from at least one of the plurality of different first input devices; and based on the first input signal, determine a first operating range of the at least one of the plurality of different first input devices, wherein the controller is configured to scale the threshold settings of the universal input module that are associated with the first input devices based on the first operating range that is determined by the universal input module, and wherein the controller and the universal input module are configured to be removed from the first vehicle and installed on a second vehicle having a plurality of second input devices, the universal input module also configured to receive a second input signal from at least one of the second input devices and determine a second operating range of the at least one of the second input devices that differs from the first operating range based on the second input signal, the controller also configured to change the threshold settings of the universal input module to be used with the second input devices by scaling the threshold settings based on the second operating range.