Patent ID: 7860616

Claim:
A method of operating a remote control system for controlling propulsion units of a watercraft, the watercraft including at least a main cockpit and least a left side propulsion unit and a right side propulsion unit, first and second remote controller side ECUs disposed in the main cockpit, each of the ECUs including at least a central processing unit and plurality of programs stored in a memory, the plurality of programs including at least two exclusive use sections, a first exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of the main cockpit and the left side propulsion unit, the second exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of the main cockpit and the right side propulsion unit, the method comprising: activating the first ECU; receiving an input signal with the first ECU; determining which of the roles should be performed by the first ECU based on the input signal; reading out the exclusive use section corresponding to the role determined in the determining step, from the plurality of programs in the memory; and executing the exclusive use section determined in the determining step with the central processing unit of the first ECU without executing any of the other exclusive use sections of the programs in the memory, so as to operate the first ECU in the role determined in the determining step.