Patent ID: 7805545

Claim:
A multi-function system comprising: a plurality of peripherals having different levels of susceptibility to environmental events; at least one event detector configured to detect environmental events, wherein the at least one event detector includes one or more of a water detector, a chemical detector, a radiation detector, a vibration detector, and a thermal detector; a controller coupled to receive an event detected signal from the at least one event detector, the controller including a processor that is susceptible to environmental events for use during normal operations and an environmentally hardened processor for use during an environmental event; a communication interface communicatively coupling the controller to only those peripherals that include an intelligent communication capability; and a dedicated control interface communicatively coupling the controller to each peripheral in the plurality of peripherals, wherein the controller directs each peripheral in the system to take circumvention steps according to the level of threat posed by the environmental event and the ability of the peripheral to withstand the environmental event via the dedicated control interface.