Patent ID: 8626960

Claim:
An industrial automation device, comprising: a port configured to receive a plurality of different types of plug-in input/output (I/O) modules; and an interface for enabling communication between the industrial automation device and the plurality of different types of plug-in I/O modules, wherein the interface comprises: one or more setup mechanisms configured to detect connection of one of the plurality of different types of plug-in I/O modules to the interface through the port, configured to write module configuration data to the connected plug-in I/O module, and configured to retrieve I/O format data and feature data from the connected plug-in I/O module; and one or more operational mechanisms configured to exchange operational mode data between a control/monitoring device and the connected plug-in I/O module, wherein the one or more operational mechanisms comprise a controller mode mechanism configured to: write controller mode data to designated registers of the interface, wherein the controller mode data comprises error data associated with the control/monitoring device, power data associated with the control/monitoring device, or a combination thereof; and transmit the controller mode data to the connected plug-in I/O module.