Patent ID: 8149102

Claim:
A module for interfacing with more than one type of sensor or actuator, the module comprising: a module interface configured to couple to a first assembly including a sensor or an actuator, the module interface configured to receive assembly information from the coupled assembly, the assembly information comprising one of: sensor information representing characteristics of a sensor in the first assembly or actuator information representing characteristics of an actuator in the first assembly; and a processor coupled to the module interface, the processor configured to: receive the assembly information from the first assembly via the module interface; determine whether the assembly information is sensor or actuator information; generate a sensor interface control signal for configuring the module interface for a sensor if the assembly information is determined to be sensor information; generate an actuator interface control signal for configuring the module interface for an actuator if the assembly information is determined to be actuator information; and send the generated sensor control signal or the generated actuator control signal to the module interface to configure the module interface for the sensor or the actuator, respectively, in the first assembly.