Patent ID: 7308357

Claim:
A component navigational system, comprising: a video interface unit adapted to be disposed on a marine vessel; a card-cage unit adapted to be disposed on a marine vessel, wherein the card-cage unit comprises; at least a first purpose-built printed circuit board having a central processing unit, wherein the central processing unit is in communication with the video interface unit; at least a second purpose-built printed circuit board having a power supply; at least a third and fourth purpose-built printed circuit board each having a different function selected from the group consisting of: depth sounder, speedometer, anemometer, gyrocompass, GPS receiver, chart plotter, radar interface, autopilot interface, weather band receiver, CD-ROM unit, read/write CD-ROM unit, engine parameter monitor, DC power monitor, and collision avoidance unit, wherein the at least first, second, third, and fourth purpose-built printed circuit board have the same physical dimensions; a parallel signal bus connecting the signal circuits of the at least first, second, third, and fourth purpose-built printed circuit boards; a power distribution bus connecting the signal circuits of the at least first, second, third, and fourth purpose-built printed circuit boards; and multiple input sensors and output devices connected to the purpose-built printed circuit boards.