Patent ID: 8498122

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a plurality of communication protocol interface modules, each of the plurality of communication protocol interface modules having an electronic circuit board ( 11 ) provided with a circuit that defines a communication protocol, which can be the Devicenet, Profibus, Modbus, or any other type of communication protocol, wherein the circuit of each of the plurality of communication protocol interface modules contains a pre-specified number, which is different for different communication protocol interface modules; an electromechanical equipment having a slot ( 3 ) for coupling a communication protocol interface module ( 2 ) selected by a user from the plurality of communication protocol interface modules, and having an electronic circuit for receiving signals from the selected communication protocol interface module and identifying the communication protocol based on the received signals; wherein, the electromechanical equipment stores a plurality of pre-specified numbers, which correspond to the pre-specified numbers of the plurality of communication protocol interface modules, respectively, and thus correspond to the Devicenet, Profibus, Modbus, or any other type of communication protocol, respectively; and the electronic circuit on the electromechanical equipment interprets the received signals and identifies the pre-specified number corresponding to the selected communication protocol interface module, and thus identifies the communication protocol of the selected communication protocol interface module.