Patent ID: 7512500

Claim:
A method for initializing a chain of non-initialized data collectors, the chain of non-initialized data collectors coupled to a controller, and each data collector in the chain coupled to communicate with one or more other data collectors, the method comprising: a) disabling comunication between each data collector in the chain of non-initialized data collectors; b) initializing a first active non-initialized data collector, the first active non-initialized data collector coupled directly to the controller, by assigning an identification number to the first active non-initialized data collector by the controller in response to a first roll-call of the controller, the identification number stored in a memory of the first active non-initialized data collector; c) restoring communication between the controller and a next non-initialized data collector in the chain of non-initialized data collectors; d) initializing the next non-initialized data collector in the chain of non-initialized data collectors by assigning an additional identification number by the controller in response to an additional roll-call of the controller, the additional identification number stored in a memory of the next non-initialized data collector; and e) repeating steps c and d for each non-initialized data collector.