Patent ID: 7363093

Claim:
A dishwasher comprising: at least one outer housing; a first washing unit positioned in the at least one outer housing, said first unit including bottom, rear and opposing side walls that collectively define a first washing tub; a second washing unit positioned in the at least one outer housing, said second unit including bottom, rear and opposing side walls that collectively define a second washing tub; a first controller operatively associated with the first washing tub; a second controller operatively associated with the second washing tub; a communication link joining the first and second controllers; and user-configurable control circuitry for designating one of the first and second washing units as a primary washing unit and another of the first and second washing units as a secondary washing unit, said user-configurable control circuitry being external to, yet operatively associated with at least one of the first and second controllers, wherein the primary and secondary washing units share system resources during an overall washing operation with the primary washing unit having preference over the secondary washing unit.