Patent ID: 7917675

Claim:
An industrial process control apparatus comprising: a plurality of processors and a plurality of input/output modules in which: each processor has a unidirectional command line which is connected to a plurality of input/output modules; each input/output module has a unidirectional response line which is connected to a plurality of processors; each processor being arranged in operation to issue an identifier request to all of the input/output modules, and in which each input/output module is arranged in operation to respond with a response comprising a unique identifier via its response line; such that each processor is able to identify the physical location of a respective input/output module having a particular unique identifier by identifying the response line upon which said response is received; and each response from a respective input/output module including a termination adaptor identifier that is dependent upon a type of termination and a physical location of the respective input/output module relative to the termination adaptor identifier.