Patent ID: 7478006

Claim:
A cartridge controller, comprising: interface circuitry, wherein the interface circuitry is operable to provide an interface between a cartridge coupled to the cartridge controller and the cartridge controller; detection circuitry coupled to the interface circuitry, wherein the detection circuitry is operable to detect coupling of the cartridge to the cartridge controller via the interface circuitry; and a processor interface, operable to provide information regarding configuration, status, interrupts, and/or direct memory access (DMA) to a first processor coupled to the cartridge controller; wherein the interface circuitry is further operable to: query the cartridge for a cartridge type of the cartridge; determine a communication protocol from a plurality of communication protocols based on the cartridge type, wherein the communication protocol is required to communicate with the cartridge; and establish communications with the cartridge based on the determined communication protocol; wherein the cartridge is operable to implement one or more of: one or more data-acquisition (DAQ) operations; one or more control operations; one or more analysis operations; one or more measurement operations; one or more user interface operations; one or more image-acquisition operations; or one or more automation operations.