Abstract: An I/O module expansion unit having slots to install I/O modules thereon is provided for a distributed automation system. With the I/O module expansion unit, storing the configuration checksums generated with an algorithm from the software and hardware information of I/O modules, the distributed automation system can simplify the identification of an I/O module. By directly writing the configuration parameters stored in the I/O module expansion unit into the installed I/O module, the distributed automation system can simplify the setting and replacement of an I/O module. The I/O module expansion unit may also fast detect a hot-swap of an I/O module by wiring to the slots.

Abstract: An automatic identification system for a car-plate which comprises a photographing apparatus and an image-processing CPU. The system disclosed in the present invention can be mounted in a car for automatically identifying a car-plate that is under a still or moving condition. The photographing apparatus is used for taking the image of a car-plate, and the image is then transmitted into the image-processing CPU, which accurately extracts the characters of a car-plate using a "Fuzzy inference" technique, and identifies the characters through a character structure analysis neural network. With the automatic identification system of the present invention, an incorrect identification can be avoided in the event the image of a car-plate is blurred, and the characters is deformed or smeared.