A method for expanding the functional scope of a centrifugal pump assembly by means of a functional module operating with control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly to which it is connected, the method comprising the steps of:
- establishing a physical connection between the functional module and the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly,
- wherein the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly comprises a first nonvolatile memory, a first processor, a first electrical communications interface with a connector via which the functional module is pluggable into the control electronics, and operating software stored in the nonvolatile memory, the operating software comprising a graphical user interface for settings of the centrifugal pump assembly, a set of menus, a set of submenus, and image frame data defining a set of templates used by the graphical user interface to uniformly depict the set of menus and the set of submenus,
- wherein the functional module comprises a second memory, a second processor, a second communications interface in the form of a plug, and at least one functional unit that adds an additional function to the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly and that has a set of variables, each variable formed by a respective set of attributes, each attribute describing a respective property of the corresponding variable and having a respective value;
- wherein establishing the physical connection is performed by connecting the functional module via the plug to the connector of the first electrical communications interface of the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly, wherein the functional module is further adapted to be physically separate from the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly when disconnected from the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly;
- in response to the physical connection between the functional module and the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly:
- the functional module, at the request of the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly or unsolicited, transmitting a number representing a quantity of the variables in the set of variables and the values of the attributes to the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly, wherein neither the set of variables nor the associated attributes is known to the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly in advance of the establishing of the physical connection, and
- the control electronics of the centrifugal pump assembly expanding the graphical user interface by performing the following operations:
- generating, as a function of the number of variables and the attribute values transmitted by the functional module, using the image frame data and according to a set of rules, a plurality of additional screen views that are independent of the operating software, wherein the plurality of additional screen views comprises a set of first additional screen views and a set of second additional screen views arranged in a hierarchical structure, wherein each first additional screen view provides access to at least one second additional screen view, wherein the plurality of additional screen views is neither completely nor partially part of the operating software or the graphical user interface prior to the establishing of the physical connection between the functional module and the control electronics, wherein the set of rules represents an algorithm that reads and interprets the values of the attributes by filling the image frame data with content determined based on the values of the attributes,
- supplementing the graphical user interface by means of the additional screen views at least temporarily, and
- showing at least one of the plurality of additional screen views, including a value corresponding to at least one variable of the set of variables integrated into one of the additional screen views, on a display.