Method and apparatus for controlling at least one piece of equipment

A method of controlling a plurality of controllable pieces of equipment each having a storage device in which data representing a respective control structure definition is stored therein, by means of a programmable control unit having user operable input devices which are programmable to have respective functions and a programmable display, in which each of said controllable pieces of equipment are arranged in a serial daisy chain manner such that said control unit is connected to a first controllable piece of equipment by way of a data line and said first controllable piece of equipment is connected to a second controllable piece of equipment by way of said data line, said method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting, in response to an initial operation of one of the input devices, a signal to at least one of said controllable pieces of equipment requesting said data representing said respective control structure definition of said at least one of said controllable pieces of equipment;
• transmitting, from each of said controllable pieces of equipment, the stored data representing said respective control structure definition from the respective storage device, to said programmable control unit in response to reception of said signal;
• and
• programming at least one of said programmable display and said input devices with respective allocated functions in response to said stored data representing the respective control structure definition transmitted from each of said controllable pieces of equipment.