The invention provides a plug-and-work sensor interface device named "puck" for
fast and easy deployment of various types of serial devices, which include commercial
off-the-shelf and custom-made sensors and instruments, in a distributed, dynamic
oceanic observing network. In an embodiment, each puck is removably attached and
electrically coupled to a specific sensor to be deployed. The puck comprises a
non-volatile memory for associating and storing arbitrary binary information about
the sensor and a microprocessor for controlling how the information is read from
and written into the non-volatile memory. The sensor information may include unique
sensor identifier, sensor metadata, sensor device driver, etc. The puck itself
does not execute any of the device code; rather, a host retrieves the sensor information
from the puck when the puck is plugged in. The retrieval can be done automatically
or semi-automatically with user interaction. After introducing the sensor to the
host, the puck retires into a pass mode, allowing the host to communicate directly
with the sensor. According to an aspect of the invention, the deployment of any
serial device essentially consists of the steps of removably attaching a puck to
the serial device and plugging the puck into a host.
