Abstract: A matrix-type display control device suited to large capacity displays while achieving low power consumption operation is achieved by improving the display data transfer method. The module controller 100 of a simple matrix-type liquid crystal display comprises a low frequency oscillator 110, timing signal generator 120, standby circuit (display data refresh detection circuit) 130, high frequency oscillator 140, and a direct memory access (DMA circuit) 150. This low frequency oscillator 110 constantly generates the low frequency clock f.sub.L. Timing signal generator 120 generates the scan start signal YD required for the LCD module 200, and other signals based on the low frequency clock f.sub.L. Standby circuit 130 generates the intermittent operation start control signal ST when the display data in VRAM 12 is updated as determined by monitoring the system bus 14a for communications with host MPU 10. The high frequency oscillator 140 generates the high frequency clock f.sub.

Abstract: In a liquid crystal display device, support columns are formed on the outside of a seal area in an edge area of opposing substrates, thus reducing substrate deformation and preventing the occurrence of air bubbles inside the liquid crystal layer, undesirable coloring of the display area, and color irregularity. Support columns 9 formed using a conductive ink are provided on the outside of seal material 6 used for sealing liquid crystal layer 5 contained between top substrate 1 and bottom substrate 2. The support columns 9 prevent the warping of substrates 1 and 2 caused by the shrinkage of mold material 8 during hardening, reducing the changes in the liquid crystal layer thickness. Support columns 9 are print-formed simultaneously with the conductive connection area of the liquid crystal panel, and are hardened simultaneously with the seal material.

Abstract: A modular, multi-function information processing device suitable for point-of-sale (POS) station arrangements wherein separate printer and controller components are individually housed and arranged in a stacked vertical configuration. This arrangement save space by minimizing the overall footprint of the station. The connection between these components can be easily established or terminated for performing maintenance on a particular component or subassembly. Subassemblies within the housing may be extracted without impacting the overall structure of the device or use of the other components, and additional components can be easily added.

Abstract: A motor control apparatus is provided which is capable of preventing large, accidental switching surges and suppressing switching surges that hamper efforts to improve the efficiency of PWM control inverters. The motor control apparatus has a PWM control inverter and axial position detector 3 that detects the position of the rotary axis of motor 14. Gate drive circuit 1 of the PWM control inverter comprises decoder circuit 4, correction gate circuit 5, and logical AND circuit 6. The correction gate circuit 5 sets a time difference at the change point for PWM signals and at the change point for commutation signals.

Abstract: A printing device and control method that facilitates setting of waiting periods for cut-sheet paper insertion and commencement of paper transport or printing through application of waiting time control commands. By establishing a command for setting these waiting periods and incorporating apparatus in the printer for analyzing such a command, a configuration is realized in which these waiting periods are settable and adjustable by the host computer. This provides more efficient POS type printer control and allows setting of the desired time required for positioning recording paper according to operator experience. An interface unit is used to receive and interpret print data and recording paper positioning time setting commands and data from the host computer.

Abstract: An image preprocessing method and apparatus processes image data line-by-line using an error diffusion process to generate a halftoned image. The method and apparatus varies the processing direction from line-to-line to minimize the presence of worm-type artifacts in a halftoned image where the processing direction of each line in the image is dependent on the content of the image. More particularly, the processing direction of each line in the image is dependent upon the grayscale value and/or the quantization error associated with one or more pixels of a previously processed line in the image.

Abstract: An image preprocessing method and apparatus processes image data line-by-line using an error diffusion or dithering process to generate a halftoned image in which the radius of a dot representing a pixel is /dpi.ltoreq.r.ltoreq..sqroot.2/dpi The method and apparatus selectively performs the halftone process on every other pixel to reduce in consumption and computation time while maintaining a high resolution.

Abstract: A vivid color correction technique eliminates artifacts from a predetermined tonal area of a halftone image to thereby improve the color vividness of that image. According to this technique, pixel tonal values associated with input colors are initially examined to determine a maximum color value. After error diffusion halftoning, the resulting binary pixel values are collectively processed to generate inter-color information for comparison with a selected harmonic color cluster. If the inter-color information specifies a color that does not match one of the colors of the selected harmonic cluster, the inter-color information is "corrected" to reflect an acceptable output color.

Abstract: An ink jet printer provided with an ink jet print head having a nozzle, an ink channel that is connected to the nozzle, and an electrostatic actuator that is composed of a diaphragm that is provided in a part of the ink channel and an electrode placed outside of the ink channel opposite to the diaphragm. The diaphragm is distorted by means of an electrostatic force generated by applying voltage to the electrostatic actuator thereby performing printing with ink droplets ejected from the nozzle. The electrostatic actuator driver comprises a timing pulse generator, charge circuit and discharge circuit. The driver controls an amount of charge to be charged to the electrostatic actuator as well as charge rate thereof corresponding to the environmental operating condition of the ink jet printer.

Abstract: A printing apparatus comprises a platen, a dot impact print head (23) opposite to the platen, a mask plate (40) between the platen and the print head with a paper passage between the platen and the mask plate (40), and an ink ribbon (31) between the print head and the mask plate. Transport mechanisms are provided to move the mask plate (40) in a direction substantially perpendicular to said paper passage between a first position on the print head side and a second position on the platen side, the transport mechanisms being responsive to the position of the print head along the platen. In the first position of the mask plate a relatively wide gap between the platen and the mask plate enables easy paper insertion, while in the second position a relatively wide gap between the mask plate and the print head facilitates replacement of the ink ribbon without problems.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention comprises a system that causes a printer carriage to scan from a reference position to a second position. The status of the peripheral is monitored by the host computer with detectors that can sense the position of the carriage when at the reference position and the second position. A count is made of the number of clock pulses that occur during a time the carriage scans from scans reference position to the second position. A lookup table is then used that is indexed by the number of clock pulses. This provides a set of parameters the host computer will need to have available to use the peripheral right.

Abstract: An add-in or expansion cartridge is provided for insertion into a cartridge receptacle of an electronic device, such as a laser printer, the electronic device comprising a first plurality of circuit elements. The add-in cartridge comprises a circuit board having a second plurality of circuit elements mounted thereon, the circuit board comprising a plurality of grounding pads and connectors for electrically connecting the second plurality of circuit elements, which may include a processor, to the electronic device. A housing accommodates the circuit board and comprises an opening such that the connector extends through the opening for connecting the circuit board through the electronic device. A conductive shielding layer is arranged on at least one interior surface of the housing and substantially surrounds the circuit board to reduce emission of electromagnetic radiation. First and second grounding pads are arranged at first and seconds ends, respectively of the opening.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display device is provided having a plurality of electrodes in electrical communication with a conduction portion of a plurality of external wirings. An external portion is in electrical communication with the plurality of electrodes and comprises a conduction layer having a predetermined thickness, the conduction layer being arranged in a predetermined pattern on the external portion and between the external wirings and the external portion.

Abstract: An image generation and manipulation system includes an integrated circuit dedicated exclusively to direct manipulation of pixel values in a frame buffer. This "rendering processor" draws primitives, performs pixel operations, generates the system display timing and controls the frame buffer, all in response to data and commands delivered to the rendering processor by the host CPU. The degree of pixel processing performed by the rendering processor (and not other hardware or software components) can vary with desired system capability. At a minimum, the rendering processor is capable of drawing pixels into the frame buffer in response to commands received from the host CPU, an illumination processor or other high-level graphics processor. The rendering processor preferably also performs interpolation operations to refine raw pixel values into values meaningful to the display hardware.

Abstract: An inkjet printer provided with an ink jet print head having a nozzle, an ink channel that is connected to the nozzle, and an electrostatic actuator that is composed of a diaphragm that is provided in a part of the ink channel and an electrode placed outside of the ink channel opposite to the diaphragm. The diaphragm is distorted by means of an electrostatic force generated by applying a first voltage to the electrostatic actuator. A second voltage, different than the first voltage, is applied to the actuator to relax the diaphragm and to discharge ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for altering the length of time a print head in a dot-matrix type of printer mechanism receives driving voltage in accordance with the type of recording media being used by the printer, and preselected print head driving modes selected as a result of control commands provided by a host computer. The print head driving voltage is also measured and digitized, and then used along with the paper type as a parameter for altering the print mode. Memory elements can be used to establish print mode, print media, and drive voltage relationships for automatically selecting an optimum driving time interval in response to one of the selected parameters.

Abstract: From various traditional medical teachings, it is known that humans have a life rhythm which depends upon the time. As one example, there are the traditional Indian medical teachings of the "Ayurveda". In the present invention, in order to display which time period of the Ayurveda corresponds to the present time, a character panel of a watch has been separated according to color into three wedge-shaped regions. The respective color-separated regions correspond to the Vata (V), the Kapha (K), and the Pitta (P) of the Ayurveda. The Ayurveda time is indicated by an hour hand which points to one of these regions.

Abstract: A touch panel input device is provide with a panel capable of propagating surface acoustic waves and in which surface acoustic wave attenuation is caused by a object in contact with said panel. An emission circuit outputs a surface acoustic wave drive; and an emission transducer emits surface acoustic waves in the panel in accordance with the surface wave drive outputted from said emission circuit. A reception transducer receives surface acoustic waves in the panel and outputs a received acoustic signal. A reception circuit receives the received acoustic wave signal from the reception transducer to detect a position at which the received acoustic wave is attenuated as indicative of a position that the object contacts the panel. A controller controls the emission circuit and the reception circuit, and comprises a processor for computing a width of the contact by the object on the panel in accordance with a waveform detected by the reception circuit.

Abstract: An inkjet cartridge is provided in which by applying an appropriate initial pressure to an ink reservoir or sack at the start of printing does not excessively increase the pressure in an ink reservoir or sack when the remaining ink level is high, and enables effective use of the remaining ink when the remaining ink level is low. The inkjet cartridge comprises an ink reservoir for storing the recording ink, a circuit element for ejecting ink supplied from ink reservoir according to the display data from a host processor to be recorded. A head case and an ink supply case accommodating the ink reservoir. A thick-wall region of the ink reservoir is pressed by a pressure rod via a through-hole. A guide is provided to push the thick-wall region to one side of the ink reservoir is disposed in the top portion of the case or the guide is provided around the thick-wall region of the ink reservoir.

Abstract: An image preprocessing method and apparatus processes image data line-by-line using an error diffusion or dithering process to generate a halftoned image in which the radius of a dot representing a pixel is /dpi.ltoreq.r.ltoreq..sqroot.2/dpi. The method and apparatus selectively performs the halftone process on every other pixel to reduce in consumption and computation time while maintaining a high resolution.