Abstract: An information input/output unit according to the present invention includes a receiving cavity capable of accommodating therein two different species of noncontact information media having shapes differing from each other and an antenna part capable of performing communication by radio with the noncontact information media. The unit can communicate with a close-fit-type noncontact information medium without fail and preferably with predetermined degree of freedom for the shapes of the media.

Abstract: In a non-contact IC (integrated circuit) module having an IC chip and a coil, the non-contact IC module communicates with a terminal via a booster unit. A communication system extends a communication distance of data modulated by using a carrier frequency (sub-carrier frequency). A communication auxiliary apparatus is used in a communication between a non-contact information medium and an external appliance.

Abstract: The container and the management system include a storage portion to accommodate an expendable product to be used by an apparatus; and a memory to store identification information that can be read out by an external device; wherein the container is removably installed in the apparatus and the apparatus retrieves expendable product identification information and remaining amount information from the container to determine if the expendable product is an appropriate one.

Abstract: A compact noncontact communication semiconductor device having a multidirectional or omnidirectional antenna and usable in a minuscule space to which the applications have conventionally been difficult is provided. The outer peripheral portion of a spherical IC 1 is covered with an insulating layer 4 having a thickness equal to or larger than the diameter of the IC 1, and antenna patterns 2 are formed on the surface of the insulating layer 4. The antenna patterns 2 can be configured either with a winding or by microprocessing using etching or laser beam, for example, for the conductive film formed on the surface of the insulating layer 4. The antenna patterns 2 and the circuit pattern formed on the surface of the IC 1 are interconnected via a through hole 5.

Abstract: An optical information recording and reproducing apparatus is disclosed in which a predetermined signal is recorded on a track of a rotating recording medium by a recording light beam and the recorded information is reproduced by a reproducing light beam. The information recorded on the last record track is reproduced by the recording beam and the reproducing beam and radiating position of the recording beam on the recording medium is displaced by a predetermined distance from the last record track.

Abstract: A keyboard structure permitting the interconnection of several hundred flexible key structures in a compact area. The structure includes a matrix of key cells disposed on an insulating surface, the row elements being commonly connected by conductive paths on the surface while the column elements are electrically separate. A contact point for each row and each column element extends to the opposite side of the insulating surface. These contact points are so disposed that parallel conductive paths which run only in the vertical direction may be used to provide row-select and column-select indications.

Abstract: A television-connected microprocessor system designed for use primarily as a television game or education system. The system is designed to accept source programming from cartridges that are interchangeable. The cartridges utilize either a ROM or a RAM to store the source programming. The source program is stored in the cartridge ROM or RAM in a higher level language, such as BASIC and interpreted for use by the microprocessor. Each ROM cartridge comes with a keyboard entry device as an integral part thereof which is uniquely adapted to the programming in the cartridge and the games or training sequence dictated thereby. By using a RAM cartridge, the user may enter his own source program by way of a general purpose keyboard or a tape recorder. Keyboard overlays are utilized to adapt the general purpose keyboard to the particular game or training sequence dictated by the source program entered into the cartridge RAM by the user.

Abstract: A color pattern and alphanumeric character generator for use with raster-scanned CRT display devices wherein the color background patterns and the characters are generated in an integrated manner. As a result, the apparatus utilized is considerably simplified and the color pattern display obtainable is more complex and more easily varied than hitherto was possible in an apparatus of this type. The viewing area of the raster-scan CRT is divided into a matrix of character cells. Each character cell is in turn divided into a plurality of color cells, each color cell being a matrix of dot positions on the display area of the CRT. The relationship of the number of color cells in each character cell and the number of dot positions in each color cell is an even integer. A display RAM, addressed by a microprocessor, stores display information therein. The RAM is addressed by the display circuitry during the display cycle.

Abstract: A control apparatus having an electronic timer including a plurality of flip-flop circuits connected in multiple stages in cascade. Outputs are taken from different stages of the electronic timer and the separate outputs are utilized to produce individual control timing signals which serve for controlling at least one device in accordance with the timing specific to the individual control timing signals.

Abstract: Binary patterns that define alphanumeric characters for display are stored in a character pattern memory in a size that is smaller than the pattern that will be needed for display purposes. Each such stored character pattern is expanded to the size of a display character pattern, at a time when that character is to be displayed, on a point by point basis of the stored pattern. The expansion of each point in a stored character pattern is accomplished by a relationship that takes into consideration the points surrounding the point to be expanded.When a character requires a binary pattern that is not readily susceptible of this type of expansion, the full display size pattern must be stored in memory. This display size pattern is broken up into a plurality of smaller stored patterns and stored in memory as a plurality of adjacent smaller patterns. In effect, then, two different character pattern sizes are stored in memory.

Abstract: A data processing system comprises first and second arithmetic units for processing emergent tasks and non-emergent tasks, respectively, a memory for storing the data from the arithmetic units, and a control unit. The control unit selects either an interrupt task or a task being processed in response to the priority levels of the tasks. The first or second arithmetic unit is operated in response to whether a selected task is an emergent task or a non-emergent task.

Abstract: A word processing system capable of encoding or printing a large number of characters is provided. The present invention is particularly valuable in the encoding and printing of a large number of characters in a foreign language such as Japanese Kanji, and the like. The word processing system will respond to either local switch control or computer generated printing commands. A font storage tray can be operatively connected with optical readers or the like to encode X-Y character positions for storage. The word processing system is easily convertible from a manual typewriter operation to an automatic printer operation. In the manual or encoding mode of operation a removable stylus is utilized in a panographic manner for selecting and positioning the font characters for respectively, loading and printing as a typewriter, or coordinating the combination of optical read codes to store or generate X and Y positions.

Abstract: In a character displaying device having a character pattern memory which is made up of a circulating sequential access memory storing character patterns therein, a character pattern generating system comprises a high speed buffer memory which stores the character codes of one line or any other suitable amount of characters to be displayed and the corresponding character patterns, so that each time one character is delivered as an output from the character pattern memory, the presence of the character code of the particular character is examined for all the character codes of the buffer memory, and the character pattern of the particular character is written into the buffer memory when the character codes are coincident, the writing operations being sequentially executed in the order of the character outputs of the character pattern memory, thereby making it possible to finish all the character patterns in the buffer memory within a period in which the read-out of the character pattern memory circulates.

Abstract: A shift array for shifting carriers introduced into a semiconductor body toward the X-direction and Y-direction comprises an insulating layer disposed on the semiconductor body, first electrodes disposed on the insulating layer and arranged in a matrix on the X-Y plane, second electrodes disposed between adjacent first electrodes, conductors disposed adjacent to the first electrodes to be connected to the electrodes of each row when carriers are transferred toward the Y-direction, conductors disposed adjacent to the first electrodes to be connected to the electrodes of each column when carriers are transferred toward the X-direction. When carriers are transferred toward the X-direction, the second electrodes disposed between the adjacent first electrodes of each column are biased with a DC voltage whose electrical polarity is reversed relative to the DC voltage applied to the first electrodes for preventing the transit of carriers toward the Y-direction.

Abstract: A variable inductor wherein two closed magnetic circuits each having a predetermined gap in one place are constructed of a movable magnetic core and a fixed magnetic core. When the movable magnetic core is moved, the opposite area between both the magnetic cores in one of the closed magnetic circuits increases, while the opposite area between both the magnetic cores in the other closed magnetic circuit decreases. Thus, the inductances of coils wound around parts of the respective closed magnetic circuits vary complementarily.

Abstract: An automatic printer assembly capable of printing a large number of characters from a plurality of replaceable printing members and valuable in printing characters in a foreign language, such as Japanese Kanji, and the like. The printing member support carriage can align with a storage device, such as a carousel holder, to exchange printing members. A character memory storage receives an appropriately coded signal indicating a predetermined amount and location of characters that are to be printed on a predetermined area of a medium. A controller addresses the memory storage to select the appropriate character printing member. The input character information can be appropriately coded to minimize the scan time of the printing members by a sequential selecting of the printing members based on the respective character use of each printing member.