Abstract: A single width bar code exhibiting inherent self clocking characteristics is provided so as to be particularly useful in the identification of semiconductor wafers in very large scale integrated circuit manufacturing processes. The codes described herein are robust, reliable and highly readable even in the face of relatively high variations in scanning speed. The codes are also desirably dense in terms of character representations per linear centimeter, an important consideration in semiconductor manufacturing wherein space on the chips and the wafer is at a premium. Additionally, a preferred embodiment of the present invention exhibits a minimum number for the maximum number of spaces between adjacent bars in code symbol sequences.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a computing system which contains a plurality of subunits. Each subunit contains a computing subcomponent and a subunit supervisor subcomponent. The subunit supervisor component monitors functions of the subunit and output signals corresponding to the monitored functions. The plurality of subunits are contained within a housing. The housing contains a housing supervisor subunit which receives the output signals of each of the plurality of subunits. The supervisor subunit outputs the accumulated signals to an input/output device for monitoring the plurality of subunits and for sending commands to each subunit.