Abstract: In one form of the invention, one sensor determines mutual alignment of pens; a second sensor measures color of dots formed on a print medium by the pens. Another form has two carriages—one moving pens to mark on a medium and the second used to refine quality of images produced. In a third form, a sensor measures color of test patterns by one or more pens; a hood—generally around the sensor laterally relative to a sensing direction—excludes ambient light from the sensor during measuring; a mechanism advances the hood along the sensing direction toward the patterns. In a fourth form, a pen ejects multiple liquid-ink drops onto a medium, and a sensor infrequently measures color of resulting dots—only when the pen is not forming images. In addition to these four forms of the invention, three others are detailed in the text.

Abstract: The present invention is a method for accessing a user defined custom routine through a graphical interface of an application program. The method comprises the steps of: (a) linking the user defined custom routine to the application program; (b) displaying a means for accessing the user defined custom routine on a graphical interface; and (c) transferring control to the user defined custom routine when a user activates the means.

Abstract: A computer date and time clock including an incrementing binary 32 bit register, used to main elapsed date and time in seconds, and an external 1 Hz clock signal, provided by an oscillator, that increments the register. The oscillator and register are both powered by a battery, to make them independent of computer system power. On computer systems having a 32 bit bus, the register can be read or written with a single I/O cycle on the system bus. Operating system software typically performs time calculations using elapsed seconds since a fixed date and time, thus the register count can represent a number of seconds since the fixed date and time. The 1 Hz clock signal is derived from a higher frequency oscillator using a divider circuit, and a reset circuit within the date and time clock clears the divider circuit each time data is stored in the register.

Abstract: An interface circuit for keyboards and other serial peripheral devices that adds loopback capability through multiplexers in the clock and data lines, and also provides a receiver clock delayed from the transmitter clock to avoid race conditions between the data and clock lines. The circuit also provides a means of forcing a zero bit onto the data line after a byte is sent, to indicate to the transmitter that the byte was received by the receiver. The circuit also provides a way to hold off the transmitter, to simulate the normal keyboard action of holding off transmitter while it processes the character just sent.

Abstract: A system comprises a flag interface module, a flag query having a selectable value based on a user authorization level, a query communicator, and a flag value communicator for communicating a new flag value from the flag interface module to a test program in response to the query communicator that enables a user to modify an execution sequence [e.g., modifying the flow] of the test program executing on a computer controlling a testing system. The execution sequence of the test program is modified only if the user has a proper authorization level. The execution sequence is modified by an authorized user without requiring the test program to be recompiled.

Abstract: The present invention is a method for specifying test flow and binning of an integrated circuit part in an integrated circuit tester. The method comprises the steps of receiving descriptions of the tests, receiving test flow statements indicating when the tests are to be executed, receiving binning statements, executing the tests as indicated by the test flow statements, and binning the IC device as indicated by the results of the tests.

Abstract: The invention is a method for displaying wafer test results from an integrated circuit tester in real time. The method comprising the steps of: (a) receiving wafer dimensions and die dimensions from a wafer handler; (b) creating a template representative of a wafer having cells representative of a die from the wafer dimensions and the die dimensions; (c) displaying the template; (d) invoking a tester to test a selected die of a selected wafer; (e) receiving test results from the tester; (f) displaying the test results on a selected cell which corresponds to the selected die; and (g) repeating steps (d)-(f) as required.

Abstract: The invention is a method for enabling a user to enter wafer numbers into a computer-based integrated circuit production test system. The method comprises the steps of: (a) prompting the user for the wafer numbers; (b) displaying the wafer numbers in a graphical representation of a wafer cassette; (c) enabling the user to edit the wafer numbers on the graphical representation; and (d) transmitting the wafer numbers to the computer-based IC production test system.