Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Michael E Donelan

Thomas C Prentice

Patsy Anthony Mattero

James J Lynch

Kenneth J King

Joseph A Perault

Jonathan Joel Bloom

John Cronin

Linfeng Liu

James E Fox

Gregory Lefebvre

An open application protocol for industrial equipment is disclosed. Disclosed techniques include: opening a connection between (a) an open application associated with a manufacturing execution system and (b) an instance of a data sharing interface operating on an industrial machine used in a surface mounting process, the open application being configured to communicate with any machine that implements the data sharing interface, regardless of machine type or manufacturer; discovering, by the open application via the connection, discoverable information associated with the industrial machine, the discoverable information including one or more of data items, events, commands, or alarms; and controlling, by the open application via the connection, operation of the industrial machine to control at least a portion of the surface mounting process.

Open application interface for industrial equipment

A material applicator includes a printing device configured to deposit viscous material upon a circuit board, and a controller operatively coupled to the printing device. The controller is configured to control a plurality of system components, including an operating system component configured to operate the printing device, and a remote interface component configured to exchange printer operation data between the operating system component and at least one plug-in application. The plug-in application is configured to extend capabilities of the operating system component.

System and method for operating a stencil printer

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Upton, MA, United States of America

Michael E Donelan