Sony Corporation

Tadashi Otsuki

Tetsuya Konishi

Tomoaki Kasuga

Ayako Okita

Tsunetaro Matsuoka

Yaeko Fujita

Toshiya Ogura

Kunio Takemoto

Shizuo Arai

Tadayuki Nike

The robotic apparatus is designed to act in a wider variety of manners, which will motivate the user of the robotic apparatus to purchase more products to the robotic apparatus. More specifically, a robotic apparatus () which acts autonomously recognizes a bar code (BC) or the like appended to a canned juice () and acts in a predetermined manner. This is only enabled under a predetermined contract made between a product manufacturer and robotic apparatus manufacturer. The contract coverage is that the product manufacturer shall append the bar code (BC) to a specific product while the robotic apparatus manufacturer shall provide a robotic apparatus () which can act in a predetermined manner when having recognized the bar code (BC).

Automatic apparatus, information server, robotic apparatus and commercial transaction method for performing an action based on information

Robot-related information held at a robot user and data held at a robot manufacturer are used to enhance the user's sense of attachment to the robot. Each terminal device is operable to send information about the robot to a telecommunication line and to receive answer information sent from a server to the robot user via the telecommunication line. The server generates answer information on the basis of robot-related information sent from the personal terminal device and previously stored reference information corresponding to the robot-related information; and sends the answer information to the personal terminal device&mdash;via the telecommunication line. The answer information is for example a diagnostic report on the robot.

Robotic device management system and method, and information management apparatus

The robotic apparatus is designed to act in a wider variety of manners, which will motivate the user of the robotic apparatus to purchase more products to the robotic apparatus. More specifically, a robotic apparatus ( ) which acts autonomously recognizes a bar code (BC) or the like appended to a canned juice ( ) and acts in a predetermined manner. This is only enabled under a predetermined contract made between a product manufacturer and robotic apparatus manufacturer. The contract coverage is that the product manufacturer shall append the bar code (BC) to a specific product while the robotic apparatus manufacturer shall provide a robotic apparatus ( ) which can act in a predetermined manner when having recognized the bar code (BC).

System and method for generating an action of an automatic apparatus

A robot-related information held at a robot user ad data held at a robot manufacturer as well as to enhance the user's sense of attachment to the robot. Each of personal terminal devices ( A to D) has both a function to send information on a robot to a telecommunication line ( ) and a function to receive answer information sent from a server ( ) to the robot user via the telecommunication line, and the server ( ) generates answer information on the basis of robot-related information sent from the personal terminal devices ( A to D) via the telecommunication line and reference information previously stored in an information storage device and corresponding to the robot-related information and sends the answer information to the personal terminal devices ( A to D) via the telecommunication line. The answer information is a diagnostic report on the robot.

Robot managing system, robot managing method, and information managing device

An optical disk device is adapted so that an air-cooling fan for cooling is attached to the back side of the optical disk device body unit. Further, in this optical disk device, a control board is disposed or arranged at the back side of the air-cooling fan so that it is integral with the optical disk device body unit to thereby cool heat produced in the optical disk device by blast of the cooling fan to allow the ambient temperature to fall within a specification limit, thus to facilitate the optical disk device to be included in a computer, etc.

Optical disk device with cooling fan

A recording medium in the form of a disc in which locations on said disc other than a predetermined location set as a zero-address are represented by (+) side addresses and (-) side addresses with respect to the zero address, and in which the information concerning these addresses are at least recorded as address data constituted by N bits. With the disc-shaped recording medium the fact that the number of addresses necessary for the radially inner region of the disc is smaller than the number of addresses necessary for the radially outer region of the disc is utilized in such a manner that the upper four bits of 16 bits are used in the manner of sign bits for representing the addresses on the radially inner side of the disc, with the remaining bits being used for representing the addresses, with the 16 bits inclusive of the upper four bits being used for representing the addresses for the radially outer region of the disc. In this manner, the totality of the tracks may be represented while maintaining interchangeability with the conventional discs even although the track pitch is smaller than in the case of conventional discs. Besides, the address discrimination may also be facilitated.

Disc shaped recording medium having a zero track address and multibit

A rewritable optical disk has a user recording area in which data is stored in a plurality of sectors, and a written sector flag zone radially separated from the user recording area. The written sector flag includes a plurality of written sector flags, each flag corresponding to one sector in the user recording area. Each written sector flag indicates by its setting whether or not information data has been written in its corresponding sector in the user recording area. The written sector flags are single bits, and are written using error correction. The written sector flags are written in sectors in the written sector flag zone. If a sector is determined to be 'no good' and cannot be used for writing written sector flags, the written sector flags that would be written in the 'no good' sector are written in the next good sector following the 'no good' sector. An apparatus for writing and reading an optical disk with a written sector flag zone reads the written sector flags in the written sector flag zone. A write inhibitor, responsive to the read written sector flags, inhibits writing in a sector indicated as having data written in it. The apparatus is responsive to the write inhibitor and writes information data on the disk in a sector in which writing is not inhibited. The apparatus then writes the written sector flag corresponding to the sector to indicate that information data has been written in the sector.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Tadashi Otsuki