The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 24, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2000
Motonobu Hatakeyama, Tokyo, JP;
Oki Data Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An option-identifying system identifies the locations of a plurality of options that are electrically connected in cascade and mounted to a main body such that the options are attachable to and detachable from the main body. The main body outputs a location-assigning signal having a plurality of bits to a first one of the plurality of options. Each option tray has a data-storing section and a location-identifying section. The data-storing section stores the locations of the plurality of options and corresponding location data that describes the locations. The location-identifying section receives the location-assigning signal and compares the received location-assigning signal with the location data to identify a location of a corresponding option. The location-identifying section changes the logic level of at least one bit of the received location-assigning signal or changes the number of bits of the received location-assigning signal, then outputs to a immediately lower option tray.