An electronic unit includes a USB host and a USB device. After the USB host and the USB device are connected to each other by a USB cable, a signal requesting for a connection permission is transmitted from the USB device to the USB host, and the USB host determines whether to permit a connection based on the signal. The electronic unit further includes a power supply configured to supply power to the USB device, and an additional GND pattern different from a GND pattern of the USB cable is electrically connected to a GND of the USB port of at least one of the USB host and the USB device. An area of the additional GND pattern is 2000 mm.sup.2 or more.

A numerical controller includes an activation unit that builds a memory map according to settings when the power is on; a change detection unit that detects an operation requiring reconstructing of the memory map; a task control unit that, when the operation is detected, performs a stopping process of a task being operated; and a memory map control unit that, after the task has stopped, acquires a backed up memory, reconstructs the memory map according to the setting, and compares the reconstructed memory map and the backed-up memory map, and resets information required for operating the task again such as a program counter.

Improvements in a high speed smooth tool path is presented where the high speed smooth tool path to be used for primarily finishing for finishing any type of walls (negative/positive drafted) for any given bounded region be it 3, 4, 5, . . . n sided shape. The tool path incorporates a combined strategy for finishing the walls while removing any excess material leftover from a previous larger diameter cutter. This tool-motion can be utilized for roughing the regions by approximating the walls by offsetting the regions inwards. The finished boundaries are offset inwards and then cut using these methods. This is optimized as opposed to moving the cutter at a consistent speed in the cutting path. This is performed to eliminate the wasted tool-motion to the maximum extent. This technique is implemented for roughing any closed or open bounded areas regardless of the walls being straight, drafted (negative/positive or both).

An electronic unit includes a USB host and a USB device. After the USB host and the USB device are connected to each other by a USB cable, a signal requesting for a connection permission is transmitted from the USB device to the USB host, and the USB host determines whether to permit a connection based on the signal. The electronic unit further includes a power supply configured to supply power to the USB device, and an additional GND pattern different from a GND pattern of the USB cable is electrically connected to a GND of the USB port of at least one of the USB host and the USB device. An area of the additional GND pattern is 2000 mm.sup.2 or more.

Software for controlling processes in a heterogeneous semiconductor manufacturing environment may include a wafer-centric database, a real-time scheduler using a neural network, and a graphical user interface displaying simulated operation of the system. These features may be employed alone or in combination to offer improved usability and computational efficiency for real time control and monitoring of a semiconductor manufacturing process. More generally, these techniques may be usefully employed in a variety of real time control systems, particularly systems requiring complex scheduling decisions or heterogeneous systems constructed of hardware from numerous independent vendors.

A numerical controller enabling prediction of a machining time considering a machine delay occurring in a machine. The numerical controller configured for predicting a reference machining time corresponding to a machining time not considering acceleration/deceleration of an predicting the number of times of acceleration/deceleration of the axis in machining storing information related to a deviation time corresponding to a difference between an actual machining time corresponding to a machining time required for actual machining by the machine and the reference machining time predicted in the machining, calculating a correction time for correcting the reference machining time based on the number of times of acceleration/deceleration predicted and the information related to the deviation time stored, and calculating a predicted machining time obtained by correcting the reference machining time using the correction time.

A controller capable of preventing human mistakes by customizing checking contents upon operations of users to automatically perform customized checking appropriately is provided. A controller that controls an industrial machine includes: a receiving unit that receives a condition of a callback process associated with control of the industrial machine and an action corresponding to the condition; and a designated condition registering unit that registers the condition and the action received by the receiving unit as a callback process.

A method and apparatus for generating machining code of workpieces from a paper engineering drawing are provided. The method includes processing the paper engineering drawing to be a binary image; extracting dimension features and shape features of the workpieces from the binary image; and generating the machining codes of the workpieces based on the extracted dimension features and shape features of the workpieces. The machining codes indicate the dimension and shape of the workpieces. Machining codes of workpieces are generated from a paper engineering drawing directly without manual involvement.

A visual inspection method includes the following steps: (a) placing a material between a pair of parts, wherein at least one of the pair of parts defines at least one thru-hole sized to partly receive the material; (b) pressing the pair of parts together until the material is partly displaced into the thru-hole (or merely moving the pair of parts toward each other until the material is partly displaced into the thru-hole); and (c) visually inspecting the one thru-hole to verify that the material is partly disposed in the thru-hole after pressing the pair of parts together (or moving the pair of parts toward each other).

Improvements in a high speed smooth tool path is presented where the high speed smooth tool path to be used for primarily finishing for finishing any type of walls (negative/positive drafted) for any given bounded region be it 3, 4, 5, . . . n sided shape. The tool path incorporates a combined strategy for finishing the walls while removing any excess material leftover from a previous larger diameter cutter. This tool-motion can be utilized for roughing the regions by approximating the walls by offsetting the regions inwards. The finished boundaries are offset inwards and then cut using these methods. This is optimized as opposed to moving the cutter at a consistent speed in the cutting path. This is performed to eliminate the wasted tool-motion to the maximum extent. This technique is implemented for roughing any closed or open bounded areas regardless of the walls being straight, drafted (negative/positive or both).