Component tape including a printed component count

Abstract

A component tape includes a carrier tape with an elongate cover tape applied over pockets of the carrier tape. The component tape includes information printed on a portion of the component tape. The printed information includes a count or quantity of electronic components carried by the component tape, where the count at a particular location on the component tape indicates the position of the corresponding electronic component on the component tape. An indicator is printed corresponding to each quantity count that indicates which component position of the tape corresponds to the printed count. The printed information may also include a variety of information associated with the components, information comprising part number, tolerance and value description, batch number, lot number, component manufacturer, and component vendor. The printed information is produced by direct marking, as with laser etching or printing, or by imaging. The print type used to print the information includes alphanumeric characters and Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.