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how much can you legally use a microcontroller? — Parallax Forums

how much can you legally use a microcontroller?

Grant_OGrant_O Posts: 36
edited 2006-04-22 13:29 in General Discussion
Lets say·someone starts a business. It’s not a really big business. But they·make their own custom enclosures and use some·LEDs and·LCD displays from a company like DigiKey. They connect·everything to their own printed circuit boards·and make stuff like custom or·aftermarket parts·for cars or bikes. Could·they legally use·a microcontroller with their products? Or would they have to go with·a more·ASIC like design?
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Post Edited (Grant_O) : 4/21/2006 3:19:51 AM GMT

Comments

  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2006-04-21 04:15
    This thread is being moved from the BASIC Stamp Forum to the Sandbox Forum.

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2006-04-21 04:54
    Yes; BASIC Stamps and other microcontrollers are used in commercial products all the time -- that's what we build them for. We build the chip, you write the code.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax

    Post Edited (Jon Williams (Parallax)) : 4/21/2006 6:01:13 AM GMT
  • Russ MillerRuss Miller Posts: 25
    edited 2006-04-21 05:14
    Grant_O said...
    Lets say someone starts a business. It’s not a really big business. But they make their own custom enclosures and use some LEDs and LCD displays from a company like DigiKey. They connect everything to their own printed circuit boards and make stuff like custom or aftermarket parts for cars or bikes. Could they legally use a microcontroller with their products? <FONT size=2>Or would they have to go with a more ASIC like design?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com[noparse]:office:[/noparse]office" /><otongue.gif></otongue.gif></FONT>

    <otongue.gif></otongue.gif>

    People do that all the time - Almost all microcontrollers go into products built to be sold by companies large and small. A particular product may have special legal or safety requirements. Medical and aviation products for example have strict requirements whether or not they have microcontrollers in them. Something like a pedometer or TV remote probably has very few, but it's important to study the subject and find out first.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2006-04-21 16:04
    Security systems, home automation systems, irrigation control, lighting control, midi controlled special effects, theatrical productions, lab test benches, and the list goes on.

    In general, if the cost of materials is 1/12th of the market price and people will buy it - you have a sustainable market.

    Even then, a lot is being done profitably on a part-time hobby basis with a cost of materials being 1/4 to 1/2.

    It all depends on how badly the customers want the product and how rich you want to become. The SX-28 is $3, the SX-48 is about $7. If you start out with a BasicStamp as a proof of concept, I am sure Parallax would be happy to move you over to the SXes and have you buy thousands.

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  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2006-04-21 16:41
    Due to NDA, many people can't disclose the names or details of products containing a BASIC Stamp, however, you might be surprised at some of the things that do.· Many people wouldn't necessarily recognize the BASIC Stamp in such as application because, in an OEM application you most likely wouldn't see the more familiar 24-pin Module.· Instead the surface mount components such as the PIC (interpreter) and EEPROM would be mounted right into/onto the end circuit and not be easily identifiable.

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • Eric REric R Posts: 225
    edited 2006-04-21 21:47
    I ran across a product containing a 24 pin stamp that sold for a few thousand dollars. freaked.gif· This was not an isolated incident, this product has been sold many times·and featured in magazines.

    Don't ask as I will not tell who it is, but this is a good example of making good money with a stamp based product.
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2006-04-21 22:59
    The industrial product I designed sold for $1300. To the customer that was a small price to pay for peace-of-mind; better to spend $1300 up front than tens of thousands later on a catastrophic [noparse][[/noparse]pumping] station failure. You would be surprised at the places BASIC Stamps are used with regularity.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2006-04-22 13:29
    No wonder, really.

    Using a Stamp may cost a bit more per unit, but it buys you a few REALLY critical things, TIME and ease of development.

    And no, the speed(or lack of) of the BS2 really doesn't matter.
    Back in the early 90s I(together with a buddy) built a timer with 4 relay outputs(with option in SW for 4 more) valid calendar from 1980 to 2080, 8 programs that could work on separate relays, or overlap and countdown timer. it even had a LCD(and none of these easy-to-use serial types, but an 8-digit 7-segment, direct-control type) All this was controlled by a 8051 running at 4MHz.
    Just for fun we added a LED to the development setup, and programmed it to switch it on before starting to work, then switch it off again when it went back to wait for the next event.
    It didn't exactly light up the room... (And the clock on the LCD updated every second)

    I still think I have the 3.000 lines of assembler code that went into it, somewhere...
    That was several months of afternoons, evening, and even nights spent in a computer-lab, being 'harassed' by Security and missing out on social life...

    The BS2 could have done the same tasks, better, and at a fraction of the time it took to develop that monstrosity...

    The only really good thing that came out if it was the grade(it was a school project) where we got a 1.5 (1 is perfect, 6 is the worst, and 4 or better is considered passing)
    Maybe, if we had put comments in the code, we could have gotten a better score...

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