Data processing machine for automatically changing data formats

Claim 1

A data processing machine operable to automatically change the format of data to be printed or displayed and in which a set of stored data, nominally arranged in rows and columns, may have items missing and/or be stored in a non-uniform manner, characterised in that when the machine is operable to change the format of a set of data it is controlled to perform the following steps: a) to determine the column boundaries in each row of the set of data and b) to determine which rows of the set have missing items and to provide an indication in the row of the missing item whereby the control system of the machine is able to identify missing items and column boundaries before a new format of the set of data is produced.

Claim 6

A method of controlling a data processing machine which is operable to automatically change the format of data to be printed or displayed and in which a set of stored data, nominally arranged in rows and columns, may have items missing and/or be stored in a non-uniform manner, characterised in that when the machine is operable to change the format of a set of data it is controlled to perform the following steps: c) constructing and storing a mask of blank characters as long as the longest row in the set, d) taking each row of the set in turn and performing a logical OR operation on it with the mask and restoring the cumulative result of the OR operation so that after processing the final row the mask contains a non-blank character in every position for which there is a corresponding character in at least one row of the set, e) determining the number of non-blank strings in the cumulative mask and constructing a data sub set for each non blank string comprising the corresponding items from the rows of the set of data, and f) entering into the data sub sets an indication of missing or neutral values from the set of data.

Claim 7

A method of controlling a data processing machine which is operable to automatically change the format of data to be printed or displayed and in which a set of stored data, nominally arranged in rows and columns, may have items missing and/or be stored in a non-uniform manner, characterised in that when the machine is operable to change the format of a set of data it is controlled to perform the following steps: c) constructing and storing a mask of blank characters as long as the longest row in the set, d) taking each row of the set in turn and performing a logical OR operation on it with the mask and restoring the cumulative result of the OR operation so that after processing the final row the mask contains a non-blank character in every position for which there is a corresponding character in at least one row of the set, e) determining the number of non-blank strings in the cumulative mask and constructing a data sub set for each non blank string comprising the corresponding items from the rows of the set of data, and f) entering into the data sub sets an indication of missing or neutral values from the set of data.