Comparison circuits

Claim 1

MEANS FOR CHECKING THE IDENTITY OF ONE DECIMAL DIGIT AGAINST THE IDENTITY OF ANOTHER DECIMAL DIGIT, EACH SAID DIGIT BEING EXPRESSED IN THE 1, 2, 4 AND 8 BIT BINARY CODE, CONSISTING OF A BIT STORE FOR EACH OF SAID BINARY DIGITS OF EACH OF SAID DECIMAL DIGITS AND EACH SAID STORE HAVING A BIT OUTPUT AND A NO BIT OUTPUT, A MISMATCH NETWORK COMPRISING A TREE CIRCUIT HAVING AS A FIRST RANK THEREOF A PLURALITY OF AND CIRCUITS EACH CONNECTED TO A BIT OUTPUT FROM A STORE FOR ONE OF SAID BINARY DIGITS OF ONE OF SAID DECIMAL DIGITS AND A NO BIT OUTPUT FROM A STORE FOR A CORRESPONDINGLY VALUED BINARY DIGIT OF THE OTHER OF SAID DECIMAL DIGITS, AN OUTPUT FOR EACH OF SAID AND CIRCUITS, SAID TREE CIRCUIT HAVING AS A SECOND RANK THEREOF A PLURALITY OF OR CIRCUIT CONNECTED TO SAID OUTPUTS FROM SAID FIRST RANK AND CIRCUITS, AND EACH SAID SECOND RANK OR CIRCUITS HAVING AN OUTPUT, SAID TREE CIRCUIT HAVING AS A THIRD RANK THEREOF AN OR CIRCUIT CONNECTED TO SAID OUTPUTS OF SAID SECOND RANK OR CIRCUITS AND HAVING AN OUTPUT CONSTITUTING AN OUTPUT FOR SAID MISMATCH NETWORK, A COMPLETE MATCH NETWORK COMPRISING A TREE CIRCUIT HAVING AS A FIRST RANK THEREOF A PLURALITY OF AND CIRCUITS EACH CONNECTED TO A BIT OUTPUT OR A NO BIT OUTPUT FROM A STORE FOR ONE OF SAID BINARY DIGITS OF ONE OF SAID DECIMAL DIGITS AND A BIT OUTPUT OR A NO BIT OUTPUT RESPECTIVELY FROM A STORE FOR A CORRESPONDINGLY VALUED BINARY DIGIT OF THE OTHER OF SAID DECIMAL DIGITS, AN OUTPUT FOR EACH OF SAID AND CIRCUITS, SAID TREE CIRCUIT HAVING AS A SECOND RANK THEREOF A PLURALITY OF OR CIRCUITS EACH HAVING AN INPUT CONNECTED TO THE SAID OUTPUTS OF SAID AND CIRCUITS FROM THE BIT STORES FOR EACH SAID BINARY DIGIT, AN OUTPUT FOR EACH SAID SECOND RANK OR CIRCUIT, SAID TREE CIRCUIT HAVING AS A THIRD RANK THEREOF AN AND CIRCUIT HAVING INPUTS CONNECTED TO SAID OUTPUTS OF SAID SECOND RANK OR CIRCUITS AND HAVING AN OUTPUT CONSTITUTING AN OUTPUT FOR SAID COMPLETE MATCH NETWORK, A BISTABLE FLIP-FLOP HAVING A SATISFACTION SIGNAL OUTPUT, SAID FLIP-FLOP BEING RESPONSIVE TO SAID MISMATCH NETWORK OUTPUT TO RENDER SAID SATISFACTION SIGNAL OUTPUT DISABLED AND BEING FURTHER RESPONSIVE TO SAID COMPLETE MATCH NETWORK OUTPUT TO ENABLE SAID SATISFACTION SIGNAL OUTPUT.