johnson

Claim 1

IN COMBINATION, A DATA PROCESSING UNIT FOR EXECUTING A SEQUENCE OF DISCRETE OPERATIONS; APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY READING A DOCUMENT BEARING INFORMATION THEREON, SAID INFORMATION COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT CHARACTERS DISPOSED IN PREDETERMINED POSITIONS ON SAID DOCUMENTS, SAID APPARATUS SENSING THE CHARACTER IN EACH OF SAID POSITIONS AND DELIVERING A RESPECTIVE ELECTRICAL REPRESENTATION; TRANSLATION MEANS, WHEN ENABLED, FOR FEEDING DOCUMENTS SEQUENTIALLY TO SAID AUTOMATIC READING APPARATUS; MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID DATA PROCESSING UNIT TO EXECUTE AN OPERATION ENABLING SAID TRANSLATION APPARATUS TO FEED A DOCUMENT TO SAID AUTOMATIC READING APPARATUS; MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING THE ELECTRICAL REPRESENTATIONS DELIVERED BY SAID READING APPARATUS TO SAID DATA PROCESSING UNIT; MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID DATA PROCESSING UNIT TO EXECUTE A PLURALITY OF OPERATIONS TO DETERMINE THE TYPE OF CHARACTER LOCATED IN ONE OF SAID PREDETERMINED POSITIONS ON SAID DOCUMENT; A PLURALITY OF RECEPTACLES FOR RECEIVING SAID DOCUMENTS; SORTING MEANS FOR DEPOSITING A DOCUMENT IN ONE OF SAID RECEPTACLES IN RESPONSE TO AN IDENTIFICATION ITEM IDENTIFYING SAID ONE RECEPTACLE; MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID DATA PROCESSING UNIT TO PROVIDE AN IDENTIFICATION ITEM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TYPE OF CHARACTER DETERMINED THEREBY; AND MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID DATA PROCESSING UNIT TO PERFORM AN OPERATION TRANSFERRING THE IDENTIFICATION ITEM PROVIDED THEREBY TO SAID SORTING MEANS.