Detection of characters

Claim 1

IN A CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM FOR RECOGNIZING INDIVIDUAL ONES OF A GROUP OF CHARACTERS OF SELECTED CONFIGURATIONS; A GROUP OF POSITIVE PATTERN AREAS EACH TRANSPARENT EXCEPT FOR AN OPAQUE PATTERN OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID CHARACTERS; A GROUP OF NEGATIVE PATTERN AREAS EACH OPAQUE EXCEPT FOR A TRANSPARENT PATTERN OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID CHARACTERS; A MESSAGE-BEARING MEDIUM HAVING THEREON CHARACTERS TO BE RECOGNIZED, SAID CHARACTERS HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT LIGHT TRANSMISSIVE PROPERTIES THAN THE REMAINDER OF SAID MEDIUM; A READING STATION; A LIGHT SOURCE; A FIRST LENS SYSTEM COMPRISING A DIFFERENT LENS AREA FOR EACH PATTERN AREA OF EACH THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE GROUPS; SAID LIGHT SOURCE, READING STATION, MESSAGE-BEARING MEDIUM, FIRST LENS SYSTEM, AND SAID POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PATTERN GROUPS BEING SO POSITIONED THAT LIGHT RAYS FROM SAID SOURCE PASS THROUGH SAID MESSAGEBEARING MEDIUM AT SAID READING STATION AND ARE FOCUSED BY SAID FIRST LENS SYSTEM AS AN IMAGE ON EACH OF THE PATTERN AREAS OF BOTH SAID POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PATTERN GROUPS, SAID IMAGE BEING IN THE SAME PHASE ON BOTH THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PATTERN GROUPS; A SECOND LENS SYSTEM COMPRISING A DIFFERENT LENS AREA FOR EACH PATTERN AREA OF EACH THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE GROUPS; A PLURALITY OF PAIRS OF PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES THE RESISTANCE OF WHICH VARIES AS A FUNCTION OF THE LIGHT IMPRESSED THEREON FOR DEVELOPING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO LIGHT INFORMATION RECEIVED, THERE BEING A DIFFERENT PAIR OF SUCH DEVICES FOR EACH DIFFERENT CHARACTER IN THE GROUP, SAID SECOND LENS SYSTEM AND SAID PAIRS OF PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES BEING SO POSITIONED THAT LIGHT RAYS PASSING THROUGH EACH DIFFERENT PATTERN AREA OF BOTH SAID POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PATTERN GROUPS ARE FOCUSED ON A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES WITH THE LIGHT RAYS WHICH PASS THROUGH THE NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE PATTERN AREAS OF A PARTICULAR CHARACTER BEING FOCUSED SEPARATELY ON ONE AND THE OTHER DEVICE RESPECTIVELY OF A PAIR OF PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES; MEANS CONNECTING EACH PAIR OF PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES IN SERIES ACROSS A SOURCE OF D.-C. VOLTAGE; A PLURALITY OF FIRST ELECTRONIC SWITCHING DEVICES, ONE FOR EACH PAIR OF PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES, EACH FIRST SWITCHING DEVICE HAVING INPUT ELEMENTS AND HAVING CONDUCTIVE AND NONCONDUCTIVE STATES AS DETERMINED BY THE VOLTAGE APPLIED ACROSS ITS INPUT ELEMENTS; MEANS CONNECTING ONE OF THE PHOTO-CONDUCTIVE DEVICES OF EACH SERIES PAIR ACROSS THE INPUT ELEMENTS OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID FIRST SWITCHING DEVICES; A PLURALITY OF SECOND ELECTRONIC SWITCHING DEVICES, ONE FOR EACH FIRST SWITCHING DEVICE, EACH HAVING INPUT AND OUTPUT ELEMENTS; MEANS FOR APPLYING THE OUTPUT OF EACH OF SAID FIRST SWITCHING DEVICES ACROSS THE INPUT ELEMENTS OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID SECOND SWITCHING DEVICES IN ONE POLARITY AND MEANS FOR ALSO APPLYING THE OUTPUT OF EACH OF SAID FIRST SWITCHING ELEMENTS IN PARALLEL ACROSS THE INPUT ELEMENTS OF ALL OF THE OTHER OF SAID SECOND SWITCHING DEVICES IN THE OTHER POLARITY TO ESTABLISH A DYNAMIC BIAS OF SAID OTHER POLARITY TENDING TO RETAIN SAID SECOND SWITCHING DEVICES IN ONE STATE, THEREBY, IN RESPONSE TO AN OUTPUT SIGNAL FROM ONE OF SAID FIRST SWITCHING DEVICES OF A MAGNITUDE EXCEEDING THAT OF THE BIAS OF OTHER POLARITY, TO CAUSE ONE OF SAID SECOND SWITCHING DEVICES TO CHANGE TO ITS OTHER STATE, ALL OTHER OF SAID SWITCHING DEVICES REMAINING IN THE SAID ONE STATE.