Method and apparatus for correcting errors in mutilated text

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING ELECTRICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MEANINGFUL COMBINATIONS OF PATTERNS COMPRISING: (1) A SOURCE OF ELECTRICAL NOTATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL PATTERNS; (2) MEANS FOR DETECTING INDIVIDUAL PATTERN ERRORS IN SAID COMBINATIONS OF PATTERNS INCLUDING, MEANS FOR DEVELOPING CODED ELECTRICAL NOTATIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL PATTERNS OF THE COMBINATION, MEANS FOR SYSTEMMATICALLY FORMING A PLURALITY OF DIGRAMS OF SAID NOTATIONS, MEANS FOR OBTAINING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE NATURAL LIKELIHOOL OF OCCURRENCE OF SAID DIGRAMS FROM PREREGISTERED DIGRAM PROBABILITY DATA, AND MEANS FOR DESIGNATING EACH DIGRAM THAT FAILS TO EXCEED A PRE-ASSIGNED THRESHOLD OF PROBABILITY AS ONE ERROR; (3) MEANS FOR LOCATING THAT PATTERN OF A GIVEN DIGRAM WHOSE PROBABILITY LIES BELOW THRESHOLD INCLUDING, FIRST MEANS FOR SELECTING THAT PATTERN COMBINATION COMMON TO TWO ADJACENT DIGRAMS BELOW THRESHOLD AS THE PATTERN IN ERROR, SECOND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A FAILURE OF SAID FIRST SELECTING MEANS TO LOCATE SAID PATTERN IN ERROR FOR SELECTING THAT ONE PATTERN FROM A PREREGISTERED TABLE OF PROBABILITIES OF ERROR FOR SINGLE PATTERNS, THIRD MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A FAILURE OF SAID SECOND SELECTING MEANS TO LOCATE SAID PATTERN IN ERROR FOR SELECTING OTHER DIGRAM COMBINATIONS OF SAID INDIVIDUAL PATTERN NOTATIONS TO DETERMINE THAT ONE OF SAID OTHER DIGRAMS THAT HAS THE LOWEST PROBABILITY OF NATURAL OCCURENCE, AND FOURTH MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A FAILURE OF SAID THIRD SELECTING MEANS TO LOCATE SAID PATTERN IN ERROR FOR SELECTING THAT PATTERN REPRESENTATION AS THE PATTERN IN ERROR THAT IS DESIGNATED TO BE BLANK; AND (4) MEANS FOR CORRECTING LOCATED PATTERN ERRORS INCLUDING, MEANS FOR DEVELOPING CODED ELECTRICAL NOTATIONS OF ALL OF THE POSSIBLE ANTECEDANT PATTERNS WHICH, ACCORDING TO PREREGISTERED STATISTICAL DATA, MOST PROBABLY GIVE RISE TO THE PATTERN INDICATED TO BE IN ERROR, SAID ANTECEDENT PATTERNS BEING DRIVED FROM KNOWN PAST PERFORMANCE RECORDS OF SAID SOURCE OF ELECTRICAL NOTATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL PATTERNS, MEANS FOR SYSTEMATICALLY FORMING A PLURALITY OF TRIGRAMS EACH OF WHICH INCLUDES ONE OF SAID ANTECEDENT PATTERNS, MEANS FOR OBTAINING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE NEUTRAL LIKELIHOOD OF OCCURRENCE OF SAID TRIGRAMS FROM PREREGISTERED TRIGRAM PROBABILITY DATA, FIFTH MEANS FOR SELECTING AS THE CORRECT ANTECEDENT PATTERN THAT PATTERN INCLUDED IN THE TRIGRAM WHICH HAS THE HIGHEST INDICATED LIKELIHOOD OF OCCURRENCE, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A FAILURE OF SAID FIFTH MEANS TO SELECT A CORRECT ANTECEDENT PATTERN FOR FORMING A PLURALITY OF DIGRAMS EACH OF WHICH INCLUDES ONE OF SAID ANTECEDENT PATTERNS, MEANS FOR OBTAINING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE NEUTRAL LIKELIHOOD OF OCCURRENCE OF SAID DIGRAMS FROM PREREGISTERED DIGRAM PROBABILITY DATA, SIXTH MEANS FOR SELECTING AS THE CORRECT ANTECEDENT PATTERN THAT PATTERN INCLUDED IN THE ONE OF SAID LAST-FORMED DIGRAMS WHICH HAS THE HIGHEST INDICATED LIKELIHOOD OF NATURAL OCCURRENCE; AND IN THE EVENT THAT SAID FOURTH SELECTING MEANS SELECTED A BLANK AS THE PATTERN IN ERROR AND CONSEQUENTLY THAT SAID FIFTH AND SIXTH SELECTING MEANS INDICATE A FAILURE TO SELECT A CORRECT ANTECEDENT PATTRERN, MEANS FOR DEVELOPING CODED ELECTRICAL NOTATIONS OF ALL OF THE POSSIBLE ANTECEDENT PATTERNS WHICH, ACCORDING TO PREREGISTERED DATA, MOST PROBABLY GIVE RISE TO A BLANK, MEANS FOR FORMING A PLURALITY OF TRIGRAMS EACH OF WHICH INCLUDES ONE OF SAID ANTECEDENT PATTERNS INDICATED MOST LIKELY TO GIVE RISE TO BLANK, MEANS FOR OBTAINING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PROBABILITY OF THE NATURAL LIKELIHOOD OF EACH OF SAID LASTMEMTIONED ANTECEDENT PATTERNS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO A BLANK BY SAID SOURCE OF ELECTRICAL NOTATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL PATTERNS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS STATISTICAL RECORD OF PERFORMANCE, MEANS FOR FORMING THE JOINT PROBABILITIES OF SAID TRIGRAM PROBABILITIES WITH SAID PROBABILITIES OF A GIVEN ANTECEDENT PATTERN BEING TRANSFORMED INTO A BLANK, AND SEVENTH MEANS FOR SELECTING AS THE CORRECT ANTECEDENT PAT TERN THAT ONE INCLUDED IN SAID LAST-MENTIONED PLURALITY OF TRIGRAMS THAT HAS THE HIGHEST JOINT PROBABILITY.