Photosensitive information retrieval device

Claim 1

IN COMBINATION, A MEMORY COMPRISING A LENGTH OF FILM FOR STORING ITEMS OF INFORMATION, EACH ITEM OCCUPYING A DIFFERENT AREA OF THE FILM AND EACH ITEM REPRESENTED ON THE FILM AS A PLURALITY OF TRANSPARENT AREAS IN AN OPAQUE BACKGROUND; A RECORD COMPRISING A RELATIVELY SMALL LENGTH OF FILM FOR STORING ONE ITEM OF INFORMATION ALSO IN THE FORM OF A PLURALITY OF TRANSPARENT AREAS IN AN OPAQUE BACKGROUND; MEANS FOR COMPARING THE ITEM ON THE RECORD WITH THE ITEMS STORED IN THE MEMORY COMPRISING MEANS FOR SUPERIMPOSING THE FILM OF THE MEMORY ON THE FILM MAKING UP THE RECORD AND DRIVING THE FILM OF THE MEMORY SO THAT THE DIFFERENT AREAS O FILM OF THE MEMORY SUCCESSIVE PASS OVER THE FILM OF THE RECORD; MEANS FOR DERIVING FROM EACH COMPARISON SOLELY WHEN THE EXTENT OF THE MATCH BETWEEN THE ITEMS COMPARED EXCEEDS A GIVEN VALUE, AN OUTPUT CURRENT THE AMPLITUDE OF WHICH REPRESENTS THE EXTENT OF THE MATCH, SAID MEANS INCLUDING MEANS FOR PROJECTING LIGHT THROUGH THE SUPERIMPOSED FILMS EACH TIME THE FILMS ARE ALIGNED, A PHOTOCELL ARRANGED TO RECEIVE THE LIGHT, AND A THRESHOLD DEVICE COUPLED TO THE PHOTOCELL FOR PRODUCING AN OUTPUT ONLY WHEN THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT PASSING THROUGH THE FILM AND RECEIVED BY THE PHOTOCELL EXCEEDS A GIVEN VALUE; AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID OUTPUT CURRENT FOR PRODUCING A RECORD OF ALL ITEMS OF INFORMATION IN THE MEMORY WHICH MATCH THE ITEM ON THE RECORD TO GREATER THAN A GIVEN PERCENTAGE, AND THEIR PERCENTAGES MATCH TO THE ITEMS IN THE MEMORY, RESPECTIVELY.