Digital comparator

Claim 1

A DIGITAL COMPARATOR FOR COMPARING A BINARY CODED INPUT SIGNAL WITH A PAIR OF CODED REFERENCE LIMIT SIGNALS COMPRISING A FIRST LIMIT MEANS FOR PRESETTING THE VALUE OF EACH BINARY DIGIT OF ONE OF SAID LIMIT SIGNALS; A SECOND LIMIT MEANS FOR PRESETTING THE VALUE OF EACH BINARY DIGIT OF THE OTHER OF SAID LIMIT SIGNALS; GATING MEANS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF FIRST AND SECOND AND GATE PAIRS CORRESPONDING TO THE NUMBER OF BINARY DIGITS OF SAID INPUT AND SAID LIMIT SIGNALS, MEANS CONNECTING MEANS CORRESPONDING TO THE BINARY DIGITS OF SAID INPUT SIGNAL IN PARALLEL TO RESPECTIVE ONE OF SAID FIRST AND GATES, MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY CONNECTING SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO THE BINARY DIGITS OF SAID FIRST LIMIT MEANS OR SAID SECOND LIMIT MEANS IN PARALLEL THROUGH RESPECTIVE COMMON LINES TO RESPECTIVE ONES OF SAID SECOND AND GATES, FIRST CONDUCTOR MEANS CONNECTED TO EACH OF THE OUTPUTS OF SAID FIRST AND GATES, SECOND CONDUCTOR MEANS CONNECTED TO EACH OF THE OUTPUTS OF SAID SECOND AND GATE PAIRS AND SEQUENCER MEANS COUPLED TO SAID AND GATE PAIRS FOR SEQUENTIALLY ENABLING SAID AND GATE PAIRS SO THAT SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONDUCTORS SEQUENTIALLY PROVIDE SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO THE BINARY DIGITS OF SAID INPUT AND SELECTED REFERENCE LIMIT SIGNALS; COMPARISON MEANS COUPLED TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONDUCTOR MEANS FOR DETECTING A DISSIMILARITY BETWEEN CORRESPONDING DIGITS OF THE INPUT SIGNAL AND THE SELECTED LIMIT SIGNAL, SAID COMPARISON MEANS COMPRISING FIRST AND SECOND INHIBIT MEANS EACH HAVING A SIGNAL INPUT, A SIGNAL OUTPUT, AND A CONTROL INPUT FOR INHIBITING CONDITION BETWEEN SAID SIGNAL INPUT AND OUTPUT, MEANS CONNECTING THE SIGNAL INPUT OF SAID FIRST INHIBIT MEANS AND THE CONTROL INPUT OF SAID SECOND INHIBIT MEANS TO SAID FIRST CONDUCTOR MEANS, MEANS CONNECTING THE SIGNAL INPUT OF SAID SECOND INHIBIT MEANS AND THE CONTROL INPUT OF SAID FIRST INHIBIT MEANS TO SAID SECOND CONDUCTOR MEANS SO THAT NO OUTPUT SIGNAL IS PROVIDED BY EITHER OF SAID INHIBIT MEANS WHEN LIKE BINARY VALUES ARE GATED BY SAID GATING MEANS TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONDUCTOR MEANS, AN OUTPUT SIGNAL IS PROVIDED BY THE FIRST INHIBIT MEANS IF A FIRST VALUE BINARY DIGIT OF THE INPUT SIGNAL IS GATED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH A SECOND VALUE BINARY DIGIT OF THE SELECTED LIMIT SIGNAL, AND AN OUTPUT SIGNAL IS PROVIDED BY THE SECOND INHIBIT MEANS IF A SECOND VALUE BINARY DIGIT OF SAID INPUT SIGNAL IS GATED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH A FIRST VALUE BINARY DIGIT OF THE SELECTED LIMIT SIGNAL.