Data programmer having an interleaved coding arrangement

Claim 1

TRANSMITTER MEANS FOR USE IN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM EMPLOYING DISCRETE TONES TO REPRESENT TRANSMITTED CHARACTERS COMPRISING FIRST MEANS FOR GENERATING TONE SIGNALS; SAID FIRST MEANS COMPRISING SECOND MEANS FOR ALTERING THE FREQUENCY OF SAID TONE SIGNALS; THIRD MEANS FOR RECEIVING DATA IN THE FORM OF CHARACTERS TO BE TRANSMITTED FOR CONTROLLING SAID SECOND MEANS TO CAUSE SAID FIRST MEANS TO GENERATE TONES OF DISCRETE FREQUENCIES; SAID THIRD MEANS INCLUDING PROGRAMMING MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID SECOND MEANS THROUGH A PREDETERMINED SEQUENCE RESPONSIVE TO EACH CHARACTER RECEIVED BY SAID PROGRAMMING MEANS; SAID PROGRAMMING MEANS COMPRISING INPUT MEANS FOR SEQUENTIALLY RECEIVING A PLURALITY OF BINARY CODED SIGNALS ARRANGED IN GROUPS, EACH GROUP REPRESENTING A CHARACTER TO BE TRANSMITTED WHEREIN THE BINARY SIGNALS OF EACH GROUP ARE IMPOSED IN PARALLEL FASHION UPON SAID INPUT MEANS; SAID PROGRAMMING MEANS FURTHER COMPRISING SEQUENCING MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY TRANSFERRING SOME OF THE SIGNALS OF ONE GROUP TO SAID SECOND MEANS AT A FIRST INSTANT OF TIME; AND FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY TRANSFERRING THE REMAINDER OF THE SIGNALS OF SAID ONE GROUP TO SAID SECOND MEANS AT A SECOND INSTANT OF TIME OCCURRING AFTER SAID FIRST INSTANT OF TIME THEREBY GENERATING AT LEAST TWO OUTPUT SIGNALS REPRESENTING A CHARACTER, SAID OUTPUT SIGNALS BEING FEWER IN NUMBER THAN THE NUMBER OF BINARY SIGNALS IN EACH OF THE GROUPS.