Character reading system employing sequential sensing of matrix input

Claim 1

A SYSTEM FOR DERIVING SIGNALS SIGNIFICANT OF A CHARACTER PROJECTED AS AN IMAGE ONTO A PLURALITY OF PHOTOSENSITIVE DEVICES ARRANGED IN COLUMNS AND ROWS TO FORM A MATRIX OF DEVICES, SAID DEVICES BEING IN A FIRST STATE WHEN INTERCEPTING SAID IMAGE AND IN A SECOND STATE WHEN NOT INTERCEPTING SAID IMAGE, SAID SYSTEM COMPRISING A GATE ASSOCIATED WITH EACH OF SAID DEVICES, MEANS FOR CONDITION ING SAID GATE WHEN IT ASSOCIATED DEVICE IS IN SAID FIRST STATE AND FOR DECONDITIONING SAID GATE WHEN ITS ASSOCIATED DEVICE IS IN SAID SECOND STATE, MEANS SEQUENTIALLY SAMPLING THE CONDITION OF EACH OF SAID GATES IN A COLUMNBY-COLUMN FASHION TO THEREBY DETERMINED THE STATE OF SAID DEVICES, MEANS TO STORE AN INDICATION OF THE FIRST OF SAID DEVICES IN EACH OF SAID ROWS WHICH EXHIBITS AND FIRST STATE, MEANS TO COMPARE THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF SAID FIRST DEVICES IN ADJACENT ROWS THEREOF AND MEANS TO DERIVE SAID SIGNIFICANT SIGNALS AS A RESULT OF SAID COMPARISON.