Ascertaining the position of written symbols which are to be automatically identified

Claim 1

AN ARRANGEMENT FOR ASCERTAINING THE REARWARD LIMITS OF WRITTEN SYMBOLS SCANNED IN A COLUMNAR MANNER FOR THE AUTOMATIC PROCESSING THEREOF, COMPRISING SCANNING MEANS FOR THE COLUMN-BY-COLUMN SCANNING OF A PREDETERMINED SCANNING RANGE OPERATIVE TO GENERATE SCANNING SIGNAL ELEMENTS, WHICH INDICATE IN EACH CASE THE SCANNING OF A SURFACE ELEMENT COVERED OR NOT COVERED BY A SYMBOL PORTION, MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SCANNING MEANS FOR THE FORMATION OF PROJECTION SIGNAL ELEMENTS REPRESENTING PROJECTION, TRANSVERSELY TO THE SCANNING DIRECTION, OF THE ALREADY SCANNED PORTION OF THE SCANNING RANGE, COMPARISON MEANS CONNECTED WITH SAID SECOND-MENTIONED MEANS FOR EFFECTING A COMPARISON OF THE PROJECTION SIGNAL ELEMENTS WITH THE SCANNING SIGNAL ELEMENTS CORRESPONDING TO THOSE OF THE SCANNING COLUMN JUST SCANNED, IN WHICH THE SIGNAL ELEMENTS COMPARED WITH ONE ANOTHER POSITIONALLY CORRESPOND IN COLUMN DIRECTION, AND FURTHER COMPARISON MEANS CONNECTED WITH SAID FIRST COMPARISON MEANS, FOR COMPARING SUCCESSIVE PAIRS OF SUCH PROJECTION AND SCANNING SIGNAL ELEMENTS CORRESPONDING TO ONE ANOTHER, TO ASCERTAIN, IN THE SUCCESSION OF PAIRS OF SIGNAL ELEMENTS CONSISTING OF PROJECTION SIGNAL ELEMENTS AND SCANNING SIGNAL ELEMENTS CORRESPONDING TO ONE ANOTHER THE OCCURRENCE OF A NUMBER OF SIGNAL ELEMENT PAIRS "10" WHICH CONSIST IN EACH CASE OF A PROJECTION SIGNAL ELEMENT "1" CORRESPONDING TO A SURFACE ELEMENT COVERED BY SYMBOL PORTIONS, AND A SCANNING SIGNAL ELEMENT "0" CORRESPONDING TO A SURFACE ELEMENT NOT COVERED BY A SYMBOL PORTION AND WHICH LIE DIRECTLY BETWEEN TWO SIGNAL ELEMENT PAIRS "00" WHICH CONSIST IN EACH CASE OF TWO SIGNAL ELEMENTS "0" CORRESPONDING TO SURFACE ELEMENTS NOT COVERED BY SYMBOL PORTIONS, WHEREBY THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE REARWARD LIMITS OF A SYMBOL JUST SCANNED IS ESTABLISHED.