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Claim 1

IN A SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING MESSAGES WHEREIN EACH MESSAGE INCLUDES FIRST AND LAST PORTIONS AND EACH PORTION IS COMPRISIED OF A PLURALITY OF ORDERED CHARACTERS INCLUDING FIRST AND LAST CHARACTERS, A DISPLAY DEVICE INCLUDING A CATHODE RAY TUBE; MEANS FOR GENERATING A BEAM IN SAID DISPLAY CATHODE RAY TUBE; MEANS FOR INITIALLY GENERATING A VIDEO SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID FIRST CHARACTER IN SAID FIRST PORTION AND FOR SUCCESSIVELY GENERATING VIDEO SIGNALS REPRESENTATIVE OF SUBSEQUENT CHARACTERS IN SAID FIRST PORTION; MEANS EFFECTIVE CONCURRENT WITH SAID GENERATION OF SAID VIDEO SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID FIRST CHARACTER IN SAID FIRST PORTION FOR DEFLECTING SAID DISPLAY TUBE BEAM TO A FIRST POSITION AND EFFECTIVE CONCURRENT WITH THE GENERATION OF EACH SUCCESSIVE VIDEO SIGNAL FOR INCREMENTALLY DEFLECTING SAID DISPLAY TUBE BEAM IN A FORWARD DIRECTION TOWARD A SECOND POSITION; MEANS FOR SECONDLY GENERATING A VIDEO SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID LAST CHARACTER IN SAID LAST PORTION AND FOR SUCFESSIVELY GENERATING VIDEO SIGNALS REPRESENTATIVE OF PRIOR CHARACTERS IN SAID LAST PORTION; MEANS EFFECTIVE CONCURRENT WITH SAID GENERATION OF SAID VIDEO SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID LAST CHARACTER IN SAID LAST PORTION FOR DEFLECTING SAID DISPLAY TUBE BEAM TO SAID SECOND POSITION OF EFFECTIVE CONCURRENT WITH THE GENERATION OF EACH SUCCESSIVE VIDEO SIGNAL FOR INCREMENTALLY DEFLECTING SAID DISPLAY TUBE BEAM IN A REVERSE DIRECTION TOWARD SAID FIRST POSITION; A MEMORY STORING INFORMATION DEFINING THE SPACE IN WHICH EACH CHARACTER IN SAID MESSAGE IS DISPLAYED; MEANS FOR SUMMING THE SPACE ATTRIBUTABLE TO EACH CHARACTER IN SAID MESSAGE FOR DEVELOPING A TOTAL CHARACTER SPACE; MEANS FOR DETERMINING THE SPACE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAID TOTOL CHARACTER SPACE AND THE TOTAL SPACE PROVIDED FOR SAID MESSAGE; MEANS DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF SPACER CHARACTERS THAT CAN BE DISPLAYED IN SAID SPACE DIFFERENCE; MEANS FOR SUCCESSIVELY GENERATING VIDEO SIGNAL REPRESENTING SAID NUMBER OF SPACER CHARACTERS; AND MEANS EFFECTIVE CONCURRENT WITH SAID GENERATION OF SAID VIDEO SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SAID SPACER CHARACTERS FOR INCREMENTALLY MOVING SAID DISPLAY TUBE BEAM THROUGH SAID SPACE BETWEEN THE LEFTMOST CHARACTER IN SAID SECOND PORTION AND THE RIGHTMOST CHARACTER IN SAID FIRST PORTION.