Synchronized and coded character recognition system

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR REPRODUCING RECORDED INFORMATION COMPRISING AN INFORMATION RECORD CAPABLE OF BEING VISUALLY IDENTIFIED AND MACHINE READ CONSISTING OF A SUPPORT HAVING THEREON A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL SPACED INFORMATION UNITS OF EQUAL WIDTH DISPOSED IN A SUBSTANTIALLY LINEAR ARRAY, EACH OF SAID INFORMATION UNITS COMPRISING FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS, EACH OF SAID PORTIONS COMPRISING A CHOSEN NUMBER OF EQUAL LONGITUDINAL ZONES, CORRESPONDING ZONES IN SAID FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS BEING IN REGISTRATION, ONE OR MORE OF THE ZONES IN THE FIRST PORTION HAVING THEREIN A DISCRETE MAGNETIC MARK WHEREBY THE COMBINATION OF MARKS IN SAID FIRST PORTION DEFINES THE CODE REPRESENTATION FOR A GIVEN CHARACTER, SAID SECOND PORTION HAVING THEREIN A PLURALITY OF DISCRETE MAGNETIC MARKS, SAID SECOND PORTION DEFINING THE VISUALLY INDENTIFIABLE OUTLINE OF SAID GIVEN CHARACTER, EACH OF THE ZONES OF SAID SECOND PORTION HAVING AT LEAST ONE DISCRETE MAGNETIC MARK THEREIN WHEREBY THE SENSING OF THE FIRST PORTION BY A MAGNETIC SENSING DEVICE PROVIDES A UNIQUE FIRST ELECTRIC SIGNAL FOR EACH CHARACTER AND WHEREBY THE SENSING OF THE SECOND PORTION BY SAID DEVICE PROVIDES A SECOND ELECTRIC SIGNAL FOR TIMING SAID FIRST ELECTRIC SIGNAL, A FIRST MAGNETIC SENSING DEVICE ADAPTED TO SEQUENTIALLY READ THE FIRST PORTION OF EACH OF SAID INFORMATION UNITS, A SECOND MAGNETIC SENSING DEVICE ADAPTED TO SEQUENTIALLY READ THE SECOND PORTION OF EACH OF SAID INFORMATION UNITS IN SYNCHRONIZATION WITH THE READING OF THE FIRST PORTION OF SAID INFORMATION UNITS, WHEREBY ZONES IN SAID SECOND PORTION IN REGISTRATION WITH THE ZONES IN THE CODE TRACK ARE READ SIMULTANEOUSLY THEREWITH, AND COINCIDENCE DETECTION MEANS HAVING A FIRST AND A SECOND INPUT TERMINAL, FIRST MEANS COUPLING SAID FIRST SENSING DEVICE TO SAID FIRST TERMINAL, AND SECOND MEANS COUPLING SAID SECOND SENSING DEVICE TO SAID SECOND INPUT TERMINAL, SAID MEANS COUPLING SAID FIRST MAGNETIC SENSING DEVICE TO THE FIRST INPUT TERMINAL OF SAID COINCIDENCE DETECTION MEANS COMPRISES FIRST AMPLIFYING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST SENSING DEVICE FOR AMPLIFYING THE OUTPUT THEREFROM, A FIRST AMPLITUDE DISCRIMINATOR CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST AMPLIFYING MEANS FOR PERMITTING THE PASSAGE OF ONLY THAT POSITIVE PORTION OF SAID AMPLIFIED SIGNALS WITHIN SELECTED AMPLITUDE LIMITS, FIRST DIFFERENTIATING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID DISCRIMINATOR FOR DIFFERENTIATING THE OUTPUT OF SAID FIRST AMPLITUDE DISCRIMINATOR, FIRST PULSE CLIPPING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST DIFFERENTIATING MEANS FOR PASSING ONLY POSITIVE GOING DIFFERENTIATED SIGNALS, MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID PULSE CLIPPING MEANS FOR INVERTING THE OUTPUTS THEREFROM AND PULSE FORMING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INVERTING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO AN OUTPUT PULSE FROM SAID INVERTING MEANS TO GENERATE A PULSE HAVING A DURATION EQUAL TO THE PERIOD OF THE OUTPUT OF SAID SECOND MAGNETIC SENSING DEVICE AND WHEREIN SAID MEANS COUPLING SAID SECOND SENSING DEVICE TO THE SECOND INPUT TERMINAL OF SAID COINCIDENCE DETECTION MEANS COMPRISES SECOND AMPLIFYING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND READING MEANS FOR AMPLIFYING THE OUTPUT THEREFROM, A SECOND AMPLITUDE DISCRIMINATOR CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND AMPLIFYING MEANS FOR PERMITTING THE PASSAGE OF ONLY THAT POSITIVE PORTION OF SAID AMPLIFIED SIGNALS WITHIN SELECTED AMPLITUDE LIMITS, SECOND DIFFERENTIATING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND DISCRIMINATOR FOR DIFFERENTIATING THE OUTPUT OF SAID SECOND AMPLITUDE DISCRIMINATOR, SECOND PULSE CLIPPING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND DIFFERENTIATING MEANS, FOR PASSING ONLY POSITIVE GOING DIFFERENTIATED SIGNALS, MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND PULSE CLIPPING MEANS FOR INVERTING THE OUTPUTS THEREFROM, AND A DELAY CIRCUIT COUPLING THE OUTPUT OF SAID SECOND PULSE CLIPPING MEANS TO SAID SECOND INPUT TERMINAL OF SAID COINCIDENCE DETECTION MEANS, SAID DELAY CIRCUIT HAVING A DELAY SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO ONE HALF THE PERIOD OF THE OUTPUT FROM SAID SECOND MAGNETIC SENSING DEVICE WHEREBY SAID PEAKED INPUT TO SAID SECOND INPUT TERMINAL OF SAID COINCIDENCE DETECTION MEANS GATE IS APPLIED SUBSTANTIALLY AT THE MIDDLE OF THE SIGNAL APPLIED TO SAID FIRST INPUT TERMINAL THEREOF SAID FIRST SENSING DEVICE APPLYING A SIGNAL TO SAID FIRST INPUT TERMINAL UPON READING REACH OF SAID MARKS IN THE ZONES OF THE FIRST PORTIONS OF SAID INFORMATION UNITS AND SAID SECOND SENSING DEVICE APPLYING A SIGNAL TO SAID SECOND INPUT TERMINAL UPON READING EACH OF SAID MARKS IN THE ZONES OF THE SECOND PORTIONS OF SAID INFORMATION UNITS, SAID COINCIDENCE MEANS PRODUCING AN OUTPUT ONLY UPON THE COINCIDENCE APPLICATION OF SIGNALS AT SAID FIRST AND SECOND INPUT TERMINALS.