Automatic searching film reader

Claim 1

AN AUTOMATIC SEARCHING FILM READER FOR USE WITH A FILM BEARING DOCUMENT IMAGES, DISTINCTIVE OPTICAL CODING BETWEEN ADJACENT SERIES OF IMAGES AND A POSITION MARK ASSOCIATED WITH EACH IMAGE, THE READER COMPRISING: MEANS FOR DRIVING A FILM AT A RELATIVELY HIGH VELOCITY DURING A SEARCHING OPERATION; MEANS FOR ILLUMINATING THE CODING AND POSITION MARKS ON THE DRIVEN FILM; FIRST PHOTOCELL MEANS RECEPTIVE OF LIGHT FLUX FROM THE ILLUMINATED CODING FOR GENERATING SIGNALS IN RESPONSE THERETO; COMPARISON CIRCUITRY RECEPTIVE OF THE SIGNALS FROM SAID FIRST PHOTOCELL MEANS; MEANS FOR ENCODING SAID COMPARISON CIRCUITRY TO BE SELECTIVELY RESPONSIVE TO THE SIGNALS GENERATED IN RESPONSE TO A PRESELECTED CODING ON THE FILM AND TO DEVELOP A HIT SIGNAL WHEN SUCH PRESELETED CODING IS DETECTED; CONTROL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A HIT SIGNAL FOR DE-ENERGIZING SAID DRIVING MEANS; OTHER PHOTOCELL MEANS RECEPTIVE OF LIGHT FLUX FROM THE ILLUMINATED POSITION MARKS FOR DETECTING THE POSITION MARKS AS THE FILM OVERRUNS THE POSITION OF THE HIT SIGNAL; MEANS FOR COUNTING THE POSITION MARKS DETECTED; AND MEANS FOR DRIVING THE FILM AT A RELATIVELY LOW VELOCITY IN A REVERSE DIRECTION UNTIL THE POSITION MARKS ARE RECOUNTED.