Data processing system

Claim 1

IN A DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEM OF THE TYPE HAVING A COMPUTER WITH A MEMORY SECTION INCLUDING STORAGE LOCATION SELECTION MEANS AND A PLURALITY OF ADDRESSABLE STORAGE LOCATIONS FOR STORING DATA WORDS, DATA CONTROL WORDS AND BINARY CODED PROGRAMS OF INSTRUCTION WORDS, AND A PLURALITY OF DATA HANDLING DEVICES CONNECTED TO SAID MEMORY SECTION BY DATA LINES TO SUPPLY DATA CONTROL WORD IDENTIFIERS TO SAID STORAGE LOCATION SELECTION MEANS AND DATA WORDS TO SAID STORAGE LOCATIONS IN RESPONSE TO A SERIES OF REQUEST CONTROL SIGNALS SENT FROM SAID DATA HANDLING DEVICES TO SAID COMPUTER FOR INDICATING THAT SAID DATA HANDLING DEVICES HAVE DATA WORDS ON SAID DATA LINES FOR SAID COMPUTER AND ACKNOWLEDGE CONTROLS SIGNALS SENT FROM SAID COMPUTER TO SAID DATA HANDLING DEVICES FOR INDICATING THAT A DATA WORD HAS BEEN STORED IN SAID MEMORY SECTION SUCH THAT A NEW DATA WORD CAN BE APPLIED TO SAID PLURALITY OF DATA LINES, WHEREIN A PLURALITY OF ADDRESSABLE DATA CONTROL WORDS STORED IN SAID MEMORY SELECTABLE BY SAID DATA CONTROL WORD IDENTIFIERS UNIQUE TO EACH OF SAID DATA HANDLING DEVICES SENT FROM SAID DATA HANDLING DEVICES TO SAID STORAGE LOCATION SELECTION MEANS, SPECIFY THE STARTING AND FINAL ADDRESSES IN SAID MEMORY WHERE DATA WORKS FROM SAID DATA HANDLING DEVICES ARE TO BE STORED, AND WHEREIN MEANS ARE PROVIDED FOR INCREMENTING SAID STARTING ADDRESSES UPON THE TRANSFER OF EACH DATA WORD FROM A DATA HANDLING DEVICE TO THE COMPUTER, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING: MEANS FOR SENSING EQUALITY BETWEEN SAID INCREMENTED STARTING ADDRESS AND SAID FINAL ADDRESS; FIRST MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE OUTPUT FROM SAID SENSING MEANS FOR INTERRUPTING THE NORMAL PROGRAM SEQUENCE AND INITIATING A NEW PROGRAM SEQUENCE WHEREIN A NEW DATA CONTROL WORD IS STORED AT THE ADDRESSABLE STORAGE LOCATION SPECIFIED BY THE ADDRESS REPRESENTING SIGNALS UNIQUE TO THE DATA HANDLING DEVICE WHOSE INCREMENTED STARTING ADDRESS EQUALED THE FINAL ADDRESS; AND SECOND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE OUTPUT FROM SAID SENSING MEANS FOR INHIBITING THE TRANSMISSION OF THE ACKNOWLEDGE CONTROL SIGNAL TO THE DATA HANDLING DEVICE WHOSE INCREMENTED STARTING ADDRESS EQUALED THE FINAL ADDRESS UNTIL SAID NEW DATA CONTROL WORD IS STORED.