Character recognition apparatus employing a curve follower

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING AN IMPRINTED LEXICAL SYMBOL COMPRISING: (A) CURVE FOLLOWER MEANS FOR TRACING THE OUTLINE OF SAID SYMBOL AND PRODUCING TIME VARIANT WAVEFORMS REPRESENTING THE SUCCESSIVE DISPLACEMENTS OF THE FOLLOWER MEANS IN TRACING THE SYMBOL; (B) MEANS FOR PROCESSING SAID WAVEFORMS AND PRODUCING FIRST DIGITAL SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF THE SUCCESSIVE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF SAID FOLLOWER MEANS IN TRACING THE SYMBOL; (C) MEANS FOR PROCESSING SAID WAVEFORMS AND PRODUCING SECOND DIGITAL SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF THE SUCCESSIVE COLUMN AND ROW DISPLACEMENT POSITIONS OF SAID FOLLOWER MEANS RELATIVE TO A SYNTHETIC MATRIX HAVING A FIRST GIVEN INTEGRAL NUMBER OF COLUMNS AND A SECOND GIVEN INTEGRAL NUMBER OF ROWS, WHEREIN THE HEIGHT AND WIDTH OF THE MATRIX IS EQUAL TO THE HEIGHT AND WIDTH OF THE TRACE OF SAID FOLLOWER MEANS; (D) FEATURE TEST CIRCUITS INCLUDING MEANS FOR TESTING FOR THE PRESENCE OND ABSENCE OF GIVEN COMBINATIONS OF SAID FIRST DIGITAL SIGNALS AND SAID SECOND DIGITAL SIGNALS IN GIVEN PERMUTATIONAL ORDERS, FOR PREDETERMINED TIME DURATIONS, AND PRODUCING FEATURE TEST SUCCESSIVE SIGNALS; (E) AND MEANS FOR LOGICALLY COMBINING SAID FEATURE TEST SUCCESS SIGNALS IN GIVEN COMBINATIONS THEREOF TO PROVIDE A RECOGNITION SIGNAL INDICATIVE OF THE IDENTITY OF THE SYMBOL.