Character separating reading machine

Claim 1

IN AN OPTICAL READING MACHINE FOR CHARACTERS ON A CONTRASTING BACKGROUND, A SCANNER INCLUDING A SET OF PHOTOCELLS TO SCAN A CHARACTER AND ITS BACKGROUND AND PROVIDE INFORMATION OUTPUTS CORRESPONDING TO THE CHARACTER AND ITS BACKGROUND, A PROCESSOR NETWORK RESPONSIVE TO SAID OUTPUTS TO PROVIDE A SET OF CORRELATION SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO THE DEGREE OF MATCH BETWEEN THE CHARACTER BEING SCANNED AND PRESET CHARACTER CRITERIA, AND A TRIGGERSIGNAL ACTUATED DECISION MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTER ON THE BASIS OF SAID CORRELATION SIGNALS; THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING MEANS TO EXAMINE SETS OF SAID CORRELATION SIGNALS AND TO PROVIDE A CONTROL SIGNAL IN RESPONSE TO THE ATTAINMENT OF A PREDETERMINED VALUE BY ANY CORRELATION SIGNAL IN A SET, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID CONTROL SIGNAL TO INITIATE A ROUTINE OF STORING THE OPTIMUM CORRELATION SIGNALS OF SUCCESSIVE SETS OF CORRELATION SIGNALS AND THEREAFTER TO PROVIDE A FIRST TRIGGER SIGNAL FOR SAID DECISION MEANS, DETECTING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID INFORMATION OUTPUTS FOR PROVIDING A SECOND TRIGGER SIGNAL IN RESPONSE TO DETECTION OF INFORMATION OUTPUTS CORRESPONDING TO A CLEAR BACKGROUND SPACE ALONGSIDE OF THE CHARACTER, MEANS FOR GATING SAID FIRST AND SAID SECOND TRIGGER SIGNALS TO SELECT ONE OF SAID FIRST OR SECOND TRIGGER SIGNALS FOR TRIGGERING SAID DECISION MEANS, AND MEANS FOR CONDUCTING SAID SELECTED TRIGGER SIGNAL TO SAID DECISION MEANS.