Data processing apparatus for retrieving information-bearing media

Claim 1

A DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM COMPRISING: (A) A PLURALITY OF DATA BEARING MEDIA EACH HAVING A BLOCK OF N BITS OF IDENTIFICATION DATA WHEREIN EACH BIT HAS AT LEAST TWO POSSIBLE VALUES AND WHERE N IS A PREDETERMINED INTEGER; (B) A SOURCE OF ADDRESS DATA FOR PRODUCING A BLOCK OF N BITS OF ADDRESS DATA; (C) READING MEANS FOR READING SAID BLOCK OF N BITS OF IDENTIFICATION DATA OFF OF SAID DATA BEARING MEDIA; (D) COUNTING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID READING MEANS FOR PRODUCING A FULL COUNT INDICATION IF A PARTICULAR BLOCK OF IDENTIFICATION DATA READ BY SAID READING MEANS CONTAINS N BITS OF ADEQUATELY MANIFESTED IDENTIFICATION DATA; (E) A COMPARATOR FOR COMPARING A PARTICULAR BLOCK OF ADDRESS DATA PRODUCED BY SAID ADDRESS DATA SOURCE WITH A PARTICULAR BLOCK OF IDENTIFICATION DATA PRODUCED BY SAID READING MEANS AND FOR PRODUCING A MATCH INDICATION IF EQUALITY EXISTS BETWEEN SAID PARTICULAR BLOCK OF ADDRESS DATA AND SAID PARTICULAR BLOCK OF IDENTIFICATION DATA; (F) CONTROL MEANS COUPLED TO SAID COUNTING MEANS AND SAID COMPARATOR INCLUDING SELECTION INDICATING MEANS FOR PRODUCING A SELECTION COMMAND OUTPUT SIGNAL IF SAID COUNTING MEANS PRODUCES SAID FULL COUNT INDICATION AND SAID COMPARATOR PRODUCES SAID MATCH INDICATION, TOGETHER WITH REJECTION INDICATING MEANS FOR PRODUCING A MEDIA REJECTION CONTROL SIGNAL IF SAID COUNTING MEANS DOES NOT PRODUCE SAID FULL COUNT INDICATION.