Document reading system

Claim 1

IN A CHARACTER READING SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING A HUMAN LANGUAGE CHARACTER MADE UP OF PARALLEL FINE LINES OF VISUALLY DISTINGUISHABLE AND MECHANICALLY SENSIBLE MATERIAL RECORDED ON A CARRIER SURFACE ONE IN EACH OF A PLURALITY OF CLOSELY SPACED PARALLEL LINE POSITIONS WHICH ARE TRANSVERSE TO A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL SCANNING ZONES, WITH SAID LINES BEING INTERRUPTED OR TERMINATED IN A MANNER TO PROVIDE A VISUAL GROSS OUTLINE OF SAID CHARACTER A PORTION OF WHICH EXTENDS THE ENTIRE CHARACTER WIDTH IN AT LEAST ONE OF SAID SCANNING ZONES, AND WHERE ONE OR MORE LINES ARE SLECTIVELY OMITTED FROM A PREDETERMINED GROUP OF SAID SPACED LINE POSITIONS IN ORDER TO INCORPORATE DIGITAL ENCODING OF SAID CHARACTER WITHIN ITS MINUTE STRUCTURE AND WHERE SAID PREDETERMINED GROUP IS INTERMEDIATE A GROUP OF MAKE-READY LINE POSITIONS OF A FIRST PREDETERMINED NUMBER MORE THAN ONE AND A GROUP A TERMINATE LINE POSITIONS OF A SECOND PREDETERMINED NUMBER MORE THAN ONE, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING: (A) A PLURALITY OF TRANSDUCER MEANS EACH INDIVIDUAL TO A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID RECORDED CHARACTER ZONES FOR SCANNING THE PORTION OF SAID CHARACTER THEREIN IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO ITS PARALLEL LINE STRUCTURE FOR GENERATING A TRAIN OF ELECTRICAL PULSES ONE FOR EACH LINE POSITION HAVING MATERIAL THEREIN SUCH THAT THE FIRST APPEARING PULSES IN SAID TRAIN ARE THOSE GENERATED BY THE LINES IN SAID MAKEREADY GROUP AND THE LAST APPEARING PULSES IN SAID TRAIN ARE THOSE GENERATED BY THE LINES IN SAID TERMINATE GROUP; (B) A PLURALITY OF FIRST MEANS EACH RESPONSIVE TO A SAID PULSE TRAIN FROM A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID TRANSDUCER MEANS FOR COUNTING SAID FIRST APPEARING PULSES THEREIN TO INDICATE WHEN SAID FIRST PREDETERMINED NUMBER HAS BEEN GENERATED; (C) A PLURALITY OF REGISTERS ONE FOR EACH SAID TRANSDUCER MEANS; (D) A PLURALITY OF GATING MEANS EACH RESPONSIVE TO SAID INDICATION FROM A DIFFERENT SAID FIRST MEANS FOR FILLING THE ASSOCIATED SAID PULSE TRAIN NEXT FOLLOWING SAID FIRST ASSOCIATED SAID PULSE TRAIN TEXT FOLLOWING SAID FIRST APPEARING PULSES; (E) A PLURALITY OF SECOND MEANS EACH INDICATING WHEN ALL OF SAID PREDETERMINED CODE GROUP LINE POSITIONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SCANNED BY A DIFFERENT SAID TRANSDUCER MEANS; (F) A PLURALITY OF THIRD MEANS EACH RESPONSIVE TO A DIFFERENT SAID SECOND MEANS INDICATION FOR COUNTING SAID LAST APPEARING PULSES IN THE SAID ASSOCIATED PULSE TRAIN TO INDICATE WHEN SAID SECOND PREDETERMINED NUMBER HAS BEEN GENERATED; (G) A PLURALITY OF FOURTH MEANS EACH RESPONSIVE TO INDICATIONS BY AT LEAST BOTH SAID FIRST AND SAID THIRD MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH A DIFFERENT TRANSDUCER MEANS TO SIGNIFY WHEN SAID ASSOCIATED REGISTER IS PROPERLY FILLED WITH A VALID CODE GROUP IDENTIFYING THE SCANNED RECORDED CHARACTER; AND (H) FIFTH MEANS SIMULTANEOUSLY READING OUT FROM EACH REGISTER WHOSE ASSOCIATED FOURTH MEANS SIGNIFIES THAT SAID REGISTER IS FILLED WITH A SAID VALID CODE GROUP.