Serial delay line buffer-translator

Claim 1

A BUFFER-TRANSLATOR FOR CONVERTING SEVERAL DIFFERENT CODES ON A PLURALITY OF INCOMING LINES TO A SINGLE MACHINE LANGUAGE CODE, THE SEVERAL CODES HAVING A PLURALITY OF BIT RATES AND EACH HAVING A PLURALITY OF CHARACTERS, SAID BUFFER-TRANSLATOR COMPRISING A DATA RECIRCULATION LOOP INCLUDING A SERIAL MEMORY DEVICE WHICH REGENERATES WITHIN THE BIT RATE OF ANY OF THE LINES, MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INCOMING LINES AND SAID LOOP FOR READING LINE ADDRESS INFORMATION AND CODE INFORMATION INTO THE LOOP IN SUCCEEDING SECTIONS FOR CONSTANT REGENERATION, SAID CODE INFORMATION COMPRISING ALL OF THE CHARACTERS IN EACH OF THE CODES INCLUDING, AT THE END, THE MACHINE LANGUAGE CODE, THE COUNT OF LIKE CHARACTERS IN THE SEVERAL CODES BEING THE SAME. MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INCOMING LINES AND SAID LOOP FOR READING UNKNOWN CHARACTERS FROM SAID INCOMING LINES INTO THE RECIRCULATION LOOP BEHIND THEIR RESPECTIVE LINE ADDRESSES, FIRST STORAGE MEANS CONNECTED IN SAID RECIRCULATION LOOP AND SECOND STORAGE MEANS EXTERNAL OF SAID LOOP AND CONNECTED TO SAID LOOP, A COMPLETED UNKNOWN CHARACTER BEING TRANSFERRED FROM SAID FIRST INTO SAID SECOND STORAGE MEANS, COMPARING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST STORAGE MEANS AND TO SAID SECOND STORAGE MEANS FOR COMPARING THE UNKNOWN CHARACTER IN SAID SECOND STORAGE MEANS WITH EACH OF THE CODE CHARACTERS CIRCULATING IN SAID LOOP UPON PASSAGE THEREOF THROUGH SAID FIRST STORAGE MEANS, AND MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID COMPARING MEANS FOR COUNTING THE CODE CHARACTERS OF THE VARIOUS CODES WHILE COMPARING AND FOR STORING THE COUNT AT COMPARE, THE MACHINE LANGUAGE CODE CHARACTER CORRESPONDING TO THE UNKNOWN CHARACTER BEING TRANSFERRED FROM SAID FIRST STORAGE MEANS WHEN THERE IS A COUNT CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE STORED COUNT AS THE MACHINE LANGUAGE CHARACTERS ARE CIRCULATED THROUGH THE FIRST STORAGE MEANS.