Analog segmentation apparatus

Claim 1

ANALOG SEGMENTATION APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING TOUCHING CHARACTERS TO FACILITATE THE RECOGNITION OF CHARACTERS IN A CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM COMPRISING: SCANNING MEANS FOR SCANNING A LINE OF CHARACTERS WITH MULTIPLE SCANS TRANSVERSE A LINE OF CHARACTERS AND FOR GENERATING AN ANALOG SIGNAL FOR EACH SCAN, THE ANALOG SIGNAL HAVING A DIFFERENT AMPLITUDE WHEN THE SCANNING MEANS IS CROSSING A PORTION OF THE CHARACTER THAN WHEN CROSSING BACKGROUND; INTEGRATING MEANS FOR INTEGRATING SEPARATELY ANALOG SIGNALS FROM SEPARATE SCANS AND FOR STORING THE INTEGRATED VALUES OF THE SCANS UNTIL RESET TO RECEIVE ANALOG SIGNALS FROM ADDITIONAL SCANS; COMPARING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID INTEGRATING MEANS FOR COMPARING THE INTEGRATED VALUES FROM SUCCESSIVE SCANS AND FOR GENERATING COMPARISON SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF WHETHER THE INTEGRATED VALUES ARE INCREASING OR DECREASING; DETECTING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID COMPARISTON MEANS FOR DETECTING FROM THE COMPARISON SIGNALS A PATTERN OF DECREASING INTEGRATED VALUES FOLLOWED BY INCREASING INTEGRATED VALUES AND FOR THEREUPON GENERATING A SEGMENTATION SIGNAL.