System for storing tone patterns for audible retrieval

Claim 1

Structure for storing and retrieving data comprising a predetermined data record containing a denumerable number of data channels, and means for reading by sampling in cycles of a time sequence each channel of such data, each channel being of substantially the same finite length, and so disposed that the same relatively positioned fractional element of each channel length is sampled in one complete cycle of such time sequence, said reading means shifting progressively the cycles of sampling over at least part of the entire length of the finite length channels, thereby manifesting at the output of said reading means a separable set of samples representing a continuous set covering the total of all data contained in the portion of the record sampled, said reading means performing within one time frame a complete set of cycles of sampling which covers the sampled length of a channel; and means for selecting from among the sampled set within one complete set of cycles those sample elements that represent continuously at least a portion of one of the channels of the data record, thereby allowing the reconstruction of the desired channel to occur.

Claim 3

A system for storage and retrieval of encoded data comprising a plurality of elongated two dimensional storage mediums, each having a principal longitudinal axis of finite length, said mediums being positioned in mutually juxtaposed relation with said longitudinal axes mutually parallel, each medium storing at least a single item of data; and playback multiplexer means scanning said plurality of mediums in a direction substantially perpendicular to that of said principal axes to provide a sampling of all of said mediums, interleaving said samples in time and placing them within one channel in such manner that they appear as a multiplex signal.

Claim 4

A system for storage and retrieval of encoded data comprising a plurality of elongated two dimensional storage mediums, each having a principal longitudinal axis of finite length, said mediums being positioned in mutually juxtaposed relation with said longitudinal axes mutually parallel, each medium storing at least a single item of data; and playback multiplexer means scanning said plurality of mediums in a direction substantially perpendicular to that of said principal axes to provide a sampling of all of said mediums, interleaving said samples in time and placing them within one channel in such manner that they appear as a multiplex signal.