Digital electronic approximative function tracing method and apparatus

Claim 3

A method as defined in claim 1 in which the pulses supplied to the respective coordinate pulse counters are subjected to a scaling operation so that only one out of every so many of them, in a predetermined proportion, advance the counter, in which further said auxiliary counter is reset when interrupted as aforesaid and the counting of stepping pulses as aforesaid is thereafter continued, and in which the auxiliary counter resetting pulses, after being correspoNdingly scaled are used to change the given information in said comparators or to end the counting.

Claim 4

A method as defined in claim 2 in which said given information is supplied to a corresponding plurality of storage devices (21,24) relating to the respective variables which are adapted to be advanced by electrical signals to progress from the coordinate increment values from one segment of said function to the coordinate increment values from a succeeding segment of said function and in which, when said auxiliary counter has been reset as many times as the scale factor number of said scalers, each of said storage devices is advanced as aforesaid.

Claim 5

A method as defined in claim 3 in which a segment counter is used to advance information in said storage devices.

Claim 6

A method as defined in claim 3 in which said coordinate pulse counters are advanced forward or backward according to sense (sign) information taken from said storage devices.

Claim 7

A method as defined in claim 2 in which the outputs of said coordinate pulse counters existing at the time of the resetting of said auxiliary counter are selectively recorded or indicated.

Claim 8

A linear digital function tracer circuit for tracing the course of a function of a plurality of variables, said circuit comprising: a stepping pulse generator (17); an auxiliary counter (18) so connected as to be advanced by said stepping pulse generator and having a singlevalued output; a plurality of comparators (19, 20), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each arranged to be supplied with the output of said auxiliary counter and to compare the same with given data regarding the difference in terms of the respective variables between two points of said function defining a segment thereof and also to provide a signal which has one state when the output of said counter is less than said given data and another signal when the output of said counter is equal to or greater than said given data; a plurality of gates (22, 25), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each supplied at an input thereof with the output of said stepping pulse generator and each connected to the output of a different one of said comparators in such a way that stepping pulses appear at the outputs of each of said gates only while the given data in the corresponding comparator exceeds the output of said auxiliary counter; a plurality of coordinate pulse counters (15, 16) corresponding in number to the number of said variables, adapted to count all or a fixed proportion of stepping pulses appearing at the output of said respective gates (22, 25); and a line segment gate adapted to produce a signal as soon as the output of said auxiliary counter exceeds the given data in all of said comparators, the output of said line segment gate being connected so that said signal causes said auxiliary counter (18) to be reset to a reset value that is the same reset value every time.

Claim 9

A linear digital function tracer circuit for tracing the course of a function of a plurality of variables, said circuit comprising: a stepping pulse generator (17); an auxiliary counter (18) so connected as to be advanced by said stepping pulse generator and having a singlevalued output; a plurality of comparators (19, 20), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each arranged to be supplied with the output of said auxiliary counter and to compare the same with given data regarding the difference in terms of the respective variables between two points of said function defining a segment thereof and also to provide a signal which has one state when the output of said counter is less than said given data and another signal when the output of said counter is equal to or greater than said given data; a plurality of gates (22, 25), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each supplied at an input thereof with the output of said stepping pulse generator and each connected to the output of a different one of said comparators in such a way that stepping pulses appear at the outputs of each of said gates only while the given data in the corresponding comparator exceeds the output of said auxiliary counter; a plurality of coordinate pulse counters (15, 16) corresponding in number to the number of said variables, adapted to count all or a fixed proportion of stepping pulses appearing at the output of said respective gates (22, 25); and a line segment gate adapted to produce a signal as soon as the output of said auxiliary counter exceeds the given data in all of said comparators, the output of said line segment gate being connected so that said signal causes said auxiliary counter (18) to be reset to a reset value that is the same reset value every time.

Claim 10

A linear digital function tracer circuit for tracing the course of a function of a plurality of variables, said circuit comprising: a stepping pulse generator (17); an auxiliary counter (18) so connected as to be advanced by said stepping pulse generator; a plurality of comparators (19, 20), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each arranged to be supplied with the output of said auxiliary counter and to compare the same with given data regarding the difference in terms of the respective variables between two points of said function defining a segment thereof and also to provide a signal which has one state when the output of said counter is less than said given data and another signal when the output of said counter is equal to or greater than said given data; a plurality of gates (22, 25), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each supplied at an input thereof with the output of said stepping pulse generator and each connected to the output of a different one of said comparators in such a way that stepping pulses appear at the outputs of each of said gates only while the given data in the corresponding comparator exceeds the output of said auxiliary counter; a plurality of coordinate pulse counters (15, 16) corresponding in number to the number of said variables, adapted to count all or a fixed proportion of stepping pulses appearing at the output of said respective gates (22, 25); a plurality of scalers (26, 27), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, interposed respectively between said gates (22, 25) and said coordinate pulse counters (15, 16) and so constituted that a stepping pulse is provided by each scaler from the corresponding gate to the corresponding counter only after a predetermined number of stepping pulses have been absorbed in said scaler, said predetermined number being the same for all scalers; and a line segement gate adapted to produce a signal as soon as the output of said auxiliary counter exceeds the given data in all of said comparators, the output of said line segment gate being connected so that said signal causes said auxiliary counter (18) to be reset.

Claim 11

A linear digital function tracer circuit for tracing the course of a function of a plurality of variables, said circuit comprising: a stepping pulse generator (17); an auxiliary counter (18) so connected as to be advanced by said stepping pulse generator; a plurality of comparators (19, 20), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each arranged to be supplied with the output of said auxiliary counter and to compare the same with given data regarding the difference in terms of the respective variables between two points of said function defining a segment thereof and also to provide a signal which has one state when the output of said counter is less than said given data and another signal when the output of said counter is equal to or greater than said given data; a plurality of gates (22, 25), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, each supplied at an input thereof with the output of said stepping pulse generator and each connected to the output of a different one of said comparators in such a way that stepping pulses appear at the outputs of each of said gates only while the given data in the corresponding comparator exceeds the output of said auxiliary counter; a plurality of coordinate pulse counters (15, 16) corresponding in number to the number of said variables, adapted to count all or a fixed proportion of stepping pulses appearing at the output of said respective gates (22, 25); a plurality of scalers (26, 27), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, interposed respectively between said gates (22, 25) and said coordinate pulse counters (15, 16) and so constituted that a stepping pulse is provided by each scaler from the corresponding gate to the corresponding counter only after a predetermined number of stepping pulses have been absorbed in said scaler, said predetermined number being the same for all scalers; and a line segement gate adapted to produce a signal as soon as the output of said auxiliary counter exceeds the given data in all of said comparators, the output of said line segment gate being connected so that said signal causes said auxiliary counter (18) to be reset.

Claim 12

A function tracer circuit as defined in claim 7 in which a plurality of storage devices (21,24), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, are provided for storing given information regarding points of said function with respect to said variables and are arranged to supply respectively to said comparators the differences in terms of the respective variables between given information regarding two successive points of said function, and are further adapted to be advanced to supply such differences to said comparators for successive function segments defined by points for which the given information is supplied to said storage devices; and in which means are provided for changing said given data in said comparators to the corresponding data for a succeeding segment of said function in response to each or to a fixed proportion of all of said signals produced by said line segment gate, according whether all or the same fixed proportion of stepping pulses passed by said plurality of gates are counted by said coordinate pulse counters.

Claim 13

A function tracer circuit as defined in claim 8 in which a plurality of storage devices (21,24), corresponding in number to the number of said variables, are provided for storing given information with respect to said variables for for a plurality of points of said function and are adapted to supply to the respective comparators (19,20) difference information in terms of the respective variables between said given information for two successive points of said function defining segment thereof and are further adapted to be advanced from one segment to the next of said function, and in which an additional scaler (28) is provided to which the output of said line segment gate is supplied as an input, said scaler being adapted to provide an output signal in response to the output of said line segment gate (23) only after a predetermined number of output signals of said line segment gate have been absorbed in said scaler, said predetermined number being the same as in the case of said scalers (26,27) respectively associated with said coordinate pulse counters (15,16), and in which means (29) for advancing said storage devices (21,24) as aforesaid.

Claim 14

A linear interpolator circuit comprising a function tracer circuit as defined in claim 10 and additional means for selectively supplying or emphasizing the output of said coordinate pulse counters existing at the time of each operation of said line segment gate.