Information retrieval system

Claim 2

An information retrieval system which comprises a recording medium for optically storing pieces of information, the pieces of information including a plurality of characters; optical means for scanning the recording medium, which has information stored therein, by a beam of light modulated according to the respective characters of a prescribed series of characters for retrieval and generating signals denoting bright or dark shades of light according to whether or not coincidence is established between the respective characters of said prescribed series and some of the characters designating all the pieces of information stored in the recording medium; photoelectric conversion means having a plurality of members to generate an electric signal denoting coincidence or noncoincidence upon receipt of a signal indicating a bright or dark shade of light; and a logic processing circuit for logically processing a signal delivered from said photoelectric conversion means and generating a retrieval signal showing whether or not the prescribed series of characters for retrieval are included in the characters designating the respective pieces of information stored in the recording medium, the logic processing circuit including AND gates whose first input terminals are successively supplied with output signals from the members of the photoelectric conversion means and shift registers which successively receive and store output signals from the AND gates in a number corresponding to each character of the prescribed series; the output terminals of the shift registers being connected to the second input terminals of the successively following AND gates whereby when the last character of the prescribed series is retrieved, signals resulting from the retrieval of all the characters thereof are generated through the output terminals of the AND gates.

Claim 3

An information retrieval system, according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium comprises a film for storing information by means of holography.

Claim 4

An information retrieval system according to claim 2, wherein the optical means comprises a source for emitting a laser beam; means for modulating the laser beam according to the respective characters of the prescribed series of characters; and means for deflecting the modulated beam of light to scan the film by said deflector beam.

Claim 5

An information retrieval system which comprises a recording medium for optically storing pieces of information, the pieces of information including a plurality of characters; optical means for scanning the recording medium, which has information stored therein, by a beam of light modulated according to the respective characters of a prescribed series of characters for retrieval and generating signals denoting bright Or dark shades of light according to whether or not coincidence is established between the respective characters of said prescribed series and some of the characters designating all the pieces of information stored in the recording medium; photoelectric conversion means having a plurality of members to generate an electric signal denoting coincidence or noncoincidence upon receipt of a signal indicating a bright or dark shade of light; and a logic processing circuit for logically processing a signal delivered from said photoelectric conversion means and generating a retrieval signal showing whether or not the prescribed series of characters for retrieval are included in the characters designating the respective pieces of information stored in the recording medium, the logic processing circuit including the first and second AND gates whose first input terminals are connected to the member of the photoelectric conversion means, shift registers of a plurality of bits and having the input terminals connected to the output terminal of the first and second AND gates through a first OR gate and the output terminal connected to the second input terminal of the second AND gate, a 1 bit shift register connected between the output terminal of the last stage shift register and the second input terminal of the second AND gate of the first stage, a third AND gate having one of the input terminals connected to the output terminals of all the second AND gates through a second OR gate, first character signal-supplying means connected to the second input terminal of the first AND gate to open said gate when the first character of the prescribed series is retrieved, and the last character signal-supplying means connected to the other input terminal of the third AND gate to open said third AND gate when the last character of the prescribed series is retrieved, thereby causing an output signal from the second AND gate to be delivered from the third AND gate.

Claim 6

An information retrieval system which comprises a recording medium for optically storing pieces of information, the pieces of information including a plurality of characters; optical means for scanning the recording medium, which has information stored therein, by a beam of light modulated according to the respective characters of a prescribed series of characters for retrieval and generating signals denoting bright Or dark shades of light according to whether or not coincidence is established between the respective characters of said prescribed series and some of the characters designating all the pieces of information stored in the recording medium; photoelectric conversion means having a plurality of members to generate an electric signal denoting coincidence or noncoincidence upon receipt of a signal indicating a bright or dark shade of light; and a logic processing circuit for logically processing a signal delivered from said photoelectric conversion means and generating a retrieval signal showing whether or not the prescribed series of characters for retrieval are included in the characters designating the respective pieces of information stored in the recording medium, the logic processing circuit including the first and second AND gates whose first input terminals are connected to the member of the photoelectric conversion means, shift registers of a plurality of bits and having the input terminals connected to the output terminal of the first and second AND gates through a first OR gate and the output terminal connected to the second input terminal of the second AND gate, a 1 bit shift register connected between the output terminal of the last stage shift register and the second input terminal of the second AND gate of the first stage, a third AND gate having one of the input terminals connected to the output terminals of all the second AND gates through a second OR gate, first character signal-supplying means connected to the second input terminal of the first AND gate to open said gate when the first character of the prescribed series is retrieved, and the last character signal-supplying means connected to the other input terminal of the third AND gate to open said third AND gate when the last character of the prescribed series is retrieved, thereby causing an output signal from the second AND gate to be delivered from the third AND gate.

Claim 7

An information retrieval system according to claim 4, wherein the logic processing circuit further includes an R.S. flip-flop circuit whose set terminal is connected to the output terminal of the third AND gate, whose reset terminal is connected to the first character signal-supplying means and whose output terminal generates signals showing the results of retrieving all the characters of the prescribed series.

Claim 8

An information retrieval system according to claim 4, wherein the recording medium comprises of a strip film for storing information by means of holography, in which a plurality of main blocks are arranged at a prescribed interval along the length of said film and a plurality of subblocks arranged parallel transversely of each of the main blocks and respectively representing a single piece of library information.

Claim 9

An information retrieval system according to claim 6, wherein the film has a timing pulse signal-generating hologram provided for each of the blocks to actuate the corresponding shift registers.

Claim 10

An information retrieval system which comprises a recording medium for optically storing pieces of information, the pieces of information including a plurality of characters; optical means for scanning the recording medium, which has information stored therein, by a beam of light modulated according to the respective characters of a prescribed series of characters for retrieval and generating signals denoting bright or dark shades of light according to whether or not coincidence is established between the respective characters of said prescribed series and some of the characters designating all the pieces of information stored in the recording medium; photoelectric conversion means having an m number of members to generate an electric signal denoting coincidence or noncoincidence upon receipt of a signal indicating a bright or dark shade of light; and a logic processing circuit for logically processing a signal delivered from said photoelectric conversion means and generating A retrieval signal showing whether or not the prescribed series of characters are included in the characters designating the respective pieces of information stored in the recording medium, the logic processing circuit including an m number of first AND gates, an m-1 number of first shift registers and a single second shift register, the first input terminals of the first AND gates being connected to the corresponding members of the photoelectric conversion means, the first input terminals of the second AND gates being connected to from the second to the m-th members of said photoelectric conversion means, the input terminals of the first shift registers being connected to the output terminals of the initial first AND gates and the output terminals of the first AND gates Gi,1 (i 2, 3, . . . m - 1) and the output terminals of the second AND gates Gi,2 (i 2, 3, . . . , n - 1) through the OR gates Gi,3 (i 2, 3, . . . m - 1), and the output terminals of said first shift registers being connected to the second input terminals of the following second AND gates, the output terminals of the first and second AND gates being connected to the input terminal of the single second shift register, and the second input terminals of the first AND gates being provided with means for opening said gates when the first character of the prescribed series is retrieved.

Claim 11

An information retrieval system which comprises a recording medium for optically storing pieces of information, the pieces of information including a plurality of characters; optical means for scanning the recording medium, which has information stored therein, by a beam of light modulated according to the respective characters of a prescribed series of characters for retrieval and generating signals denoting bright or dark shades of light according to whether or not coincidence is established between the respective characters of said prescribed series and some of the characters designating all the pieces of information stored in the recording medium; photoelectric conversion means having an m number of members to generate an electric signal denoting coincidence or noncoincidence upon receipt of a signal indicating a bright or dark shade of light; and a logic processing circuit for logically processing a signal delivered from said photoelectric conversion means and generating A retrieval signal showing whether or not the prescribed series of characters are included in the characters designating the respective pieces of information stored in the recording medium, the logic processing circuit including an m number of first AND gates, an m-1 number of first shift registers and a single second shift register, the first input terminals of the first AND gates being connected to the corresponding members of the photoelectric conversion means, the first input terminals of the second AND gates being connected to from the second to the m-th members of said photoelectric conversion means, the input terminals of the first shift registers being connected to the output terminals of the initial first AND gates and the output terminals of the first AND gates Gi,1 (i 2, 3, . . . m - 1) and the output terminals of the second AND gates Gi,2 (i 2, 3, . . . , n - 1) through the OR gates Gi,3 (i 2, 3, . . . m - 1), and the output terminals of said first shift registers being connected to the second input terminals of the following second AND gates, the output terminals of the first and second AND gates being connected to the input terminal of the single second shift register, and the second input terminals of the first AND gates being provided with means for opening said gates when the first character of the prescribed series is retrieved.

Claim 12

An information retrieval system according to claim 8, wherein the recording medium includes a plurality spatially arrranged blocks representing various pieces of library information stored therein by means of holography.

Claim 13

An information retrieval system according to claim 8, wherein the number of bits of the respective first shift registers accords with the number of blocks arranged in each row on the photographic plate and the number of bits of the single second shift register accords with the number of blocks arranged in each column on said photographic plate.