Select switch responsive to a break code

Claim 1

In electrical apparatus including (1) a first component having means for generating digital codes, said digital codes consisting of sequences of states including a first state and a second state and including (a) transmission codes having a uniform length and consisting of at least one first state and at least one second state, and (b) break codes consisting only of said second state and having a length equal to said uniform length, and (2) a plurality of other components, selection means responsive to said break codes for electrically connecting said first component with a selected one of said plurality of other components, said selection means comprising: (1) means, connected to said means for generating digital codes, for detecting said break codes in said digital codes, said break code detection means including means for determining the length of each said sequence of consecutive second states and means for generating a select signal on each occurrence of a sequence of said second states which is at least equal to said uniform length; and (2) switching means responsive to said select signal for electrically connecting said first component with a selected one of said other components, said switching means including: (a) a plurality of controllable switching means, each one of said plurality of controllable switching means being associated with and connected to a corresponding component of said plurality of other components, (b) a plurality of select lines, each one of said select lines being associated with and connected to a corresponding one of said controllable switch means, (c) resettable counting means connected to said break code detector, to a reset line, and to a plurality of count lines, said resettable counting means including means for incrementing an encoded value in response to said select signal, means for outputting said encoded value on said plurality of count lines, and means for responding to one said reset signal by resetting said encoded value to a preset value, and (d) decoding means connected to said plurality of count lines, to said plurality of select lines, and to said reset line and responsive to said encoded value, said decoding means including means for providing a signal to the one select line corresponding to said encoded value, means for removing the signal from the one select line corresponding to the previous encoded value, and means for providing said reset signal on said reset line when said encoded value exceeds a present value.