Stage

Claim 1

IN AN ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION SYSTEM FOR MEASURING UNKNOWN ANALOG SIGNALS AND PRESENTING THE MEASUREMENTS IN DECIMAL FORM, IN COMBINATION, AT LEAST THREE BINARY CODED DECIMAL COUNTERS EACH INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE SET CIRCUIT FOR GENERATING BINARY CODED DECIMAL SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO THEIR COUNT, A BINARY TO DECIMAL SIGNALS CORRESPONDING TO THEIR COUNT, COUNTERS FOR PRODUCING A REFERENCE SIGNAL OF AMPLITUDE CORRESPONDING TO THE VALUE OF SAID BINARY CODED DECIMAL COUNT, MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY COMPARING AN AMPLITUDE SIGNIFICANT SIGNAL OF UNKNOWN VALUE WITH THE REFERENCE SIGNAL FOR AND FOR SUPPLYING AND OUTPUT SIGNAL INDICATIVE OF DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN THE VALUES THEREOF, EACH OF SAID COUNTERS CORRESPONDING RESPECTIVELY TO ONE OF AT LEAST THREE DECIMAL DIGITS IN A NUMBER THE FINAL VALUE OF WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THE VALUE OF THE INPUT SIGNAL, PROGRAMMING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID COMPARING MEANS AND TO SAID COUNTERS TO VARY THE AMPLITUDE OF THE REFERENCE SIGNAL ACCORDING TO A PREDETERMINED PROGRAM IN DEPENDENCE UPON THE OUTPUT SIGNALS FROM SAID COMPARING MEANS AND FOR PRODUCING AN INITIAL CONDITION OF THE REFERENCE SIGNAL BY APPLICATION OF SIGNALS TO SAID SET CIRCUITS FOR INITIALLY SETTING THAT ONE OF SAID COUNTERS WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DECIMAL DIGIT IN THE NUMBER TO A MINIMUM COUNT AND FOR INITIALLY SETTING ALL OF THE REMAINING COUNTERS WHICH CORRESPOND TO LESS SIGNIFICANT DECIMAL DIGITS IN THE NUMBER TO A MAXIMUM COUNT, SAID PROGRAMMING MEANS INCLUDING SHIFT MEANS CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID COUNTERS FOR PRODUCING FROM THE COUNTER LAST SET TO ITS MINIMUM COUNT AN ACTUATING SIGNAL FOR APPLICATION TO THE SET CIRCUIT OF THE COUNTER WHICH REPRESENTS THE NEXT LESS SIGNIFICANT DECIMAL DIGIT WITH RESPECT TO SAID LAST MINIMUM SET COUNTER TO SET TO A MINIMUM COUNT SAID LAST SIGNIFICANT DIGIT COUNTER WHEN (1) THE COUNT SETTING OF SAID LAST MINIMUM SET COUNTER AGREES WITH THE CORRESPONDING DECIMAL DIGIT TO SAID INPUT SIGNAL AND (2) THE VALUE OF SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL IS GREATER IN MAGNITUDE THAN THE VALUE OF SAID INPUT SIGNAL, MEANS FOR ACTUATING EACH SAID COUNTER TO COUNT UPWARDLY UPON APPLICATION THERETO OF COUNT SIGNALS, AND SAID PROGRAMMING MEANS INCLUDING ADDITIONAL MEANS FOR APPLICATION TO SAID COUNTER LAST SET TO ITS MINIMUM COUNT OF COUNT SIGNALS ONLY (1) WHEN THE MAGNITUDE OF SAID REFERENCE SIGNAL IS LESS THAN THE MAGNITUDE OF SAID INPUT SIGNAL AND (2) UNTIL THE COUNT ATTAINED BY SAID ACTUATED COUNTER AGREES WITH THE CORRESPONDING DECIMAL DIGIT OF SAID INPUT SIGNAL.