Data storage system with selective readout

Claim 1

IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM, WITH EACH PIECE OF DATA INCLUDING AN INDENTIFYING CODE AND AN INFORMATION SECTION, THE COMBINATION OF: AN ENDLESS TAPE HAVING A FORWARD DIRECTION AND A REVERSE DIRECTION AND HAVING A RELATIVELY LARGE STORAGE CAPACITY; A WRITE UNIT FOR WRITING THE IDENTIFICATION CODE AND INFORMATION SECTION OF DATA INTO SAID TAPE SERIATIM AS RECEIVED WITHOUT A PREDETERMINED ADDRESS; A READ UNIT FOR READING DATA FROM SAID TAPE; FIRST MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID TAPE PAST SAID WRITE UNIT IN THE FORWARD DIRECTION AT A RELATIVELY LOW CONTINUOUS RATE; SECOND DRIVE MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID TAPE PAST SAID READ UNIT IN THE FORWARD AND REVERSE DIRECTIONS ON COMMAND AND AT A RELATIVELY HIGH RATE; A SHIFT REGISTER OPERABLE IN FORWARD AND REVERSE DIRECTIONS AND HAVING A RELATIVELY SMALL STORAGE CAPACITY;FIRST SWITCH MEANS HAVING AN ON POSITION FOR CONNECTING SAID READ UNIT TO SAID SHIFT REGISTER WHEN SAID SECOND DRIVE MEANS IS OPERATING IN THE REVERSE DIRECTION FOR CONTINUOUSLY STORING IN SAID SHIFT REGISTER IN THE REVERSE DIRECTION, THE LATEST PORTION OF THE DATA READ FROM SAID TAPE, AND AN OFF POSITION FOR DISCONNECTING SAID READ UNIT FROM SAID SHIFT REGISTER; AN INQUIRY STORAGE UNIT FOR STORING THE IDENTIFYING CODE OF A PARTICULAR PIECE OF DATA; A COINCIDE CIRCUIT FOR COMPARING THE INPUT PORTION OF SAID SHIFT REGISTER CONTENTS WITH SAID STORAGE UNIT CONTENTS TO IDENTIFY A PARTICULAR PIECE OF DATA; AN OUTPUT DEVICE; MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING DATA FROM SAID SHIFT REGISTER IN THE