Character recognition

Claim 1

A CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM FOR RECOGNIZING A CHARACTER PRINTED WITH MAGNETIZABLE INK COMPRISING A MAGNETIC RECORD TRANSDUCER HAVING X NUMBER OF MAGNETIC READ HEADS EACH CAPABLE OF TRANSLATING CHARACTER FEATURES INTO FEATURE SIGNALS, SAID READ HEADS DISPOSED SO THAT Y NUMBER OF ADJACENT HEADS, WHERE Y IS LESS THAN X, WILL REPRESENT ONE MORE HEAD THAN IS REQUIRED TO INSURE A COMPLETE SCAN OF SAID CHARACTER, REGISTRATION MEANS INCLUDING Y NUMBER OF CHANNELS EACH HAVING AN ASSOCIATED "OR" GATE, EACH "OR" GATE BEING COUPLED TO AN ASSOCIATED SET OF SAID READ HEADS WHERE EACH SET IS IDENTIFIED AS AN N SET AND EACH HEAD OF SAID N SET IS IDENTIFIED AS THE (N+(A) (Y))TH HEAD, WHEREIN N ASSUMES EACH VOLUE OF 1 THROUGH Y AND WHEN N IS FIXED A CAN BE ANY INTEGER INCLUDING ZERO WITHIN THE TENS VALUE OF X, A PLURALITY OF DIGITIZING MEANS EACH COUPLED TO AN ASSOCAITED ONE OF SAID CHANNELS TO RECEIVE SAID FEATURE SIGNALS AND RESPECTIVELY TRANSLATE EACH FEATURE SIGNAL INTO A DIGITIZED FEATURE SIGNAL, A PLURALITY OF SHIFT REGISTER MEANS WITH ONE EACH COUPLED TO AN ASSOCIATED ONE OF SAID DIGITIZING MEANS, TIMINGPULSE GENERATING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID PLURALITY OF SAID SHIFT REGISTER MEANS TO ADVANCE SAID FEATURE SIGNALS INTO SAID ASSOCIATED SHIFT REGISTER MEANS IN QUANTIZED FORM, SIGNAL REFERENCE MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DIGITIZING MEANS TO SAMPLE SAID DIGITIZED FEATURE SIGNALS AND DESIGNATE ONE DIGITIZED FEATURE SIGNAL AS A REFERENCE FEATURE SIGNAL TO REPRESENT A REFERENCE FEATURE OF SAID CHARACTER, COINCIDENT CIRCUITRY MEANS HAVING Y CHANNEL INPUT MEANS AND Y-1 FEATURE SIGNAL OUTPUT MEANS COUPLED TO SAID SHIFT REGISTER MEANS AND SAID SIGNAL REFERENCE MEANS TO ALIGN THE OTHER DIGITIZED FEATURE SIGNALS WITH RESPECT TO SAID DIGITIZED REFERENCE SIGNAL, FEATURE REDUCTION CIRCUITRY MEANS COUPLED TO SAID COINCIDENT CIRCUITRY OUTPUT MEANS TO REDUCE SAID Y-1 FEATURE SIGNALS TO Z RELIABLE USEFUL FEATURE SIGNALS WHERE Z IS LESS THAN Y-1, AND LOGIC CIRCUITRY COUPLED TO SAID FEATURE REDUCTION CIRCUITRY TO PROVIDE A PARTICULAR SIGNAL IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTER BEING READ IN RESPONSE TO THE ALIGNED DIGITIZED FEATURE SIGNALS RECEIVED THEREFORM.