Scanning system for large areas

Claim 1

IN A CHARACTER READING MACHINE FOR CHARACTERS ON AN AREA TALLER THAN THE CHARACTER AND WHEREON THE CHARACTER MAY BE LOCATED AT AN UNDETERMINED VERTICAL POSITION ON SAID AREA, SCANNING MEANS TO EXAMINE SAID AREA BY VERTICALLY ADJOINING ZONES THEREOF, SAID SCANNING MEANS CONCURRENTLY EXAMINING SAID VERTICALLY ADJOINING ZONES AND PROVIDING CONCURRENT OUTPUT SIGNALS SIGNIFYING THE DETECTION OF A PART OF THE CHARACTER WHEN DETECTED IN ANY OF SAID ZONES, COMBINING MEANS FOR THE SIGNALS RESULTING FROM EXAMINATION OF ALL OF SAID ZONES INCLUDING THE CONDITION WHEN THE CHARACTER IS LOCATED IN PART IN MORE THAN ONE ZONE, A SERIAL REGISTER, MEANS TO LOAD THE REGISTER WITH SAID SIGNALS TO PROVIDE A REPRESENTATION OF THE CHARACTER IN THE REGISTER BY THE SET OF STORED SIGNALS, SAID CHARACTER REPRESENTATION AS STORED BEING MADE OF INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTATION PORTIONS SHEARED ALONG A LINE AT AN INDETERMINATE POSITION BETWEEN OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE CHARACTER OWING TO THE BANDWIDTH COMPRESSION OF SAID SIGNALS DUE TO SAID COMBINING MEANS AND OWING TO THE UNKNOWN LOCATION OF THE SCANNED CHARACTER RELATIVE TO SAID ZONES, MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH SAID REGISTER FOR ELIMINATING THE SHEAT BETWEEN SAID CHARACTER REPRESENTATION PORTIONS, SAID SHEAR ELIMINATING MEANS INCLUDING MEANS TO PROVIDE A CONTROL SIGNAL IN RESPONSE TO FULL OCCUPANCY OF THE CHARACTER REPRESENTATION IN SAID SERIAL REGISTER, AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID CONTROL SIGNAL TO SHIFT THE STORED SET OF SIGNALS IN SAID REGISTER IN COLUMNAR FEED-BACK MODE.