Message handling system

Claim 1

IN A MESSAGE HANDLING SYSTEM WHEREIN MESSAGES AND END OF MESSAGE CHARACTERS ARE RENDOMLY RECEIVED ON A PLURALITY OF INPUT LINES EACH ASSOCIATED WITH A STORED INPUT CONTROL WORD CONTAINING THE ADDRESS OF A MAIN MEMORY AREA IN WHICH A MESSAGE FROM THE RESPECTIVE INPUT LINE IS BEING STORED AND WHEREIN A SCANNING MEANS IS PROVIDED FOR UTILIZING THE INPUT CONTROL WORDS IN A GIVEN SEQUENCE TO CONTROL THE SAMPLING OF MESSAGES RECEIVED FROM THE RESPECTIVE INPUT LINES AND THE STORING OF SUCH MESSAGE IN THE APPROPRIATE MAIN MEMORY AREAS, AN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING COMPLETED MESSAGES TO BE TRANSFERRED FROM THE MAIN MEMORY TO A UTILIZATION DEVICE IS THE SAME ORDER AS THE MESSAGES ARE COMPLETED, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: FIRST STORAGE MEANS HAVING A PLURALITY OF ADDRESSABLE STORAGE POSITIONSD THEREIN FOR RESPECTIVELY STORING A PLURALITY OF TRANSFER CONTROL WORDS ADAPTED TO BE UTILIZED IN A GIVEN SEQUENCE FOR CONTROLLING THE TRANSFER OF INFORMATION SEQUENTIALLY FROM DESIGNATED MAIN MEMORY AREAS TO THE UTILIZATION DEVICE, ADDRESSING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID FIRST STORAGE MEANS AND OPERABLE IN THE INTERVAL BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE INPUT SCANNING OPERATIONS FOR ADDRESSING IN SEQUENCE THE RESPECTIVE STORAGE POSITIONS WHEREIN THE TRANSFER CONTROL WORDS ARE STORED; TEMPORARY STORAGE MEANS FOR TEMPORARILY STORING A MEMORY ADDRESS RESPECTIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THE INPUT LINES; FIRST CONTROL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO AN END OF MESSAGE CHARACTER RECEIVED ON ANY OF THE INPUT LINES FOR CAUSING THE MEMORY ADDRESS PORTION OF THE INPUT CONTROL WORD ASSOCIATED WITH THAT LINE TO BE STORED IN SAID TEMPORARY STORAGE MEANS; COUNTING MEANS FOR MAINTAINING A COUNT REPRESENTING THE NUMBER OF END OF MESSAGE CHARACTERS RECEIVED, EACH NUMBER IN SAID COUNT ALSO INDICATING AN ORDER OF TRANSFER PRIORITY TO BE ASSIGNED TO THE CORRESPONDING ONE OF THE COMPLETED MESSAGES; AND SECOND CONTROL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID ADDRESSING MEANS AND TO SAID COUNTING MEANS, IN THE INTERVALS BETWEEN INPUT SCANNING OPERATIONS, FOR CAUSING THE MEMORY ADDRESS STORED IN SAID TEMPORARY STORAGE MEANS TO BE TRANSFERRED INTO THE STORAGE POSITION OF A SELECTED ONE OF THE TRANSFER CONTROL WORDS ACCORDING TO THE COUNT NUMBER THAN REGISTERED BY SAID COUNTING MEANS, THEREBY CONDITIONING THE SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERRING STORED MESSAGES FROM THE MAIN MEMORY TO THE UTILIZATION DEVICE IN THE SAME MANNER ORDER AS THE MESSAGES ARE COMPLETED.