Multiplex communication system with multiline digital buffer

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR THE RAPID PROCESSING OF INFORMATION, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: FIRST, A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL INCOMING SIGNAL CHANNELS DESIGNATED 1, 2 . . . N; SECOND, TIME-MULTIPLEXING MEANS FOR REPETITIVELY SAMPLING ALL OF SAID CHANNELS AND SERIALLY ROUTING THEIR INFORMATION ON TO A SINGLE HIGH-SPEED CHANNEL, THE INFORMATION ON SAID SINGLE CHANNEL COMPRISING A SUCCESSION OF SERIES OF SAMPLES, EACH SERIES BEING IN THE SEQUENCE OF THE INCOMING CHANNELS SAMPLED, ONE SERIES FOR EACH REPETITION OF THE SAMPLING; THIRD, MEANS COMPRISING SEVERAL GATED PLURAL-LINE STAGES AND SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE TIME-MULTIPLEXING MEANS FOR DIFFERENTIALLY DELAYING SAMPLES FROM A PLURALITY OF SAID SERIES TO FORM TIME-COMPRESSED GROUPS OF SAMPLES, EACH GROUP ORIGINATING FROM A PARTICULAR INCOMING CHANNEL BUT COMPRISING AS MANY SUBGROUPS AS THERE ARE STAGES, AND EACH GROUP BEING FOLLOWED BY A GROUP FROM ANOTHER INCOMING CHANNEL; AND FOURTH, TIME-SHARED MEANS FOR SUCCESSIVELY PROCESSING SAID GROUPS TO DELIVER THE MESSAGE CONTENT OF THE SEVERAL GROUPS IN PARALLEL FORM AN IN A REGULAR REPETITIVE SEQUENCE, SAID TIME-SHARED MEANS INCLUDING A MESSAGE CONTENT REGISTER AND RETRIEVING MEANS FOR RESTORING THE REGISTER TO THE STATUS WHICH CHARACTERIZED THE CONCLUSION OF ITS PROCESSING OF A GROUP FROM ANY GIVEN CHANNEL PREPARATORY TO RESUMPTION OF PROCESSING OF THE NEXT SUCCEEDING GROUP FROM THE SAME CHANNEL.