Information handling system

Claim 1

IN AN ELECTRONIC INFORMATION HANDLING SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVELY SCANNING A NUMBER OF VARIABLES THE VALUES OF WHICH ARE MANIFESTED BY ANALOG SIGNALS, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OF ANALOG SIGNAL SOURCES PROVIDING ANALOG SIGNALS THE AMPLITUDES OF WHICH ARE FUNCTIONS OF THE RESPECTIVE ONES OF SAID VARIABLES; A STORED-PROGRAM DIGITAL COMPUTER HAVING A MEMORY SECTION FOR STORING INSTRUCTIONS AND AN INSTRUCTION REGISTER FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF SAID DIGITAL COMPUTER; AN EXTERNAL INSTRUCTION STORAGE REGISTER INDEPENDENT OF SAID DIGITAL COMPUTER FOR STORING AN INSTRUCTION TO SCAN THE ANALOG CONDITION OF A SPECIFIER VARIABLE AND TO TRANSFER ITS VALUE IN DIGITAL FORM TO SAID COMPUTER; TRANSFER MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING AN INSTRUCTION TO SAID EXTERNAL INSTRUCTION STORAGE REGISTER, SAID INSTRUCTION HAVING AN ADDRESS PORTION SPECIFYING THE VARIABLE TO BE SCANNED WHEREBY SCANNING THE ANALOG CONDITION OF A SPECIFIED VARIABLE AND TRANSFERRING ITS VALUE IN DIGITAL FORM TO SAID DIGITAL COMPUTER MAY BE CONTROLLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INSTRUCTION IN SAID EXTERNAL INSTRUCTION STORAGE REGISTER; AN ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTING MEANS FOR AMPLIFYING AN ANALOG SIGNAL TO A PREDETERMINED FULL-SCALE SIGNAL AND FOR CONVERTING THE AMPLIFIED SIGNAL INTO DIGITAL FORM; ADDRESSING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID EXTERNAL INSTRUCTION STORAGE REGISTER AND RESPONSIVE TO THE ADDRESS PORTION OF SAID INSTRUCTION TRANSFERRED THEREINTO FOR SELECTIVELY COUPLING THE ANALOG SIGNAL SOURCE OF SAID SPECIFIED VARIABLE TO SAID ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTING MEANS; AND A MEANS COUPLED TO SAID STORAGE REGISTER AND RESPONSIVE TO SAID INSTRUCTION FOR TRANSFERRING A GROUP OF DIGITAL SIGNALS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE VALUE OF SAID SPECIFIED VARIABLE FROM SAID ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTING MEANS TO SAID DIGITAL COMPUTER.