Character assembly and distribution apparatus

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING AND DISTRIBUTING CHARACTERS HAVING ALL VARIABLE ELEMENTS AND CHARACTERS HAVING MIXED VARIABLE AND INVARIABLE ELEMENTS, INCLUDING: CONTROL MEANS, OPERABLE TO GENERATE TWO SIMULTANEOUS SIGNALS EACH OF WHICH MAY ASSUME EITHER ONE OF TWO VALUES, A FIRST SIGNAL INDICATING BY ONE VALUE AN ASSEMBLY OPERATION AND BY THE OTHER VALUE A DISTRIBUTION OPERATION, A SECOND SIGNAL INDICATING BY ONE VALUE OPERATIONS INVOLVING CHARACTERS WITH VARIABLE ELEMENTS AND BY THE OTHER VALUE OPERATIONS INVOLVING CHARACTERS WITH INVARIABLE ELEMENTS; AN INDICATOR REGISTER, FOR INDICATING AS A VALUE THE NUMBER OF ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN A CHARACTER; A PLURAL ORDER SHIFT REGISTER, CONNECTED TO SAID CONTROL MEANS AND TO SAID INDICATOR REGISTER, OPERABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH A FIRST SIGNAL INDICATING AN ASSEMBLY OPERATION TO SEQUENTIALLY RECEIVE AND HOLD ELEMENTS IN AN INCOMING ORDER DETERMINED BY THE VALUE IN SAID INDICATOR REGISTER AND TO SHIFT THE ELEMENTS IN EACH ORDER TO AN ADJACENT LOWER ORDER TO MAKE SAID INCOMING ORDER AVAILABLE FOR THE NEXT ELEMENT, AND OPERABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH A FIRST SIGNAL INDICATING A DISTRIBUTION OPERATION TO HOLD ELEMENTS PLACED SIMULTANEOUSLY INTO A NUMBER OF THE LOWEST ORDERS OF SAID SHIFT REGISTER AND TO SHIFT THE ELEMENTS IN EACH ORDER TO AN ADJACENT LOWER ORDER MAKING EACH ELEMENT IN TURN AVAILABLE TO THE LOWEST ORDER; AND CHARACTER RECOGNITION MEANS, ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SHIFT REGISTER AND SAID INDICATOR REGISTER, OPERABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH A SECOND SIGNAL TO GENERATE A RECOGNITION SIGNAL WHEN THE NUMBER OF SHIFTS PERFORMED BY SAID SHIFT REGISTER BEARS A PREDETERMINED RELATIONSHIP TO THE VALUE IN SAID INDICATOR REGISTER, AND OPERABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH A SECOND SIGNAL INDICATING CHARACTERS WITH INVARIABLE ELEMENTS TO GENERATE SAID RECOGNITION SIGNAL WHEN SAID INVARIABLE ELEMENTS ARE RECOGNIZED.