Information sorting device

Claim 1

A SORTING APPARATUS COMPRISING: (A) A COMPARE REGISTER COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF COMPARE CELLS ARRANGED IN ORDER BETWEEN A HIGHEST ORDER AND A LOWEST ORDER COMPARE CELL, EACH OF THE COMPARE CELLS BEING ADAPTED FOR STORING EITHER A FIRST SIGNAL REPRESENTING A BINARY CODED ONE BIT OR A SECOND SIGNAL, A SAID SECOND SIGNAL BEING REPRESENTATIVE OF EITHER A BINARY CODED ONE OR ZERO BIT; (B) A MEMORY DEVICE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF MEMORY CELLS ARRANGED IN ROWS AND COLUMNS INCLUDING ONE COLUMN FOR EACH OF SAID COMPARE CELLS, ONE OF SAID COLUMNS OF MEMORY CELLS BEING A COLUMN OF MARKER MEMORY CELLS, THE MEMORY CELLS BEING ADAPTED FOR STORING EITHER A BINARY CODED ONE BIT OR ZERO BIT AND CHARACTERIZED AS CAPABLE OF FORMING COMPARE SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF EITHER A MATCH OR A MISMATCH BETWEEN THE STORAGE CONTENT THEREOF AND THE STORAGE CONTENT OF THE CORRESPONDING COMPARE CELL WHEN THE CORRESPONDING COMPARE CELL STORES A FIRST SIGNAL AND CAPABLE OF ALWAYS FORMING A SIGNAL INDICATIVE OF A MATCH WHEN THE CORRESPONDING COMPARE CELL STORES A SECOND SIGNAL; (C) MEANS RESPONSIVE TO COMPARE SIGNALS INDICATING THE MATCH OF MORE THAN ONE COMPLETE ROW FOR CAUSING THE STORAGE OF A FIRST SIGNAL IN THE HIGHEST ORDER COMPARE CELL WHICH CONTAINS A SECOND SIGNAL AND HAS A ONE BIT STORED IN THE CORRESPONDING COLUMN OF THE MEMORY DEVICE; (D) MEANS RESPONSIVE TO COMPARE SIGNALS INDICATING THE ABSENCE OF A MATCH OF A COMPLETE ROW FOR CAUSING THE STORAGE OF A SECOND SIGNAL IN THE LOWEST ORDER COMPARE CELL WHICH CONTAINS A FIRST SIGNAL IF THERE IS AT LEAST ONE FIRST SIGNAL IN THE COMPARE REGISTER AND THEREBY CAUSE THE CONTENT OF THE COMPARE REGISTER TO SEQUENTIALLY MATCH AND ISOLATE THE CONTENT OF THE ROWS IN THE MEMORY DEVICE; AND (E) MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE COMPARE SIGNALS FOR SELECTIVELY CAUSING THE STORAGE OF A BIT IN THE MARKER CELL OF THE ROW, THE CONTENT OF WHICH IS ISOLATED FROM THE CONTENT OF THE OTHER ROWS BY THE MATCHING CONTENT OF THE COMPARE REGISTER, THE BIT STORED IN THE MARKER CELL BEING SUCH THAT A MISMATCH IS CAUSED BETWEEN THE CONTENT OF THE CORRESPONDING ROW AND THE CONTENT OF THE COMPARE REGISTER TO THEREBY PREVENT THE SAME WORD FROM BEING ISOLATED A SECOND TIME.