Pattern recognition preprocessing techniques

Claim 1

AN APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON A DATA REPRESENTATION F(X,Y) OF A RELATIVELY WIDE-LINE INPUT PATTERN TO GENERATE A DATA REPRESENTATION OF A THIN-LINE OUTPUT PATTERN COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A FIRST MEANS FOR LINEARLY COMBINING A PLURALITY OF SIGNALS; MEANS FOR PRESENTING THE INPUT DATA CORRESPONDING TO A PLURALITY OF THE POINTS (X$X1, Y$Y1) IN THE INPUT PATTERN THAT SUROUND A REFERENCE POINT (X,Y), FOR ALL REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y), TO THE FIRST LINEAR COMBINING MEANS; A FIRST GATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE INPUT DATA AND RESPONSIVE TO THE OUTPUT OF THE FIRST LINEAR COMBINING MEANS FOR PASSING, AS A FIRST INTERMEDIATE DATA REPRESENTATION OF A FIRST INTERMEDIATE PATTERN, THE OUTPUT OF THE FIRST LINEAR COMBINING MEANS WHEN THE CORRESPONDING REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y) ASSUME A PREDETERMINED VALUE; A SECOND MEANS FOR LINEARLY COMBINING A PLURALITY OF SIGNALS; MEANS FOR PRESENTING A FIRST INTERMEDIATE DATA CORRESPONDING TO A PLURALITY OF THE POINTS (X$X1, Y$Y1) IN THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE PATTERN THAT SURROUND A REFERENCE POINT (X,Y) FOR ALL REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y) TO THE SECOND LINEAR COMBINING MEANS; A SECOND GATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE DATA AND RESPONSIVE TO THE FIRST INTERMELINEAR COMBINING MEANS FOR PASSING, AS A SECOND INTERMEDIATE DATA REPRESENTATION Q(2) (X,Y) OF A SECOND INTERMEDIATE PATTERNS, THE OUTPUT OF THE SECOND LINEAR COMBINING MEANS WHEN THE CORRESPONDING REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y) ASSUME A PREDETERMINE VALUE; THRESHOLD MEANS FOR SELECTING THOSE DATA ELEMENTS IN THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE REPRESENTATION THAT HAVE VALUES IN EACH OF A PLURALITY OF NON-OVERLAPPING RANGES OF VALUES;

Claim 2

AN APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON A DATA REPRESENTATION F(X,Y) OF A RELATIVELY WIDE-LINE INPUT PATTERN TO GENERATE A DATA REPRESENTATION OF A THIN-LINE OUTPUT PATTERN COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A FIRST MEANS FOR LINEARLY COMBINING A PLURALITY OF SIGNALS; MEANS FOR PRESENTING THE INPUT DATA CORRESPONDING TO A PLURALITY OF THE POINTS (X$X1, Y$Y1) IN THE INPUT PATTERN THAT SUROUND A REFERENCE POINT (X,Y), FOR ALL REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y), TO THE FIRST LINEAR COMBINING MEANS; A FIRST GATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE INPUT DATA AND RESPONSIVE TO THE OUTPUT OF THE FIRST LINEAR COMBINING MEANS FOR PASSING, AS A FIRST INTERMEDIATE DATA REPRESENTATION OF A FIRST INTERMEDIATE PATTERN, THE OUTPUT OF THE FIRST LINEAR COMBINING MEANS WHEN THE CORRESPONDING REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y) ASSUME A PREDETERMINED VALUE; A SECOND MEANS FOR LINEARLY COMBINING A PLURALITY OF SIGNALS; MEANS FOR PRESENTING A FIRST INTERMEDIATE DATA CORRESPONDING TO A PLURALITY OF THE POINTS (X$X1, Y$Y1) IN THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE PATTERN THAT SURROUND A REFERENCE POINT (X,Y) FOR ALL REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y) TO THE SECOND LINEAR COMBINING MEANS; A SECOND GATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE DATA AND RESPONSIVE TO THE FIRST INTERMELINEAR COMBINING MEANS FOR PASSING, AS A SECOND INTERMEDIATE DATA REPRESENTATION Q(2) (X,Y) OF A SECOND INTERMEDIATE PATTERNS, THE OUTPUT OF THE SECOND LINEAR COMBINING MEANS WHEN THE CORRESPONDING REFERENCE POINTS (X,Y) ASSUME A PREDETERMINE VALUE; THRESHOLD MEANS FOR SELECTING THOSE DATA ELEMENTS IN THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE REPRESENTATION THAT HAVE VALUES IN EACH OF A PLURALITY OF NON-OVERLAPPING RANGES OF VALUES;