Keyboard operated apparatus for simultaneous coding and display of chemical structure and similar graphical information

Claim 1

An apparatus for the simultaneous coding and display of structural chemical formulae and other graphical information composed of nodes or ring positions and links or bonds between these nodes, in which a node is identifiable by at least one alphanumeric character and a link is identifiable by graphical marking indicative of its nature and its direction, said apparatus comprising: a keyboard including a first assembly of keys corresponding to different displayable alphanumeric characters, a second assembly of keys corresponding to displayable graphical marking indicative of a link and a third assembly of keys corresponding to different control functions for the apparatus; a coding circuit for producing, in response to key actuation, signals of distinctive codes representative of the identity of the actuated key including as a part of each node a subcode identifying the one of said assemblies of which an actuated key is a member; a store connected to said coding circuit for storing the signals produced by said coding circuit whenever they include a subcode identifying either said first or said second assembly of said keyboard, said store having a fixed number of addressable store locations in each of which said signals relating to a different node and to each link issuing therefrom is storable, one of said locations being available for each of a multiplicity of possible node or ring positions; an oscilloscope having a screen comprising a fixed number of reference points and having an X-input, a Y-input and an intensity control input for displaying in graphical form data corresponding to said signals produced by said coding circuit, the positions of the nodes of said display data on the screen coinciding with locations of said points of the screen and the number of said points of the screen being less than the number of said addressable store locations of said store, whereby the matrix of points on the screen constitutes an image of a part of the matrix of store locations; store address register means for cyclically addressing any collection of said store locations which can simultaneously correspond to the points on said screen of said oscilloscope and having an output connected to said store; a scanning circuit connected to said store address register means for sequentially and cyclically varying the content thereof in such a way as to scan continuously the particular collection of store locations corresponding to said points on said screen at the time of scanning; decoding means connected to said store for successively decoding the signals stored in said scanned store locations, said decoding means comprising an alphanumeric character generator and a graphical link generator connected to said inputs of said oscilloscope for producing a graphical display on the screen of said oscilloscope corresponding to the signals produced by said coding circuit in response to actuation of said keyboard; shift control means connected to said store address register means and operable from said keyboard through said coding circuit for shifting the whole of the points on the screen relative to a corresponding array of the whole of the addressable store locations of said store, so as to change the collection of said addressable store locations which corresponds to the points on the screen; means for generating an index cursor visible on said screen by affecting said intensity input of said oscilloscope; means operable from said keyboard through said coding circuit for selectively positioning said cursor on said screen at a location thereof coinciding with a screen reference point, said cursor positioning means including a cursor address register connected to said coding circuit and having a content representative of the position selected for said cursor by operation of said keyboard, and an equality detector circuit connected to said store address register means and to said cursor address register for providing a storing authorization signal for selecting, for storage of signals from said coding circuit, the one of said addressable store locations in said store which corresponds to that of the cursor on the screen and for providing a command signal to said cursor generating means.

Claim 2

An apparatus for the simultaneous coding and display of structural chemical formulae and other graphical information composed of nodes or ring positions and links or bonds between these nodes, in which a node is identifiable by at least one alphanumeric character and a link is identifiable by graphical marking indicative of its nature and its direction, said apparatus comprising: a keyboard including a first assembly of keys corresponding to different displayable alphanumeric characters, a second assembly of keys corresponding to displayable graphical marking indicative of a link and a third assembly of keys corresponding to different control functions for the apparatus; a coding circuit for producing, in response to key actuation, signals of distinctive codes representative of the identity of the actuated key including as a part of each node a subcode identifying the one of said assemblies of which an actuated key is a member; a store connected to said coding circuit for storing the signals produced by said coding circuit whenever they include a subcode identifying either said first or said second assembly of said keyboard, said store having a fixed number of addressable store locations in each of which said signals relating to a different node and to each link issuing therefrom is storable, one of said locations being available for each of a multiplicity of possible node or ring positions; an oscilloscope having a screen comprising a fixed number of reference points and having an X-input, a Y-input and an intensity control input for displaying in graphical form data corresponding to said signals produced by said coding circuit, the positions of the nodes of said display data on the screen coinciding with locations of said points of the screen and the number of said points of the screen being less than the number of said addressable store locations of said store, whereby the matrix of points on the screen constitutes an image of a part of the matrix of store locations; store address register means for cyclically addressing any collection of said store locations which can simultaneously correspond to the points on said screen of said oscilloscope and having an output connected to said store; a scanning circuit connected to said store address register means for sequentially and cyclically varying the content thereof in such a way as to scan continuously the particular collection of store locations corresponding to said points on said screen at the time of scanning; decoding means connected to said store for successively decoding the signals stored in said scanned store locations, said decoding means comprising an alphanumeric character generator and a graphical link generator connected to said inputs of said oscilloscope for producing a graphical display on the screen of said oscilloscope corresponding to the signals produced by said coding circuit in response to actuation of said keyboard; shift control means connected to said store address register means and operable from said keyboard through said coding circuit for shifting the whole of the points on the screen relative to a corresponding array of the whole of the addressable store locations of said store, so as to change the collection of said addressable store locations which corresponds to the points on the screen; means for generating an index cursor visible on said screen by affecting said intensity input of said oscilloscope; means operable from said keyboard through said coding circuit for selectively positioning said cursor on said screen at a location thereof coinciding with a screen reference point, said cursor positioning means including a cursor address register connected to said coding circuit and having a content representative of the position selected for said cursor by operation of said keyboard, and an equality detector circuit connected to said store address register means and to said cursor address register for providing a storing authorization signal for selecting, for storage of signals from said coding circuit, the one of said addressable store locations in said store which corresponds to that of the cursor on the screen and for providing a command signal to said cursor generating means.