Single channel character sensing apparatus

• US 3,316,536 A
• Filed: 06/08/1966
• Issued: 04/25/1967
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1963
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: David L. Noble, Douglas R. Andrews
• Original Assignee: David L. Noble, Douglas R. Andrews
• Inventors: Andrews, Douglas R., Noble, David L.
• Application Number:
  US04/556,245
• Time in Patent Office: 321 Days
• US Class Current: 382/139
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2253 Recognition of characters printed with magnetic ink G06V30/2247 takes precedence

Claims

7. APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING INTO A USEFUL FORM CHARACTERS WRITTEN IN HUMAN LANGUAGE IN WHICH THE CHARACTERS ARE DIVIDED INTO A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL ZONE STRIPS HAVING A HEIGHT APPROXIMATELY EQUAL TO THE HEIGHT OF THE CHARACTERS AND ARE WRITTEN WITH MAGNETIC INK, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING:

A CHARACTER SENSING STATION HAVING A SINGLE GAP READ HEAD;

MEANS TO MOVE EACH CHARACTER RELATIVE TO SAID CHARACTER SENSING STATION WHEREBY SAID ZONE STRIPS SEQUENTIALLY TRAVERSE SAID READ HEAD;

MEANS TO OBTAIN FROM SAID READ HEAD A CHARACTERISTIC SIGNAL FOR EACH CHARACTER TRAVERSING SAID READ HEAD, SAID CHARACTERISTIC SIGNAL COMPRISING A SEQUENCE OF RELATIVELY POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SLOPING ZONE SIGNALS, EACH OF SAID ZONE SIGNALS BEING DERIVED FROM A SINGLE ZONE STRIP;

DETECTING MEANS OPERATIVE IN RESPONSE TO THE FIRST PEAK OF SAID CHARACTERISTIC SIGNAL FOR PROVIDING A CHARACTER START PULSE;

TIMING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID CHARACTER START PULSE FOR ESTABLISHING SUCCESSIVE EQUALLY SPACED ZONE START PULSES;

ZONE INTEGRATING MEANS FOR SEQUENTIALLY INTEGRATING THE ABSOLUTE VALUES OF SAID ZONE SIGNALS PROVIDING A ZONE INTEGRAL SIGNAL;

SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS ADAPTED TO SUCCESSIVELY GENERATE CORRELATION SIGNALS IN RESPONSE TO SUCCESSIVE ZONE START PULSES;

MULTIPLYING MEANS FOR SUCCESSIVELY MULTIPLYING THE MAJOR PORTION OF EACH OF SAID ZONE SIGNALS BY ONE OF SAID SUCCESSIVELY GENERATED CORRELATING SIGNALS;

INTEGRATING MEANS FOR SUCCESSIVELY INTEGRATING THE OUTPUT PRODUCT OF SAID MULTIPLYING MEANS;

AND CLASSIFICATION MEANS FOR GENERATING A FIRST PULSE IN RESPONSE TO POSITIVE INTEGRALS OF THE OUTPUT PRODUCTS EXCEEDING IN VALUE A SPECIFIED MULTIPLE OF THE ASSOCIATED ZONE INTEGRAL SIGNAL, A SECOND PULSE IN RESPONSE TO NEGATIVE INTEGRALS OF THE OUTPUT PRODUCTS EXCEEDING IN VALUE A SPECIFIED MULTIPLE OF THE ASSOCIATED ZONE INTEGRAL SIGNAL, AND A THIRD PULSE IN RESPONSE TO INTEGRALS OF THE OUTPUT PRODUCTS OF APPROXIMATELY ZERO VALUES, SAID PULSES COLLECTIVELY BEING REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CHARACTER SENSED.