Patent GB-792861-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for synthesizing facsimile signals from coded signals
IPC: H04L21/00
Filed: 1954-11-29
Abstract: 792,861. Facsimile telegraphy; translating from one code to another. EASTMAN KODAK CO. Nov. 29, 1954 [Nov. 30, 1953], No. 34470/54. Class 40 (3). The invention relates to apparatus for synthesizing facsmile signals from coded signals and is described in relation to apparatus for printing address labels from binary code information carried by punched cards. A four line address is considered and the punched cards, Fig. 2, which are of a standard pattern comprising twelve rows and eighty columns, are divided into four areas A-D. Each area is devoted to one line of the address and each six unit column in the area conveys one character. Of the forty columns in each area only twenty-four are used. The information from the cards is read out by means of photo-cells and the resulting signals applied through circuits in which they are eventually synthesized into facsimile signals for printing characters built up from a 7 Î 5 dot rectangle as shown in Fig. 4 by means of a multi-style printer as described in Specification 711,497. The characterizing feature of the invention resides in the use of magnetic memory circuits in which the photo-cell signals are stored before application to the synthesizing circuits. The synthesizing circuits can be connected to the memory circuits in any order, and the arrangement permits the apparatus to be set up to print the information from any area of the card in any line of the address. Furthermore, the characters in a line can be read off for printing in a different order from that in which they are read in from the cards. According to a subsidiary feature, provision is made for deriving a single line of the address, such as the town line which is repeated in a large number of addresses, from a separate card in a stationary card reader. This avoids the punching of common information in a large number of cards. A further feature involves an auxiliary memory circuit which detects a change in the town being printed on the labels and causes a characteristic mark to be printed at the change. This feature is employed where the labels are printed on a continuous strip to enable them to be readily separated. In Fig. 1 punched cards 10 are fed past rows of photo-cells 14 and 17 and the binary coded information read out character-by-character from the four areas A-D simultaneously, and distributed to groups of twenty-four sockets 28 under the control of circuits 29 (illustrated in detail in Fig. 6, not shown) synchronized by a pulse generator comprising photo-cell 23 and disc 20 driven from the card feed mechanism. Pulses from amplifier 24 gate the distributers to cause the production of short pulses from the code signals and also drive a twenty-four stage ring chain 26 controlling the distribution. Sockets 28 are connected via plugs 37 to memory units 31, the arrangement permitting the distributers and memory units to be associated in any order and also permitting the order of plugs and sockets in any one group to be varied. The memory circuits (illustrated in detail in Fig. 9, not shown) each comprise twenty-four groups of magnetic cores, there being six cores per group corresponding to the six elements of each code signal, and each core has three windings, a read-in winding connected to receive the code element via plugs 37, a read-out winding to which a pulse is applied when the recorded code is to be read out and an output winding. The six output windings from the groups are connected in common to control six flip-flop circuits 80 and the read-out windings of the groups are pulsed in sequence under the control of a twenty-four stage ring chain 47 so that the flip-flop circuits 80 take up in turn the conditions of the recorded codes. The timing of the readout operation is controlled by the multi-style printing mechanism 142 and for this purpose a second synchronizing pulse generator comprising photo-cell 45 and disc 41 is provided driven from the spindle 144 advancing the paper 145 and carbon 146 by which the labels are printed. The output from amplifier 46 drives a sevenstage ring chain 48 (see below) and this in turn drives ring chain 47. Flip-flop circuits 80 control decoding circuits 81, comprising rectifier networks illustrated in detail in Fig. 11 (not shown), the arrangement being such that, in response to a code signal, a potential is caused to appear on a terminal lead individual to the character represented by the code. These leads then extend from the decoding circuits to synthesizing circuits 125 which again comprise matrices of rectifiers (illustrated in detail in Fig. 12, not shown) and are arranged in response to a potential on a particular character lead to produce potentials on selected lines in an assembly of thirty-five. These lines are formed into seven groups of five corresponding to the 7 X 5 dot rectangle produced by the printer and the synthesizing circuit energizes the lines in a pattern corresponding to the character to be printed. The printer comprises groups 142 of seven styli for each line to be printed and the synthesized signals as represented by the selected energized lines are applied to control the styli 171 in synchronism with the paper movement by matrix circuits 128. The matrix circuits (illustrated in deteil in Fig. 13, not shown) translate the seven signals corresponding to each of the five columns of the printer characters in turn the circuits operating in response to five pulses applied from the second to sixth stages in ring 48. No action is effected in response to the first and seventh counts and results in the space of two units between characters as shown in Fig. 4. The seventh count steps ring chain 47 and causes the next code to be read out of the memory units as described above. A separate card positioned in a stationary card reader 55, 56, Fig. 7 (not shown), may be employed to avoid repeating common information, such as the town line of an address, in the main code cards. The card is sensed by an array of contacts under control of ring chain 26 and the code signals distributed by circuit 60 to sockets 59 in the same manner as for the main code cards. These sockets may then be plugged through to a memcry circuit as indicated in the usual way. A town marker circuit 64 is provided to control the printer to produce a characteristic mark on the paper strip 145 when the town line of the address changes. The circuit, Fig. 10 (not shown), is similar to a memory circuit and is connected to receive one or more character code signals in the town line from a code distributor. The circuit applies the received signals to both the read-in and read-out coils and is arranged so that normally no output appears in the output coil due to identical conditions being applied on successive operations. When however the characters change, indicating another town, an output is produced and applied to set selected groups in the memory circuit dealing with the town line so that a characteristic mark is subsequently printed. The arrangement of circuits comprising decoding circuit 81, signal synthesizing circuit 125 and matrix circuit 128 employed for translating from the code signals to facsimile printing forms the subject-matter of Specification 792,862. Specification 711,498 also is referred to.