Character reader utilizing on-the-fly identification of character feature signals

Claim 1

IN A CHARACTER READER FOR READING CHARACTERS FROM A DOCUMENT, SAID CHARACTERS BEING FORMED OF ONE OR MORE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES INCLUDING VERTICAL STROKES OCCURRING IN A PLURALITY OF ZONES OF SAID CHARACTERS, SAID SYSTEM INCLUDING MEANS FOR SCANNING EACH CHARACTER BY A PLURALITY OF SCANLINES TO DERIVE SIGNALS SERIALLY REPRESENTING THE FEATURES OF SAID CHARACTER, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING, MEANS FOR DETECTING THE VERTICAL STROKES IN A CHARACTER, MEANS FOR DIVIDING SAID SCANLINES INTO A PLURALITY OF SECTIONS BEGINNING AT A FIRST SECTION WHEN THE FIRST VERTICAL STROKE IS DETECTED IN A CHARACTER, MEANS FOR CLASSIFYING SAID FIRST VERTICAL STROKE AS OCCURRING IN ONE ZONE IN SAID CHARACTER, MEANS FOR STORING THE SCANNING SECTIONS IN WHICH VERTICAL STROKES ARE DETECTED IN SUCCEEDING SCANLINES TO DETERMINE THE RELATIVE LOCATIONS OF ALL THE VERTICAL STROKES WITHIN SAID CHARACTER, AND MEANS FOR RECLASSIFYING SAID FIRST VERTICAL STROKE AS OCCURRING IN A DIFFERENT ZONE WHEN ANY OF THE OTHER VERTICAL STROKES ARE DETECTED IN A PREDETERMINED SECTION OF SAID SCANLINES.