SORT APPARATUS AND DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM

摘要

Disclosed is a system for sorting information such as used, for example, in inventory control. New items to be sorted are fetched from a memory unit and are stored as buffered items in buffer stores. Comparators compare each new item from the memory unit with each of the buffered items in the buffer stores and with a lower limit and an upper limit. Item sort address registers store addresses which define the sorted order of the items in the buffer stores. After comparison of each new item, the item sort address registers are updated by the results of the comparison to establish a new sorted order and to cause rejected buffered items to be deleted from the buffer stores to make room for accepted new items. Reformatting apparatus is provided for reformatting items from the memory unit which have variable length and different weight fields such as prefix, body and suffix fields. Apparatus is provided for recognizing control fields which cause items to be ignored or included within the sorting process.