Reading and decoding of magnetically printed message - uses two separated reading heads to avoid need for close printing tolerances

摘要

A m essage magnetically recorded by a vertical pattern of lines separated by intervals and printed on such items as bank cheques is read and decoded by passing the recording past a magnetic head. This method is insensitive to speed of movement and printing tolerances. A magnetically recorded message is read by two reading heads (12, 13). The heads are connected to reading channels (I, II) which operate in conjunction with a clock generator (26) to obtain calibrated pulses which are passed to an eight position state counter (27). A bit counter (28) with six positions is connected to the clock and two outputs of the static counter. A shift register (40) with memories (41-47) has six outputs (50-55) which produces a binary coded word.