GB748336A - Improvements in or relating to information handling equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

748,336. Digital electric calculating-apparatus. STANDARD TELEPHONES & CABLES, Ltd. Feb. 27, 1953 [March 6, 1952], No. 5874/52. Class 106 (1). Equipment for handling information in accordance with instructions received comprises an operational instruction store, a device for determining whether an instruction being received includes a particular characteristic indicating that a series of instructions is to be sent, a reserve instruction store for receiving and storing a series of instructions, means for switching instructions to the reserve store when a series of instructions is being received, a device for terminating the switching when an end of series characteristic is detected, and means for switching individual instructions in turn from the reserve store to the operational store for use in controlling the handling of information subsequently received. The invention provides a modification of the arrangement for controlling the recording of information from a computer described in Specification 732,347. A multiple instruction word is recognized by digits " 11 " in the first two binary positions of the word as registered on flipflops F1, F2 of a staticizer or decoder 7, and a gate G1 is opened to allow the remaining binary digits of the instruction to pass, via G2 and switch X, to a stepping register M1A1, preferably of the type described in Specification 663,574, [Group XXXIX]. Intermediate step pulses are supplied via PSP from the computor. When the first instruction word has filled the register M1A1, the switch X is changed over so as to direct the next word into a second register M1A2. Meanwhile the first instruction is stepped out of M1A1, this time by stepping pulses derived from a rotating toothed disc 2 or similar source, and fed via switch Y and gate G3 to a recording head 4 which magnetically records the instruction on a drum 1 rotating with the disc 2. When M1A2 is full, switches X and Y are changed over and the second instruction item is recorded on the drum in a similar manner, while a third instruction (if present) is fed to the first register M1A1. The last instruction item of a block is identified by digits " 10 " in the first two binary places. These cause the closing of gate G1 after the instruction has been registered and change over of the inlet switch 6 so that subsequent numerical results are fed to an arithmetic unit 8. A read-out voltage ROW is now applied to a gate G4 and allows read-out pulses from the magnetic store 1 to pass via gate G2 to the register M1A1. When the first instruction has filled the latter, parallel connections between the elements of M1A1 and the decorder 7 transfer the instruction to that unit which then controls the composition of the result data fed to the arithmetic unit 8. Subsequent items of the multiple instruction are fed from the store 1 via register M1A1 or M1A2 to the decoder in a similar manner. Single instruction items, indicated by digits " 00 " in the first two binary places, are not gated through to the registers M1A1, M1A2, being registered only as required in the decoder 7. The digits " 01 " in the first two binary positions cause the last multiple instruction to be repeated by reading it out again from the store. A new multiple instruction may be recorded on the drum 1 over a previous record (so obliterating it) or arrangements may be provided to record on a new track and preserve the earlier recording. A separate reproducing head 5, reading instruction elements in advance of the read/write head 4, feeds a control circuit 10 which starts the magnetic recording tape feeding mechanism before the signals to be recorded are read out. Specification 732,341 also is referred to.