GB779651A - Improvements in or relating to intelligence storage equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

779,651. Digital electric calculating-apparatus. STANDARD TELEPHONES & CABLES, Ltd. June 11, 1954 [June 19, 1953], No. 17034/53. Class 106 (1). Intelligence storage equipment comprises a first store which provides a number of independent storage sections of equal capacity in each of which a word may be stored and in which the contents of said store are maintained in circulation, reading and recording means associated with said store, a second store having the same storage capacity as one of said storage sections in which a word can be stored and in which the contents of said second store are maintained in circulation, reading and recording means associated with said second store, the arrangement being such that each time the contents of said second store commence to be in operative relation with the reading means thereof the contents of a different one of the storage sections of the first store commence to be in operative relation with the reading means thereof, whereby a word in said second store may be successively offered to all of the storage sections of said first store, means for selecting a storage section of said first store, and means under control of said selecting means and reponsive to the contents of said selected storage section commencing to be in operative relation with the reading means of said first store during said circulation of the contents thereof to cause the performance of a data processing operation involving the word in the selected section of said first store and the word in said second store, which data processing operation commences when said words commence to be read by the respective ones of said reading means. A typical operation of the invention using the apparatus of a first embodiment comprises the following three steps: (1) a number from a section A of a first magnetic drum track T1, Fig. 2, forming a main store, is transferred to an auxiliary one-word store constituted by a second track T2 having reading and writing heads RDH, RCH, separated by a length of track equivalent to one word; (2) a number from a section B of the main store is added to the number in the auxiliary store, both numbers being presented simultaneously together with the output from a carry trigger F4, Fig. 4, to an adder constituted by an arrangement of gates described in detail in Specification 749,440 which is referred to, the sum of the two numbers being represented by the output from a trigger F3, and being inserted in the auxiliary store in place of the number from section A of the main store, so that the auxiliary store now holds the number (A+B); and (3) the number in the auxiliary store is inserted into a section C of the main store. The circulation path for the auxiliary store-read head RDH, amplifier A2 from where an output is taken to the adder, delay D2, gates G4, G5 and write head RCH-is closed, by the absence of a signal PABN, whenever either a signal PAW or PBW is present, which is when either section A or section B respectively, of the main store is being read. When a signal PCW, specifying section C of the main store, is present, a gate G3 is opened allowing the transfer of the word in the auxiliary store to the main store. In a second embodiment the two stores are constituted by shifting registers. Specification 663,574, [Group XL (c)], also is referred to.