US3631957A

US3631957A - Variable right-hand margin-control system

Info

Publication number: US3631957A
Application number: US838968A
Authority: US
Inventors: David W Terry
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1969-07-03
Filing date: 1969-07-03
Publication date: 1972-01-04
Anticipated expiration: 1989-01-04
Also published as: FR2056223A5; CA925796A; GB1284368A; JPS5014860B1; DE2032842A1; DE2032842B2; DE2032842C3

Abstract

A system which accepts an input tape and provides an output copy having a right-hand edge which is controlled by means of a variable control zone. The control zone may be made relatively wide, such that the occurrence of a word space with automatic carrier return in the zone is virtually assured which results in minimum operator intervention but with a resultant ragged righthand edge; or may be made quite narrow if a relatively uniform right-hand edge is desired but with much greater operator intervention since the likelihood of a space occurring within the zone is greatly reduced. The system is operable such that in the event that more than one space occurs in the zone, the space nearest to the right-hand side of the zone which corresponds to the end of the measure is chosen. Reading of words and spaces between words on the input tape always continues until the first space following the word which overruns the measure is read, and the system then drops back, prints to the previous space, and causes a carrier return of the printer if this previous space occurred in the control zone. Upon overrun and dropback, if no space occurred in the control zone, the line is printed out and stopped for a hyphenation decision at this previous space.

Description

States Patent [72] Inventor David W. Terry 3,340,986 9/ 1967 Adams et a1. 197/20 G org t wn, Tex- 3,386,552 6/1968 Lorberetal. 197/20 PP ,968 3,439,341 4/1969 Dolby et a1. 197/19 X giled d g" i 3,466,604 9/ 1969 Sinnott 197/20 UX atente an. [73] Assignee International Business Machines Pnmary Emmm er Emest wnght corpomfion Attorneys-Hamlin and .lancm and John L. Jackson Armonk, N.Y.

ABSTRACT: A system which accepts an input tape and pro- [54] VARIABLE RIGHT HAND M ARGINCONTROL vides an output copy having a right-hand edge which is con- SYSTEM trolled by means of a variable control zone. The control zone 4 Claims, snrawing Figs. may be made relatively wide, such that the occurrence of a word space with automatic earner return in the zone 18 V11- U-S- tually assured results in minimum operator intervention 197/84 A, l 99 8 but with a resultant ragged right-hand edge; or may be made [51] Int. Cl B41 5/30 quite nan-0w if a relativdy if i ht h d edge is desired Fleld 0f Sal ch 20, b t much greater operator intervention ince the 84184 A; 199/18 likelihood of a space occurring within the zone is greatly [56] References Cited reduced. The system is operable such that in the event that more than one space occurs in the zone, the space nearest to UNITED STATES PATENTS the right-hand side of the zone which corresponds to the end 2,217,150 10/ 1940 Ayres 197/20 of the measure is chosen. Reading of words and spaces 2,484,649 10/1949 Root 197/ 19 between words on the input tape always continues until the 2,762,485 9/1956 Bafour et a1. 197184 A X first space following the word which overruns the measure is 2,797,787 7/1957 Higonnet et a1. 197/19 read, and the system then drops back, prints to the previous 2,954,860 10/1960 Woodhead 197/19 space, and causes a carrier return of the printer if this previous 2,968,383 1/ 1961 l-ligonnett et al. 197/20 space occurred in the control zone. Upon overrun and drop- 3,063,536 11/1962 Dirks 197/19 back, if no space occurred in the control zone, the line is 3,148,766 9/1964 Higonnet et a1. 199/18 printed out and stopped for a hyphenation decision at this 3,272,306 9/ 1966 De Witt et a1.... 197/20 X previous space. 3,3 0 E932 3/1967 Debus et al. 199/18 "W COUNTER |2 Hi COUNTER l2 2 21 PRINT OUT FOR HYPHENATION mzmznm 4m 3.631.957

SHEET 1 BF 2 &

COUNTER 2s MEASURE comma 2 MEASURE 5 55- I4 33 To READER & 1 51 DIAL 23 2 7 l K 26 2s MEASUKRE ZONE & MINUS COMPARE REGISTER ZONE WIDTH I COUNTER |2 2 2| 2g COUNTER |2 ZI L v PRINT OUT FOR- HYPHENATION FIG. I

INVENTOR.

mwm w. TERRY ATTORNEY.

PATENTED JAN 4 B72 SHEET 2 BF 2 OUTPUT LINE INPUT. LINE RIGHT MARGIN ZONE WIDTH I N I F l G 2 l F l G 3 W MIEI'NJENIEI INVENTORI.

DAVID w TERRY VARIABLE RIGHT-HAND MARGIN-CONTROlL SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to tapecontrolled printing systems in general, and more particularly, relates to a system for controlling the uniformity of the righthand edge of output copy printed from an input tape under control of the setup entry made by the operator at the beginning of the printing operation.

2. Description of the Prior Art The art of composing is a relatively old art and in its classic sense, includes the justification of printing, such that the uniformity of both the lefthand edge and righthand edge are 1 controlled. While in classic composing rigid control of the righthand edge of the output copy is required, there are many applications in which a slightly ragged righthand edge is acceptable. There have been many systems designed to print output from an input tape with a ragged righthand edge such that there is less of a requirement for operator intervention in the form of hyphenation decisions during printout. This is the prime reason for utilizing a system in which the right-hand edge of the output copy is not in exact alignment. However, prior to the present invention, there have been no systems in which the operator had a choice as to the degree of raggedness permissible on the righthand edge.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,470 to O'Brien, et al., provides normal justification in which the textual content of the input lines is identical lineforline with the textual content of the output lines. The only difference between input and output is that the output line is justified to the righthand margin and the spaces to fill up to the righthand margin are equally distributed to interword spacing. The OBrien patent is, of course, a typical justification system.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,552 to Lorber, et al., provides a system in which a carrier return will automatically occur at the first space on the far side of a righthand point set into the system by the operator. There is no variable zone in the Lorber system. The Lorber system also provides a hyphenation mode in which the input tape has the words thereon hyphenated by the input operator at every syllable and a carrier return will occur on the first hyphen on the right of the righthand line. Additional modes of sentence, paragraph, and character are also provided. As above noted, there is, however, no provision in the Lorber system of a variable zone which the operator may vary to control the raggedness of the right-hand edge. The operator can only control the earliest point at which a carrier return can occur.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,986 to Adams provides a righthand zone. This zone, however, is not controlled by the machine, but is a visual zone used by the operator viewer. The viewer runs the input tape past a viewing station and makes decisions as to what the righthand margin should look like and marks the tape with a machine readable code to end a line at a selected point which falls between two vertical lines which designate the zone. This is facilitated by having an input tape, having measured lengths on it which can be directly correlated to the length of a line of print on the output copy. There is in the Adams system no provision for the automatic setting of the zone by the operator with substantially unattended operation of the system during the printout as is provided in the subject invention. Instead, in the Adams system the operator must go completely through the input tape marking the line endings prior to beginning the printing operation.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,!54 to Garth describes a typical hot zone system. Garth provides a zone which determines where the lineending point is to occur. However, this zone is related to a multiple of the number of interword spaces in order to control the ultimate size of these interword spaces upon justification of the line and thus, this zone varies for each line. There is no provision for the operator to control the lineending point within a zone that is constant for each line in order to control the raggedness of the righthand edge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, a system is provided which accepts input data from a tape and converts the input data to printed output. The degree of evenness of the righthand edge of the printed output is controlled by the operator setting a zone during the setup operation. During setup the operator sets both the measure and the zone width. First and second Counters are provided which hold the running count from the lefthand margin and the count from the lefthand margin at the time of the last space, respectively. A subtracthold unit is also utilized to hold an amount equal to the measure minus the zone width which is the lefthand side of the zone.

When a space code is read from the input tape, the contents 5 of the first counter are compared against the measure. If the space is to the right of the measure, the contents of the subtracthold unit are compared with the contents of the second counter to determine if the previous space was in the zone. If the previous space is in the zone which is the case when the contents of the second counter are greater than the count in the subtracthold unit, the previous space is the point of an automatic carrier return. If less, the word is printed out for a hyphenation decision since the word completely spans the zone. Thus, reading of the input tape always continues until the measure is overrun and the system then drops back to the previous space location which assures that the space nearest the edge of the measure will, in the event of multiple spaces in the zone, be the space which ends the line.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the subject novel system;

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the system when a word of the input line spans the righthand side of the control zone;

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of the system when two spaces occur in the zone and a word spans the righthand side of the control zone;

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the system when a space is at the righthand side of the control zone;

FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of the system when the zone is chosen to be relatively narrow such that no space occurs within the zone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Refer next to FIG. 1 which shows the overall system which comprises the subject invention. The system as shown in FIG. 1 is designed to facilitate its utilization in a system in which printing of text is to be under control of a previously prepared input tape. The printing of material may follow the complete reading of a line from the input tape with justification or other modifications being made to the line prior to the printing. In this case justification occurs automatically so long as the justification can be accomplished by appropriate interword spacing and in some cases, interletter spacing. These techniques are, of course, well known. In this type of operation, whenever justification cannot be accomplished through use of the maximum permissible interword spacing and interletter spacing the last word is printed out for a hyphenation decision and this decision is then made by the operator.

In FIG. 1 is shown a count line 1 to which counts from the input tape are applied. These counts will correspond in the event of proportional spacing, to the width of the characters read from the tape and spaces read. In the event that proportional spacing is not used, the counts will correspond to the characters read and spaces. These counts are input into a current units counter 2 which is set to zero at the beginning of each line by application of a carrier return signal on

lines

31 and 30 or by a startup signal when the tape reader is turned on. The contents of the current units counter 2 are applied along line 4 to an AND- gate 5. The other input to the AND- gate 5 is along line 3 from a space line. The space line is brought up anytime a space code is read from the input tape. Thus, each time a space code is read, the contents of counter 2, which are equal to the number of counts from the lefthand margin, are applied along lines 6 and 7 to the AND- gate 9 and compare unit 8, respectively. The other input to the compare unit 8 is along line 25 from the measure register 22. The measure register 22 holds a number corresponding to the setting selected by the operator at the beginning of the printing operation. This will correspond to the desired measure. The operator also sets a zone width dial to control the width of the zone. The zone width is stored in register 23.

In compare unit 8 a comparison is made between the contents of the current units counter 2 and the measure set on the measure dial. In the event that the contents of the current units counter 2 are less than the measure, which implies that the measure has not been exceeded, line 10 is brought up and the contents of counter 2 which are applied along line 6 to the AND- gate 9 are gated along line 11 into a counter 12 and stored. This counter 12 thus stores the current contents of counter 2 which is the point of the last space. The point of last space is applied along line 13 to AND- gate 14 which receives its other input from compare unit 8.

Line 15 will be brought up in the event that the contents of counter 2 are greater than the measure. This implies that the measure has been overrun. In the event that the measure has been overrun, the contents of counter 12, which is the last stored current units count, are gated through gate 14 along line 16 into a compare unit 17. The compare unit 17 receives its other input along line 20 from a subtracthold unit 21 which is loaded initially with a count corresponding to the measure minus the zone width. The measure minus the zone width corresponds to the lefthand side of the zone. The loading of counter 21 is accomplished upon a carrier return bringing line 29 up, or upon startup. When line 29 is up, the contents of the measure register 22 and zone width register 23 are applied along

lines

24 and 27, respectively, through AND- gate 26 to the subtract and hold unit 21 over line 28. In the event that upon comparison in compare unit 17, the contents of counter 12, which corresponds to the point that the last space occurred, are equal to or greater than the contents of the subtract and hold unit 21 which corresponds to the lefthand side of the zone, a carrier return will occur at the point of last space. In the event that the contents of counter 12 are less than the contents of counter 21, a printout for hyphenation signal is applied to line 19. This will occur since, in this event, the last space occurred to the left of the lefthand side of the zone and the last word, therefore, completely spans the zone.

With respect to the automatic cam'er return which occurs when the measure is exceeded, which is the case when line 15 from compare unit 8 is up, it should be noted that the point at which the carrier return occurs is at the space immediately preceding the word which overflowed the measure. Thus, in the event that multiple spaces occur in the zone either due to short words, a wide zone, or multiple spaces in tabular material, the space at which the carrier return occurs is the one nearest the end of the measure. This is accomplished by storing the current units count into the point of last space counter 12 each time a space occurs.

Additionally, a carrier return signal which appears on line 18 is also applied along line 36 to AND- gate 38 to gate the point of carrier return along line 37 back to the reader control such that a new line begin point is identified. The point of carrier return which is gated is also applied along line 35 which is the other input to AND- gate 38.

Logically, the above can be described as follows:

I. Take no action until the measure is exceeded.

2. Carrier return at the point of last space if the point of last space falls within the zone and printout for hyphenation if it does not.

For a more complete understanding of the system of FIG. 1, refer next to FIG. 2 wherein is shown an illustration of an input line and an output line which would occur through operation of the subject system. In FIG. 2 the input line is shown with a space occuring in the zone between words C and D and with word D overflowing the measure. Upon application of this input line to the subject system, a carrier return occurs at the space following word C and word D is then brought around onto the following line.

In FIG. 3 is illustrated the case where multiple spaces occur in the zone. As shown upon output the system does not automatically cause a carrier return following a space after word C, but instead causes a carrier return after word D, which is the space nearest the righthand margin. Word E in FIG. 3 is then brought around to the following line. This illustrates that in the subject system that the first space is not acted upon. Instead, the space nearest to the righthand side of the measure is the space which is chosen.

In FIG. 4 is illustrated the case where a relatively long word is input and the space following the long word is at the overflow point. In this case, as illustrated, word C is printed as input.

In FIG. 5 is shown the case where a long word completely spans the zone and thus, the word must be printed out for hyphenation. Again, as illustrated in FIG. 5, hyphenation may perhaps be rejected.

From a consideration of FIG. 1, it should now be obvious that the system of FIG. 1 implements the subject novel technique in which a variable width zone is set by the operator, the width of which will control the amount of unevenness on the righthand side of the output. If a very tight righthand side is required, the zone will be made relatively small such that the likelihood of spaces occurring in the zone, which would cause an automatic carrier return, is lessened. The

trade ofi' here is that more words will be .found to span the zone, and therefore, a greater number of hyphenation decisions will be made. At the other extreme, the zone can be made quite wide such that the likelihood of a word completely spanning the zone, which would necessitate a hyphenation decision, is almost eliminated. In this case, as above described, the evenness of the righthand margin will be made better through use of the subject invention since only the space nearest the end of the measure will cause a carrier return. However, it should be noted that as the zone width chosen by the operator gets wider, the results achieved through use of the subject system tend to approach those achieved in a system in which a carrier return is caused to occur upon the first space to the righthand side of a right margin line.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to several embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in fonn and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A system for controlling the uniformity of the righthand edge of output copy printed from a prepared input tape, by reading words and spaces between words from the input tape until the first space following the word which overruns a selected measure is read, dropping back to the previous space, and causing a carrier return of a printer at said previous space if said previous space occurred in a selected control zone or causing a printout for hyphenation of said printer up to said previous space if said previous space occurred before said control zone was entered, said system comprising:

a measure register for holding an operatorselected measure count defining said measure;

a zone register for holding an operatorselected zone count defining said control zone;

counting means for providing a current units count of data codes from said input tape from the left margin of said output copy;

first comparing means connected to said measure register and to said counting means for comparing said current units count with said selected measure count upon the reading a space code from said input tape, said comparing means having a first output providing a first output signal when said current units count exceeds said measure count, said first output signal being generated upon the reading of the first space code following the word which has overrun said measure, said first comparing means having a second output providing a second output signal when said current units count is less than or equal to said measure count, said second output signal being generated upon the reading of each space code following any word which has not overrun said measure;

comparison means connected to said measure register, said zone register, said counting means, and said first and second outputs of said first comparing means, said comparison means including a point of last space storage means for storing said current units count upon receipt by said comparison means of each of said second output signals of said first comparing means, said current units count being stored by said storage means each time a space code is detected before the current units count exceeds the measure;

said comparison means being operative upon receipt of said first output signal of said first comparing means to provide a carrier return signal to said printer at a first output of said comparison means when the last said stored current units count is within said control zone, said carrier return signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said control zone, and;

said comparison means being operative upon receipt of said first output signal of said first comparing means to provide a printout for hyphenation signal to a printer at a second output of said comparison means when the last stored current units count is outside said control zone, said printout for hyphenation signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said measure when said last space does not occur in said control zone.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said comparison means further comprises:

a first gating means having an input connected to said second output of said first comparing means and an output connected to an input of said point of last-spacestorage means for gating said current units count to said storage means upon receipt by said first gating means of each of said second output signal from said first comparing means;

a second comparing means having a first input connected to said point of last-spacestorage means through a second gating means, said second gating means gating the contents of said point of lastspacestorage means to said first input of said second comparing means upon receipt by said second gating means of a first output signal from said first output of said first comparing means, said second gating means becoming operative for gating the contents of said storage means to said second comparing means only after said current units count exceeds said measure;

a subtracthold means having a first input connected to said measure register, a second input connected to said zone register and an output providing a measure minus zone width count, said output of said subtracthold means being connected to a second input of said second comparing means;

said second comparing means having a first input connected to said first output of said comparison means for providing the carrier return signal to said printer;

said second comparing means having a second output connected to said second output of said comparison means for providing the printout for hyphenation signal to said printer;

said first output of said second comparing means also being connected to a reset input of said current units counting means for setting said currentunitscounting means during each carrier return signal.

3. A system for controlling the uniformity of the righthand edge of output copy printed from a preprepared input tape, by reading words and spaces between words from the input tape until the first space following the word which overruns a selected measure is read, dropping back to the previous space, 75

and

causing a carrier return of a printer at said previous space if said previous space occurred in a selected control zone or causing a printout for hyphenation of said printer up to said previous space if said previous space occurred before said control zone was entered, said system comprising:

a measure register for holding an operatorselected measure count defining said measure; zone register for holding an operatorselected control zone count defining said control zone;

a currentunitscounting means for providing a current units count of data codes read from said input tape, said currentunitscounting means being connected to an input of a spacecodegating means, said spacecodegating means having an output connected to a first input of a first comparing means for applying said current units count to said first comparing means upon the reading of a space code from said input tape;

said measure register having an output connected to another input of said first comparing means;

said first comparing means having a first output providing a first output signal when said current units count exceeds said measure count, said first output signal being generated upon the reading of the first space code following the word which has overrun said measure;

said first comparing means having a second output for providing a second output signal each time said current units count is less than or equal to said measure count, said second output signal being generated upon the reading of each space code following any word which has not overrun said measure;

point of lastspacestorage means for receiving said current units count through a first gating means, said first gating means being connected to said second output of said first comparing means for gating said current units count to said storage means upon receipt by said first gating means of said second output signal from said first comparing means, said current units count being gated to and stored by said storage means each time a space code is read following any word which has not overrun said measure;

second gating means connected to an output of said storage means for gating the contents of said storage means to a first input of a second comparing means upon receipt by said second gating means of a first output signal from said first output of said first comparing means, said second gating means becoming operative for gating the contents of said storage means to said second comparing means only after the first space code following the word has overrun said measure has been read, and;

a subtracthold means having an input connected to an output of a third gating means, said third gating means having a first input connected to the output of said measure register, a second input connected to an output of said zone register, and a third input connected to a startreset input of said currentunitscounting means, said subtracthold means receiving said measure count and said zone width count from said output of said third gating means, said subtracthold means having an output for providing a measure minus zone width count to a second input of said second comparing means, said second comparing means having a first output for providing a carrier return signal to said printer when the laststored contents of said point of lastspacestorage means are greater than or equal to the measure minus zone width count, said carrier return signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said control zone;

said second comparing means having a second output for said first output of said second comparing means also being connected to said startreset input of said currentunitscounting means for setting said counting means during each carrier return signal.

4. A method of controlling the righthand alignment of a print copy printed by a printer under control of data codes and space codes from an input tape comprising the steps of:

selecting a line measure count defining a measure;

selecting a zone width count which is less than said measure count;

reading said data codes and said space codes from said input tape;

counting said data codes and said space codes to define a current units count;

comparing said current units count to said measure count;

storing said current units count each time one of said space codes is read whenever said current units count is less than or equal to said measure count, said current units count being stored upon the reading of each space code following any word which has not overrun said measure;

subtracting said zone width count from said measure count to define a measure minus zone width;

comparing said measure minus zone width with the last said stored current units count when the first space code which follows the word which-has overrun said measure is read;

causing a carrier return of said printer at said laststored current units count if said laststored current units count is greater than or equal to said measure minus zone width, said carrier return occuring at the current units count of the last space code occurring in said control zone;

causing a printout for hyphenation at said laststored current units count if said laststored current units count is less than said measure minus zone width, said printout for hyphenation ending with the current units count of the last space code occurring in said measure when said last space code does not occur in said control zone.

* i i i t

Claims

1. A system for controlling the uniformity of the right-hand edge of output copy printed from a prepared input tape, by reading words and spaces between words from the input tape until the first space following the word which overruns a selected measure is read, dropping back to the previous space, and causing a carrier return of a printer at said previous space if said previous space occurred in a selected control zone or causing a printout for hyphenation of said printer up to said previous space if said previous space occurred before said control zone was entered, said system comprising: a measure register for holding an operator-selected measure count defining said measure; a zone register for holding an operator-selected zone count defining said control zone; counting means for providing a current units count of data codes from said input tape from the left margin of said output copy; first comparing means connected to said measure register and to said counting means for comparing said current units count with said selected measure count upon the reading a space code from said input tape, said comparing means having a first output providing a first output signal when said current units count exceeds said measure count, said first output signal being generated upon the reading of the first space code following the word which has overrun said measure, said first comparing means having a second output providing a second output signal when said current units count is less than or equal to said measure count, said second output signal being generated upon the reading of each space code following any word which has not overrun said measure; comparison means connected to said measure register, said zone register, said counting means, and said first and second outputs of said first comparing means, said comparison means including a point of last space storage means for storing said current units count upon receipt by said comparison means of each of said second output signals of said first comparing means, said current units count being stored by said storage means each time a space code is detected before the current units count exceeds the measure; said comparison means being operative upon receipt of said first output signal of said first comparing means to provide a carrier return signal to said printer at a first output of said comparison means when the last said stored cUrrent units count is within said control zone, said carrier return signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said control zone, and; said comparison means being operative upon receipt of said first output signal of said first comparing means to provide a printout for hyphenation signal to a printer at a second output of said comparison means when the last stored current units count is outside said control zone, said printout for hyphenation signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said measure when said last space does not occur in said control zone.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said comparison means further comprises: a first gating means having an input connected to said second output of said first comparing means and an output connected to an input of said point of last-space-storage means for gating said current units count to said storage means upon receipt by said first gating means of each of said second output signal from said first comparing means; a second comparing means having a first input connected to said point of last-space-storage means through a second gating means, said second gating means gating the contents of said point of last-space-storage means to said first input of said second comparing means upon receipt by said second gating means of a first output signal from said first output of said first comparing means, said second gating means becoming operative for gating the contents of said storage means to said second comparing means only after said current units count exceeds said measure; a subtract-hold means having a first input connected to said measure register, a second input connected to said zone register and an output providing a measure minus zone width count, said output of said subtract-hold means being connected to a second input of said second comparing means; said second comparing means having a first input connected to said first output of said comparison means for providing the carrier return signal to said printer; said second comparing means having a second output connected to said second output of said comparison means for providing the printout for hyphenation signal to said printer; said first output of said second comparing means also being connected to a reset input of said current units counting means for setting said current-units-counting means during each carrier return signal.

3. A system for controlling the uniformity of the right-hand edge of output copy printed from a preprepared input tape, by reading words and spaces between words from the input tape until the first space following the word which overruns a selected measure is read, dropping back to the previous space, and causing a carrier return of a printer at said previous space if said previous space occurred in a selected control zone or causing a printout for hyphenation of said printer up to said previous space if said previous space occurred before said control zone was entered, said system comprising: a measure register for holding an operator-selected measure count defining said measure; a zone register for holding an operator-selected control zone count defining said control zone; a current-units-counting means for providing a current units count of data codes read from said input tape, said current-units-counting means being connected to an input of a space-code-gating means, said space-code-gating means having an output connected to a first input of a first comparing means for applying said current units count to said first comparing means upon the reading of a space code from said input tape; said measure register having an output connected to another input of said first comparing means; said first comparing means having a first output providing a first output signal when said current units count exceeds said measure count, said first output signal being generated upon the reading of the first spAce code following the word which has overrun said measure; said first comparing means having a second output for providing a second output signal each time said current units count is less than or equal to said measure count, said second output signal being generated upon the reading of each space code following any word which has not overrun said measure; a point of last-space-storage means for receiving said current units count through a first gating means, said first gating means being connected to said second output of said first comparing means for gating said current units count to said storage means upon receipt by said first gating means of said second output signal from said first comparing means, said current units count being gated to and stored by said storage means each time a space code is read following any word which has not overrun said measure; a second gating means connected to an output of said storage means for gating the contents of said storage means to a first input of a second comparing means upon receipt by said second gating means of a first output signal from said first output of said first comparing means, said second gating means becoming operative for gating the contents of said storage means to said second comparing means only after the first space code following the word has overrun said measure has been read, and; a subtract-hold means having an input connected to an output of a third gating means, said third gating means having a first input connected to the output of said measure register, a second input connected to an output of said zone register, and a third input connected to a start-reset input of said current-units-counting means, said subtract-hold means receiving said measure count and said zone width count from said output of said third gating means, said subtract-hold means having an output for providing a measure minus zone width count to a second input of said second comparing means, said second comparing means having a first output for providing a carrier return signal to said printer when the last-stored contents of said point of last-space-storage means are greater than or equal to the measure minus zone width count, said carrier return signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said control zone; said second comparing means having a second output for providing a printout for hyphenation signal to said printer when the last-stored contents of said point of last-space-storage means are less than said measure minus zone width count, said printout for hyphenation signal providing said printer with the current units count of the last space occurring in said measure when said last space does not occur in said control zone; said first output of said second comparing means also being connected to said start-reset input of said current-units-counting means for setting said counting means during each carrier return signal.

4. A method of controlling the right-hand alignment of a print copy printed by a printer under control of data codes and space codes from an input tape comprising the steps of: selecting a line measure count defining a measure; selecting a zone width count which is less than said measure count; reading said data codes and said space codes from said input tape; counting said data codes and said space codes to define a current units count; comparing said current units count to said measure count; storing said current units count each time one of said space codes is read whenever said current units count is less than or equal to said measure count, said current units count being stored upon the reading of each space code following any word which has not overrun said measure; subtracting said zone width count from said measure count to define a measure minus zone width; comparing said measure minus zone width with the last said stored current units count when the first space code which follows the word which has oVerrun said measure is read; causing a carrier return of said printer at said last-stored current units count if said last-stored current units count is greater than or equal to said measure minus zone width, said carrier return occurring at the current units count of the last space code occurring in said control zone; causing a printout for hyphenation at said last-stored current units count if said last-stored current units count is less than said measure minus zone width, said printout for hyphenation ending with the current units count of the last space code occurring in said measure when said last space code does not occur in said control zone.