The Illinois Pattern Recognition Computer-ILLIAC III

TLDR: The Pattern Articulation Unit is the first modular parallel processor which is capable of more reliable visual identification than part analog/part digital preprocessors of much less generality and potential virtuosity and can serve as a prototype to a new generation of parallel computers that will capitalize upon thin film and integrated semiconductor circuitry of the immediate future.

Abstract: This report describes the system design of an all-digital computer for visual recognition. One processor, the Pattern Articulation Unit (PAU), has been singled out for detailed discussion. Other units, in particular the Arithmetic Unit and the Taxicrinic Unit, are treated in reports listed in the bibliography. The PAU has been shown to be a processor of fundamentally new design-its logical organization has no analog in the central processing unit of existing computers. The PAU is the first modular parallel processor which because of its digital organization is capable of more reliable visual identification than part analog/part digital preprocessors of much less generality and potential virtuosity; is faster than any presently suggested alternative realizable today at comparable cost; and can serve as a prototype to a new generation of parallel computers that will capitalize upon thin film and integrated semiconductor circuitry of the immediate future.