Importance

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Abstract

In a facsimile publishing system, a plurality of editorial entities prepare page information for transformation to page signals which are transmitted to a communications satellite for broadcast. The broadcast page signals are received by a plurality of publishing facilities to print custom publications according to individual subscriber interest for daily delivery. The page signals comprise a facsimile signal portion which represents graphic and synchronizing information to control a facsimile printer and an identifying code portion which represents identifying attributes of page content to control selection of pages. The page signal is received by a publishing facility, the facsimile signal portion is stored at an assigned address in a primary memory, and the identifying code portion is stored in association with the assigned address in a page memory. Pages selected by subscribers are stored in a subscriber file as title and editorial entity portions of the identifying code. The page selections are read and transferred to the page address memory for matching with the identifying codes stored therein and the associated addresses are transferred to the primary memory. The primary memory transfers the facsimile signal contents of the addresses to a secondary memory which is read at printing speed to control a facsimile printer. Operations on the subscriber selected pages control selection of complementary pages and other materials for advertisers. The process is repeated until all subscriber entries in the subscriber file are read to control printing of custom publications.

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First Claim