{
  "patent_number": "US 3120606",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How the ENIAC Computer Processes Data Using Electronic Pulses",
  "original_title": "Electronic numerical integrator and computer",
  "summary": "A foundational 1964 patent describing how the ENIAC computer used sequences of electronic pulses to store, read, and process numerical and qualitative data.",
  "what_it_does": "The patent describes a system that uses electronic pulses to represent information. It generates sequences of pulses and divides them into groups. Some pulses are selected to represent quantitative values (the numbers being calculated), while others represent qualitative values (the instructions or commands for what to do with those numbers). The system reads this data, stores it, and then uses the qualitative pulses to trigger specific switching operations that act upon the quantitative values.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover modern binary computing architectures using transistors or silicon chips.",
    "Does not cover software-based programming methods stored on magnetic or solid-state memory.",
    "Does not cover general-purpose computers that do not rely on this specific pulse-sequencing hardware architecture."
  ],
  "filed": "1947-06-26",
  "granted": "1964-02-04",
  "expires": "1981-02-04",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Sperry Rand Corp",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/sperry-rand-corp",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Jr John Presper Eckert",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/jr-john-presper-eckert"
    },
    {
      "name": "John W Mauchly",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/john-w-mauchly"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 16,
  "tags": [
    "semiconductors",
    "mechanical"
  ],
  "abstract": null,
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/3120606/eniac-electronic-computer",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/3120606/eniac-electronic-computer/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US3120606",
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}