1. In an automatic optical pattern recognition system, the method which comprises scanning a two-dimensional array of photosensors in a raster-like ordered sequence at a scan rate high compared to relative movement between a field of information and said array, processing binary video data flowing from said array at said scan rate without intermediate storage to produce representative feature codes for each scan, applying said feature codes from a complete scan of said array to a distributed flow sequential network, processing said feature codes by a one step state transfer to any logical node in said network to generate a character code representative of a unique relationship between said sequence of feature codes, and identifying a pattern from a stream of character codes produced from repetitive scanning of said array while said pattern is in registration with said array.