1. A system for classification and identification of patterns, each pattern being represented by an input signal S, said system comprising: (a) a plurality of classification units U.sub.1, U.sub.2. .. U.sub.i. .. U.sub.k, each unit U.sub.i including: (1) pattern feature encoding means, responsive to said signal S, for producing an intermediate signal F.sub.i (F.sub.1, F.sub.2. .. F.sub.i. .. F.sub.k) representative of features contained in the pattern represented by said signal S, each intermediate signal F.sub.i comprising a plurality of signal components (f.sub.1i, f.sub.2i,. .. f.sub.ii. .. f.sub.Mi); and (2) pattern classification means, responsive to said intermediate signal F.sub.i, for producing an output signal R.sub.i (R.sub.1, R.sub.2. .. R.sub.i. .. R.sub.k), representative of a proposed respective class of said pattern represented by said signal S as identified by the features represented by said intermediate signal F.sub.i ; and (b) class selection means, responsive to all of said output signals R.sub.i produced by said classification units U.sub.i, for producing a single output response R representing the class of said pattern.