CA1185007A - Dictation display device - Google Patents

Abstract

"DICTATION DISPLAY DEVICE"
Abstract Disclosed is a dictation recording system in-cluding a dictate station which has means for generating an end signal and means for recording the end signal on a record medium to delimit the end of a segment of dictation and includes motion signal means for providing a motion signal in response to an increment of the record medium moving past a predetermined reference point. A transport provides for selective-ly moving the record medium in a forward direction and a reverse direction and an end mark detector is provided for detecting a previously-recorded end signal and providing a detected end signal. An improved display apparatus for the dictation station is provided for maintaining a visual representation of the location of the reference point within the present one of a plurality of segments of dictation on the record medium. The apparatus includes direction detecting means for providing a forward signal when the record medium is moving in the forward direction and a reverse signal when the record medium is moving in the reverse direction.
Up/down counting means is responsive to the motion signal, the forward signal, and the reverse signal, and is incremented upon each concurrence of the motion signal and the forward signal and decremented upon each concurrence o the motion signal, and the reverse signal. Display means is connected to the counting means for displaying the count maintained by the counting means as the visual representation of the location of the reference point within the present dictation segment. Control means responsive to the detected end signal and the reverse signal render the counting means unresponsive to increment and decrement upon the exit from the present one of a plurality of segments of dictation when moving the record medium in the reverse direction. The inhibit means is further responsive to the detected end signal and the forward signal for rendering the counting means responsive to increment and decrement upon the reentry of the present one of the plurality of segments of dictation when moving the record medium in the forward direction. Thus, the display means is rendered inoperative to display the location of the reference point upon the exit in the reverse direction from the present segment of dictation and until the return in the forward direction to the present segment.

Description

~85iC~7 Description "DICTATION DISPLAY DEVICE"

This applica-tion is a division of Canadian patent application Serial No. 343,155 filed January 7, 1980.

Technical Field The present invention relates to dictation recording and transcription systems and to displays for use in connection with dictate stations and transcribe stations which alert the users thereof to the mode in which the equipment is currently operating, and various parameters of dictation segments.

Background of the Invention In dictation recording and transcribing equipment it is desirable to alert both the dictator and the transcriber to various states of machine operation and parameters of dictation segments.

In dictation equipment using discrete record members, such as tape cassettes, it is desirable not only to provide information to the transcriber as to the mode in which a transcribe unit is operating, but also to provide a visual display d~noting the end points of dictation segments and the ~ ~5~ ~

_ location of certain instructions which have been recorded on the tape. It is known in the art to provide ~echanical counters on dictation ~nits which are coupled to a tape transport in ord~r to indicate the amount of tape in a particular cassette whlch has been transcribed. ~urthexmore, ~t is known to provl~e a linear strip upon which visible indications of the ends of dictatlon segment~ and the location of.
instructions are printed either by ink, u~e of heat sensitive pa~er, or some other means.
~ore recent developments have provided a plurality o~ light-emitting segments which are maintained in a 1 it or unlit state ~s signals of a particular characteristic are located during a rewind operation. Such displays use a linear array of light emi~tin~ segments, each vf which corresponds to a certain ~osition on he tape in a discre e tape carrier. Conventionally the right~hand side ~as the user faces the display) represents the end of the tape ana the le~t-hand side represents the beginning.
Regardless of which side of the array represents which er.d of the tape, these displays have eQtered the signal from tbe end of the display which represents the end o tape. When ~ess than all o the taoe in a discrete tape ~arrier has been used for dictation the physical end of the recording tape is reached prior to the end of the array. T~erefore, this type of display requires that two steps be carried out by the operator in order to make the information in the display most useful. ~irst the operator ~ust completely rewind the tape ~n the discrete tape carrier in order to ~ill~ the display wi~h the information available on the tape a~ to location of ends of di~tation seg~ents and locations 3s of instruCtionS- 5econdly, when ehe physica1 3 ~8SV~7 beginning of the tape is reached the entire contents of the display must be justified ~conventionally to the left) in order that the beginning of the physical tape correspon~s to the portion of the array which represents the beginning o~ the tape.
At a dictate station in a dictation recording and transcribing system it has been known to provide a visible in-dication that a dic~ate station is operating in a recording mode.
It has ~urther been known to provide indicia on a strip of paper or the like which will indicate to the user the length o~ the dictation segment currently being dictated.
Summar ~of the Invention The invention to which the claims of this divisional application are specifically directed pertains to a dictation recording system including a dictate station which has means for generating an end signal and means for recording the end signal on a record medium to delimit the end of a segment of dictation, and includes motion signal means for providing a motion signal in response to an increment of the record medium moving past a predetermined reference point. A transport provides for selective-ly moving the record medium in a forward direction and a reverse direction and an end mark detector is provided for detecting a previously-recorded end signal and providing a detected end signal. An improved display apparatus for the dictation station is provided for maintaining a visual representation of the location of the reference point within the present one of a plurality of segments of dictation on the record medium. The apparatus includes direction detecting means for providing a forward signal when the record medium is moving in the forward direction and a reverse signal when the record medium is moving in the reverse direction.
Up/down counting means is responsive to the motion signal~ the forward signal, and the reverse signal, and is incremented upon each concurrence of the motion signal and the forward signal and decremented upon each concurrence of the motion signal, and the reverse signal. Display means is connected to the counting means for displaying the count maintained by the coun~ing means as the visual representation of the location of the reference point within the present dictation segment. Control means responsive to the detected end signal and the reverse signal render the counting means unresponsive to increment and decrement upon the exit from 3a the present one of a plurality of segments of dictation when moving the record medium in the reverse direction. The inhibit means is further responsive to the detected end signal and the forward signal for rendering the counting means responsive to increment and decrement upon the reentry of the present one of the plurality of segments of dictation when moving the record medium in the forward direction. Thus, the display means is rendered inoperative to display the loca-tion of the reference point upon the exit in the reverse direction from the present segment of dictation and until the return in the forward direction to the present segment.
More particularly, the present invention as disclosed provides a visual display unit for both a dictate station and a ~ranscribe station in a dictation recording and transcription system. According to one aspect of the present invention, a plurality of selectively actuable visible indicators, which pre-ferably comprise lighted segments is provided, each of which represents a location on the recording medium of a discrete record-ing member such as a conventional tape cassette. The array of lighted segments is preferably linear and one end of this array (preferably the left-hand end as viewed by the user) always represents the location of the farthest point reached when the tape is winding in a predetermined direction.
According to a preferred form of the present invention when an unrewound tape containing dictation is supplied to the transcribe station and rewinding toward the beginning of the tape is commenced, the leftmost segment of -the array ~ s~

represents the farthest point reached during rewind.
~his point is closest to the beginning o~ the tape that has been reached. If the tape is subsequently moved in a forward direction, the leftmost segment of the array will still represent the poin~ nearest ~he beginning of the tape that has been reached during any previous rewinding of that tape.
According to another aspect of the present.
invention, control circuitry is prov;ded which i5 responsive to the detection of signals denoting the end of a dictation segment and the location of lnstruction~ or the transcriber. The control circuitry is arranged so that the location of one type of mark will be represented ~y a steadily illuminated segment of the array, and the location of the other type of mark will be represented by an intermitt2ntly lighted segment of the array7 According to still another aspect of the present invention, signals denotîng the location of ends of dictation segments and locations o~
lnstruction signals are always entered from one end of the array ~preferablv the left). Since the same end of the array repre~ents the farthest position reached on the tape by winding in a predetermined direction (conventionally rewind), a display is provided which re~uires no separate justification operation in order to provide the user with a visual display which accurately represents the tape within the tape carrier.
When rewinding stops and forward tape movemen~ begins a shutter is provided wh;ch comprises a contiguous set of the lighted segments beginning at the leftmos~ segment. As forward movement of the tape progresses, the ri~ht hand end of the shutter moves ~o the right. If rewinding is again commenced, ~s~

the sh~tter retreats toward the left hand side of the array until it disappears when the farthest point reached during a previous rewind is again reached.
I~ rewinding continues, the leftmost segment of the S array continuously represents the new farthest point reached during rewind and the lighted se~ments indicatirg ends of dictation seginents a nd instructions are shifted to the right.
According to another aspect of the present invention, preferably used in a dictate station, displays are provided which represent both the cumulative amount of tape in the tape carrier which has been used and the length of the present dictation segment. The display representlng ~ength of the present dictation segment m2y selectively be rendered unresponsive eo tape ~ovement when t~e user r~winds the tape into a previous dictation se~ment, or may be made Fesponsive to tape movement upon entry into a previously recorded dictation segment.
According to still another aspect o~ the present invention, a lighted segment which indicates to the dictator when a predetermined amount of ta~e remains for the recording of dictation is provided and also indicates when the end of t~pe ha~ been reached.
Other new and useful aspects of the present ~nvention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows.
3~
rief Description of the_Drawings Pig. 1~ is a block diagram o~ an environment of the present invention.
Pig. lB is a pictorial view of the preferred display output for a transcribe st~tion in 5()~7 the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Pig. lC is a pictorial view of the preferred display section for a dictation station in ` the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2A is a schematic diagr~m of a preferred embodi~ent of the circuitry controlling the transcription display array o Fig. lB.
FigO 2B ~s a schematic diagram of the circuitry controlling the transcription display function segments.
F~g. 3A is a p~rtially schematic and partially block diagram of a prePerred e~bodiment of the circuitry controllng the di~tation display as shown in Fig. lC.
Fig. 3B is ~ schematis diagram of the ~ircuitry controlling the end zone segment of the dictation display of Fig. lC~ appearing with Fig. 2B.

Detailed Descri~tion Fig. lA shows an environment of the present invention wherein a dictator 6 records dictation at a d ictate station 4 on a tape cassette 7. Various parameters of the dictation being recorded are displayed on dictation display 8 which is a part of the presen~ invention.
A cassette containing recorded dictation is ~hown ~s 7' and is supplied to transcribe station 5 ~or transcription. ~he progress of a transcription operation taking place at transcribe station ~ is 3~ monit~red on transcription display 9 which comprises a part of the present invention.
~ig. lB shows the display outp~t for a transcription station of the preferred embodiment of ~he present invention~ This display comprises an array 10 of selectively actuable lighted segments 35V~7 which in the ~referred embodiment disclosed comprises a linear array of sixty individual segments. The array of the preferred embodiment is ~electèd to acco~odate standard C-60 oassettes which will accept thirty minutes o~ recorded dictation per side. ~ach segment ~ n the pref erred e~bodiment represents approxi~ately one-half minute of recordin~ tape ln a C-60 cassette. It is of course possible to use a greater or lesser nu~ber of seg~ents in the array and the choice of sixty disclosed herein is an implementation of the preferred embodiment and should not be construed to limit the ~cope of the present invention.
The pr~ferred embodiment of the tran~cription display also lncludes selectively actuable segments 11~ 12, 15 and 16 whlch ~re llluminated when the transcription unit ~s ~n an erase, fast forward, reverse, and listen mode respectiYely. Throughout this description these segments shall be referred to as ~ode segments.
Each of the segments shown in Fig. lB, whe~her mode segment~ or segments of linear array 1~, may comprise any selectlvely actuatable light source.
As shown herein, each ~egment compr~ses a light em~tt~ng d~ode ~LED), The eeonomics of manufacturin~ lndica~e that production of a large number of identical displays ~ould be economically lmplemented by making each segment an ~ndividual segment o~ a single liqu~d crystal display. ~t will be under~tood that any actuatable li~ht oul~ce ~ncluding light butb~, may be used to construct an embodi~ent o the transc~iption display of the present invention.
~ig. lC ~hows the preferred embodiment of the display unit for a dictate 5tation. The ~51~

dictation display also includes mode segments 17, 16', 15', 12' and 1~ which are illuQinated when the dictate station is in a record, listen/ reverser fast forward, and telephone mode respectively. The telephone mode which illuminates mode se~ment 18, lndicates that the source of the ~nput signal to the dictate station is a telephone interf ace . Such telephone interfaces are available as part of.
conventional PBX equipment and the interf ace per se forms no part of the present lnventlon.
End zone segment 22 is another s21ectively actuatable light segment, the function of which will be described in greater detail below"
Total length segment 20 shows a numerical readout indica'f:ing the total aMount of tape upon which dictation has been recorded. In the preferred embodiment shown in Fig. lC, total len~th segment 20 coFlprises a three digit numerical display, two for - representing minutes, and the th ird d igit

2~ representing tenth5 of minutes. Each numeral in total length display 20 is for~ed by a eonventional ~even segment device and may be embodiea by a seven ~egment LED displays, liquid crystal displays, ~ixie tubes, or the like.
Letter length se~ment 21 indicates the length of the present dictation segment~ Dictation segments in the environment of the present invention are defined as segments falling between ~end marks~
recorde~ on the tape. The operation of letter length segmen~ 21 and its response to ce~tain function control com~ands will be described in greater detail below .
The preferred e~bo~iment of the di~tation display also includes 3 conventional rea~ ti~e clock 19 which per ~e forms no part of the present ,, ~85~
.

invention but is included for the convenience vf the user.

Transcription Dis~lay OUtDut The output of the transcription display shown in ~ig~ lB as it relates to operation of a transcription station by a user will now be explained. This sec:tion of the disclosure will indioate the functioning o the output display as it relates to operations performed by a transcrlber and the circuitry controlling the operation of ~his display will be descrihed in the section immediately following the present section.
In the transcri~tion display of the present invention each segment of linear array 10 represen~s certain location on the tape in a cassette ~eing transcribed. It ~ s consid2red desirable in a transcription display to have a particular e~d o the display represent the farthest point to which the tape has been wound in a given d~rection~
Conventiorlally, dictated cassettes provided to a transcriber are left in an unrewound configuration.
Xn most western countries, ~he conventlon of rea~ing from left to right i~3 preYalent. Ther~fore~ in the preferred embodiment, the left-hand end of linear array 10 is chosen as representin~ the farthest point to which the cassette being transoribed ha~s been rewound durinq all prevlous rewind operations~, It is of course possible to use a configuration of lighted

3~ ~egmenes other than a linear ~rray and to select another polnt on the array to represent the farthest point to w~i~h the tape has been rewound. Howevert it is considered preferable to use a llnear array and urthermore considered preferable that the left-hand end of the array represent the farthest rewound 1~5~7 position~
~ ~he environment o~ the present invention contem~lates that the tape provided to ~he transcriotionist will contain both recorded dictation and recorded end marks (E ~arks) and instruction marks ( I marks ) ~ ~he E marks recorded on tbe ~ape denote the end of a segment o~ dictation such ~3s a letter or a memorandum. The I marks recorded on the tape are used to alert the tran~criptionist to the loca~cion of instructions recorded orl the t~pe by the dictator~ ~ system for recording 1: marks and I marks o the type described above is disclosed in 11. S ~
Patent 4~024,354 assigned to the same assignee as ~he present invention.
~pon placing a cassette upon which dictationd E marks, ana I marks have been recorde~ ln a transoription unit, 'che transcr~ber ~7ill conventionally first begin to rew~nd the tape. The first mark to be encountered wlll be the last E ~ark on the tape denoting ~he end of the last d~ctation segment. This end mark will appear by light~ng 'che farthest left-hand seg~ent of linear array 10 and maintaining lt in a con-~tantly lit state~ As the rewinding of the tape proceed~, the f arthest 2~ left-hana element of linear array 10 wlll be extinguished and the next contiguous element of 1 inear zrray 10 to th~ right will become i-llumin~ed.
Since the spacing betwe~n each element of linear array 10 represents a~proximately thirty secon~s of recording tape, ea~h time thirty second3 of ap~
~approximately fity-~ix inches for convent~onal cassettes) ls rewound, the lighted se~ment representin~ the last end marX will be shifted to the right ~ne segment.
If the last dictation s2gment reoorded on ~s~

the tape was five minutes long, the next to last end mark will appear at the farthest left-hand element of the array 10 when the lighted segment representing the last end ~arX is at the tenth segment fro~ the S left-hand end of array 10, i.e., under the numeral ~~
which appears in Fig~ lB~ The illuminated segments representing end mark~ will contin~e to ~bift to the right so long as the tape is being rewound. ~ssu~e the next mark encountered on ~he tape being rewound is an instruction mark. Instruction marks appear at the left-hand end of the display as an intermittently lit se~ments o array 10 and thus the segment representing the location of an I mark wlll flash or blinX in the display. As the tape continues to be rewound, the flashing segment representing locativn of instruction marX will be shifted to the right in the same manner as the constantly lit segments representlng end marXs.
If at any time the rewinding procedure terminates, and the transcriptionist begins listening ~o the rewound portion of the tape~ a second mode o display for array 10 i9 initiated. ~s the transcriptionist winds the tape forward, as will be done when listening to tape while transcribing it, the farthest left-hand segment of the array 10 will continue to represent the segment of tape nearest the beginning of dictation that has been reached during rewtnd~ This will be referred to a~ the farthest rewound position of the tapeO As listening 3~ continues~ each se~ment rom the left-hand en~ of array 10 proceeding to the ri~ht wlll beco~e con~inuously lit and remain continuously lit. It may therefore be seen that a ~shutter~ is provided which indicate~ to the transcriber how far from the 3S farthest rewound position the tape has been advanced ~5~

in ~ for~ar~ direction.
Thus, if the transcriber has listened to five ~.inutes of dictation ~or wound through fl~e minutes of tape in a fast forward mode) from the farthest rewound po.qition, the ten segments at the left-hand end of array lO will remain constantly lit indicating that the transcriber has advanced in a forward directlon through five ~inutes o dlctation.-from th~ farthest rewound position. It may therefore be seen that the shutter which appears on array 10 comprises a Dlurality of continuously illuminated contigu~us seg~ents. As the shutter advances over a blinking segment indicating the presence o~ an I mar~
or a constantly lit segment indicating the presence of an E ~arX, the segment will rema~n continuously lit since it is then lncluded in the shutter.
Continuing with ~he example, assume that the transcriber listene~ to five minute^ vf tape from the far~hest re~ound position thus illuminating the ~en left-handmost segments of array lO. Assume urther that the transcriber then recommences rewinding of the tape. As the tape is rewound, the shutter will retreat back toward the. left-hand end of array lO. Any s~gments which have been in the shutter that represent locations of E marks or I
marks ~ill continue to represent E marks or I marks as the shutter retreats and thus, E mark seg~ents remain continuously lit and I mark segments will blink cn and off once the shutter has retreated to the leCt past these locations.
Assume that the tape is rewound past the previous ~arthest rewind position and rewindin~
con~inues. When the farthest rewound pos~tion is reached, the shutter disa~pears since it will have retreated,all the way to the left-hand end of array 10. As rewlnding eontinues~ a new arthest rewound position is established, and all E ~arks and I marks located in the display will aga1n proceed to be shifted to the right for each thirty seconds of tape rewound. As additional E marks or I marks are encountered on the tape during this r2wind operation, such mar~s will be entered from the left-hand end of array 10 as described aboYe~
Agaln, l at any point the transcriber - 10 proceeds to advance the tape in a forward direction, the left-hand end of array 10 will represent the new farthest rewound po~ition a~ld the shutter wlll proceed to advance to the right a~ t~pe is adYanced in a forward direction.
Therefore it may be seen that the farthest left-hand segment of array 10 always repr~sents the farthest rewound po5ition and the presence ~r absence of the shutter will always indicat~ to the user whether he or she has advanced the tape in a forward d~rection from the farthest rewound posltionO
Purthermore, consider that only twenty minutes of dictation was recorded on the tape within the transcr~be un~tO If the tape is completely res~ound~ the fart:hest right-hand end ~ark ~representing ~he end of dictation on the tape) will ~ppear at the fortieth segment from ~he left under the numeral 20 when the tape ~s co~pletely ~ewound.
Therefore, upon complete rewinding o the tape, the display whi~h appears in array lO will al~7ays be properly ~ustiied.
It will be further a~parent that ~P the tape s on~y partially rewound before tran~crlption - begins~ the display which appears in array 10 will al~o be properly ju~tified since the left-hana end of array lO will represent the point at which lorward .

S~

advance of the tape began. This feature represents a significanc2 advance over prior lighted segment displays for transcribe units in that the dlsplay which apoears in the array is constantly justified 5 and requires no separate step of j~sti~ication after a rewinding operation. It furthermore allows the display to always remain properly justified ~hether the tape being transcribed has been completely rewound or only partially rewound.
1~ .
Transcription Displa~ Circuitry Figs. 2A and ~B show a preXerred embodiment of the circuitry controllin~ the transcription display o the present lnvention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art from the description to follow of the circuitry o~ Figs. 2A
and 28 that this circuitry will implement the functions of the kranscription di3play described in th2 previous section~
The circultry of ~ig. 2A controls array 10 shown in Fig. lB. ~he preferred embo~iment disclosed ~erein i s constructed using a plurality of ~ ty bit shlft registers, 25, 25, and 27. ~s wlll be known to those skilled in the art, shift registers are memory devices which may be clocked to move the contents of ~ particular memory location to the next contiguous memory location in a given direction. It ~1 be apparent to those skllled in the art that sixty bit shift regmsters may be constructed using large scale integration~ or a combination o~ smaller medium ~cale ~ntegrated ~;rcuits. As u~ed throughout thi~
specifica~ion~ the oo~cep~ of con~iguvu~ memory locations comprises memory locatior3s which a~e contiguous in address, withou~c regard to the physical proximity of ~he memory locations. It w~ll therefore .

~85~7 be apparent, that embodiments of the present invention may be constructed using rand~m access memories which are controlled by a ~ic~oprocessor and that in such an embodiment, contiguous memory S locations comprise me.~ory locations with contiguous ad~resses according to ehe addressing scheme of the microprocessor being used. Without regard to whether a sixty bit shift r gister is oonstructed as a unitary pack~ge, or a combination of smaller medium scale i~tegrated circuit shift registers, registers 25, 26 and 27 have be2n ~hown as ~ingle dev~ces for the sake o~ clarity.
As ~ill become apparent from the descri~tion below; ~hift register 25 contains ~ignals ~presenting the location of E marks, shit register 2h con'cains signals ~orresponding to the location of I mar~cs and shift re~ister 27 contains signals e~ontrolling the location of the shutter. Shif'c registers 25 and 26 are unidirectional and ~ill be referrea to as the E ~hlft register and the I sh~f~
register, respeeti-rely, while shift register 27 is bidirectional and will be referrea to as the shu~ter O shif t reg ister O
As is known to those skilled in the art, the contents of ~uch shift registers may be set to z~ro either through the use of a direct clear input or through ~he parallel loading of zeros into all memory locations. Such an operation is des~r~ble UpOQ the ejection of a tape from the tranScription un~t. Implementation of this f~nction will be ~pparent ~o those skil led in the art, and such implementation ha~ been omitted from the circuitry of Fig. 2A for the sake of clariey.
The outputs of 5hift reqisters 25, 26 and 27 are coupled through driver NOR gates Dl, D2, D3 -D59, and D60. Driver NOR gates Dl--D60 control light emitting diodes Ll, L2, L3- LS9, and L60. As shown on ~i9o 2A, light emitting diodes Ll--L60 comprise an array 10' of selectively actuatable light sources corresponding to array 10 shown in Fig. lA.
It will be understood that NO~ gate drivers D1--D60 represent 60 NOR gate drivers and that drivers D4--D58 have been omitted from ~ig. ~A for clarity .
E mark deteceor 28 is responsive to ~he detection of E mark signals recorded on the tape in ~he transcribe unit. ~t will be understood that E
mark detector 28 responds to the presence of recorded ~ ~ar~s when the tape is runnin~ in a fast wind mode.
S;milarly, I mark detector 29 responds to the presenoe of I mark signals reoorded on the tape in the tr~nscription unit during fast winding. Sucb detectors may he i~lemented in a ~nown manner by using t~o filters which respond to the frequencie-c o the resp ctive 5ignaîs over the range of possible fast wind s~eeds. ~urthernore, such a detector for che fas'c wind mod~ is disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,882,S45 assigned to the assignee o the present i nvent ion r It will be understood that E mark detector 28 provides a logical one output upon detection of an E mark recorded on the tape as the recorded E mark signal passes o~er the playbacX head of the transcription unit~ Similarly I mark detector 29 will provide a logical one output upon detection of a signal corresponding to a recorded Y mark.
The preferred embod~ment of the presen~
~nvention is also responsive to the presence of motion si9nals indicating that the tape is in motion~
gloc~ 30 of Fig. ~A shows a means for providin~

~s~

motion signals. This means comprises a motion sensor 31 which provides outpu~ pulses alon~ line 32 when the tape is in mo~ion. Such motion sensors are constructed by forming a mechanical linkage between either the supply or take-up spi~dles of the tape transpor~ and providing a ~ransducer such as a 1 ight chopper or a switch to provide pulses when the tape is in ~otion. An example of such a motion sensor is.
disclc)sed in U..S~ Pa~ent 3,820,101 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
~he pulses which appear on line 32 are scaled by coun~er 35 which provides a pulse output on llne 36 ~hen a prede'cermined number o~ pulses have appeared on 1 ine 3 ~ . Cs~lnter 3 5 is an up/down ~ounter that ~s respons;ve to the d irection of tape travel as shown by the conne~tion along 1ine ~3 to d irection sensor 39. It will be understs:~od by those skllled in 'che ar'c that counter 35 produces a pulse upon an overflow or an under1Ow condition. Since in the preferred embodiment, each segment of array 10 correspond~ to ~pproximately thirty seconds of recorded dictation and conventional cassette recordin~ speed is usedJ counter 35 is selected so that it provides an output pulse on line 36 in response to a number of pulses present on line 32 which correspond to approximately fifty-six inches of tape (1-7/8 inches per second times 30 seconds e~uals 5~-1/4 in~hes). Of course other embodiments us~ng a greater or lesser numb2r of s~gment~ in array 10 or 3~ difEerent tape speeds are poss~ble. In such other embod iments the prope r s c a 1 i n~ o f coun t e r 3 5 i s with~n the ordinary level of skill in the art. A
pulse appearing on line 36 trig~ers one shot 37 which provides a motlon signal pulse at point 38.
The present is~ventisn is also sensitive to 50C)7 lR
the direction of tape movement. This is shown as block 39 which indicates a conventional direction sensor which provides a logic~l zero on line 40 when ~ape is moving in a forward direction and a log~cal one on line 40 when tape ls moving in a reverse direc~ion. Shown in Fig. 2s is ta~>e present sensor 41 which provides a logical one output when the presence of a cassette is detected in the transcribe station and a fast motion sensor 42 which provides a logical one output to point 45 when pulses appearing s:n line 32 appear ~t a sufficient rat~ to indicate that the transcribe station is moving the tape in a îas~ wind mode,. Implementation of element~ 39, 40, 41 and 42 to provide 'che described outputs is within the level o ordinary skill in the art.
Erase latch 46 is a conventional ~ndication that the transcribe station i~ in an erase mode and provides a logical one on its Q ~sutpu'c when the ~ranscribe station ~s in an erase mode, and a logical 2û zero on ~t~ Q output when the transcribe station is not in an erase mode. The ~IOT Q output of erase latch 46 has a lo~ical ~tate that is opposite of tha'c o E the Q ou ~pu t .
To relate the circuitry shown in ~ig. 2~ 'co the display shown ~ n Fig . lA, it should be understood that LED Ll corresponds to, the lef tmQst segment of array 10. Simil arly LED L2 corresponds to the second segment from the left-hand end of array 10 an~ LEO L60 corresponds to the rightmost segment of array 10. From inspection of Fi~. 2A, it will be ~pparen'c ~hat NOR ga~e driver Dl controls LED Ll, NOR
gate driver D~ controls LED L2, and so forth un'cll NO~ gate driver D60 control3 l.ED I.60~ It may ~urther be seen ~hat the inpu~s to NOR gate driver Dl comprise the Ql outputs of shif~ registers 2S, 26 and ~S~7 27, which appear on 1 ines El, Il ', and Sl respectively. It will therefore be appre~iated, that in the schematic of Fig. 2A, the left-~and end of ~hift registers 25, 26 and 27 represent memory locations which corres~ond to the lef~-hand end of-array 10 shown in Fig. lB.
Turning on~e again to ~ig. lA~ it will be recalled 'chat in the ~onventional enYironment o f the present invention, tape 7 is removed rom dictate ~tation 4 with recorded dictation wound onto the taXe-up reel. The first operation at ~ranscribe station 5 is to rewind ta~e 7 ' in w~ole or in part,.
It is during this rew~nd operation in which the circu;try shown in Pig. 2A is Pirst activated.
:Rewlnding a portion of the tape 7 ~n elrder to genera~e a display indicating the location of E marks and ~ marks is referred to as a scan or scanning operation. During rewind, the tape, or a track of he 'cape devoted to E marks and I marks, is scanned for the preserlce of ~ignals indicating an E mark or an I markO As the~e are located ~ the circultry of Fig. 2P. g~nerates a d~ splay which indicates the positions of E marlcs and S marXs on the tap~.
Note Shat shift registers 25 and 26 are each provided with a shift inputJ 47 ~nd 48 res3?ect~vely. When a pulse is pro~ided to such a ~hift input, the data stored in memory location 1 is sh~fted to memory locaeion 2, the da~a ~Q T~emory location 2 ~s ~hifted to memory location 3 and so ~orth. It will therefore be ~een that wh~ a pulse appears at shift input 47, the data in the meMory locations of shift regi~ter 25 all shift to the next s:oratiguous memory location. In the convention set ~orth h erein, this data may be considered a5 shifting to the r{gh~ as the circuit ls viewed in Fi~. ~A.

s~

Similarly data is shifted to the right in shift register 26 when a pulse a~pears at shift input 48.
Sh i f t registers 25 and 26 are also provlded with DAT~ IN ~DI~ inputs 49 and 50 respectively. Tbe S data present at DATA I~l input 49 (a logical zero or a logical one) will be shifted into memory location 1 when a pulse appears on shift input 47. Sim~larly the data pre~ent at DATR IN input 50 will be shifted into me~ory location 1 of shift register 26 when a pulse appears on shift input 48.
The contents of each memory location of shift registers 25 and 26 are available on parallel outputs Ql--Q60 of each shift register. Therefore the contents of me~ory location 1 of shift register 25 appea~ on line El which is connected to the Q1 output of shift register 25; the contents of memory locati~n 2 of shift register 25 appear on line E2 which is con~ected to the Q2 output o 5hit register 25; and so forth through the contents of memory location 60 of shift reglster 25 appearing on line E60~ In a similar ~anner, the contents of memory locations 1--60 of shift register 26 appear on lines I60.
Shutter shift register 27 is a bidirectional shift register which means that data may be ~hifted in either direction within the register. This ~hift register is provided with a direction input 55 ~hich determines the direction in which the data shlfts in the register when a pulse ~ppears on shift ~nput 560 As shown in FigO 2A, a ~ero pre~ent on direction input 5~ will c~ose data within re~1ster 27 to shift right when a pul~e appears on S~IFT input 56 ~nd a one on direction input 55 will cause da~a to shift left when SHIFT
~nput 56 is pulsed. Some off-the-shelf bidirectional lL~85~

shift registers have two direction inputs which must be in opposite logical states for the data to shift right or shift left~ but implementation of a single line direction input such as direction input 55 shown in Fig. 2A will be understood by one of ordinary-s~ill in the art.
Shutter shift register ~7 is provided with two serial data lnputs ~1 and 52. DATA INPUT RIG~T
~DIR) 51 provides data which is shifted into memory location 1 when a shit right condition occurs. A
shift right condition is one in which a zero appears on direction inp~t 55 and a pulse appears on S~IF~
inp~t 56. Similarly, DATA INPUT ~EFT (DIL) 52 provides data whi~h ls shifted into memory location 60 uhen a shift left condition (directis:>n input 55 equals 1, pulse on SRIFT input 56 ) occurs.. As may be ~een rom ~ig . 2A, DIR input 51 ~ s tied to a log ical one data state and DIL input 52 is tied to a log ~ oal ~ero state. It may therefore be appreciat:ed that 2~ upon each occurrence of a shift right condition a loyical one will be entered in memory locaJc{on 1 of shift register 27 and that upon each o~currence of a shift left condition a îogical zero will be entered into memory location 60 of shift register 27.
Shift register 27 is also provided with a 2ERO output 57 which goes to a logical one state when ~11 Sixey memory locat~ons of 5hutter shift register 27 contain a zero. Such an output may be available on an in egrated device, or may bè easily implemen~ed by a plurality of ~OR gates ~onne~ted to lines Sl--S60. As will be apparent from the description to follow, ~h~ embodi~tent of the present ~n~ention whi~h is disclosed i~ constructed in such a mann~r that a logical zero at output Ql of shift register 27 nece~sarily implies that outputs ~2--Q60 al~e also 5~

~ero. Therefore t~e state of ZERO output 57 may be treated simply as the logical inverse of line Sl in the embodiment shown. In Fig. 2A, the ZERO output has been shown as a single output 57 or the sake of simplicity.
Si~ilarly, in an e~odiment of the present invention using a microprocessor and six~y locations of random access memory to embody sh~tter shift re~ister 27, successive testing of all sixty addresses of random access ~emory correspond ing to shutter shift register 27 may be implemented by the microprocessor ln order to determine if ZERO output 57 should be in a logical one state. Since all - memory locations of shift register 27 to the lef t of the rightmost location contai~ing a one will also contain ones (because DIR is tied to log ical one ), a microprocessor could be used to maintain a record of the rightmost location containing a one and treat all locations left of this as filled with ones. Thus it may be seen that shift register 27 comprises a memory ~ith a plurality of memory locations which is oharacteri2ed by a numerical order to the memory locations. For location N, lc7cation N + 1 is the next higher memory location and location N - 1 is the next lower memory location. Shifting right as shown in Fig. 2~ should be con~idered as shiftinq to the next hig~er memory lo~ation.
Consider, that a tape such as tape 7' as ` shown in ~ig. lA bas been provided to the user of 3~ transcribe statlon 5. As shown in Fig. lA the first operation ~s ~o rewind a portion of tape ~' or to rewind it in its entirety. A5 noted above, the re~indin9 of a portion of tape 7 ' in order to generate a di~play denoting the location of E marks and I marks on the tape is called ~ rewind scan opera-tion. This opertion is implemented whenever a tape such as 7' is being rewound in -transcribe station 5, and the tape has been wound pas-t its previous farthest rewound position.

In the conventional environment of the present invention described above, it was noted that an E mark should be the first signal encountered upon rewinding of tape 7'.
When the E mark is encountered upon rewind, E mark detector 28 provides a pulse on line 68. Line 68 is connected to the direct set (S) input of flip-flop 69 and therefore sets flip-flop 69 placing a logical one on line 70 which is connectedto the Q output of flip-flop 69. As may be seen from inspection of Fig. 2a, flip-flop 69 is a JK flip-flop which includes a direct SET (S) input, a grounded J input, a K input which is tied to a logical one, and a negative edge triggered clock (CLK) input which is connected to line 71. As will be known to those skilled in the art, when a positive pulse appears at the direct set input of a JX flip-flop such as flip-flop 69, the flip-flop is set to its Q equals one state without regard to the state of the other inputs. Therefore, when E
mark detector 28 detects the first E mark during a rewind scan operation, flip-flop 69 is set providing a one on line 70 to the data in input of shift register 25.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2A, ZERO
output 57 is the parameter by which the display control circuitry determines whether it is at its farthest rewound position. Consider for a moment that a freshly dictated tape is placed in transcribe station 5 and a rewind scan operation is begun. Under these conditions, motion sensor 31 will begin to provide pulses on line 32 which will be counted by counter 35. When a predetermined number of pulses ~s~
2~
have been counted, a pulse appears on line 36 which triggers one-shot 37 providing another pulse at point 38.
Note that under a rewind scan operationt S the output of direction sensor 39 which appears on line 40 is a logical one. The logical one on line 40 also appears on line 58 as the input to direc~ion input 55 of shi~t register 27. Therefore~ shift register 27 is conditioned to shif~ its contents ln a left-han~ direction upon receipt of a pulse at shif t input 55. I~ is assumed herein that when the rewind scan operation begins, the contents of shit register 27 have been cleared to all 2eros in a ~anner described above. Therefore, a logcal one appears at l~ 2ER0 output 57 which is provided along line 59 as an input to NA~ gate 60. NAND gate 60 now has t~o ones as its inputs and a logical zero output o~ NAND gate 60 appears at point 61. The logical ~ero at point 61 is inverted by inverter 62 and therefore a logical one appears on line ~5 as an input to AND gat~ 67.
Consider for a moment, that the above-referenced E mark i5 the only mark located prior to provision of the first mot~on signal at - .point 38 by one shot 37. Recall that in the example given, point 61 is at a logical zero ~tate. Since point 51 is one input to NAND g~te 72, the lo~ical zero at point 61 will maintain a logical one state on line 75 preventing the shifting of data in shift reglster 27.
The pulse that appears at point 38 is also pro~ided ~long line 65 as an input to AN~ gat.e 67.
Since line 65 is in its lo~i~al one state, the appearance of a pulse on line 66 oauses a : corresponding pulse to appear on line 76, the outpu~
3~ of .WD gate 66. The pulse which appears on line 76 ~8~'7 is provided along lines 77 and 78 to shift inputs 47 arld 48 respectively. ~he appearance of a pulse at shi~t inputs 47 and 48, causes ~he data present at ~ATA It~ inputs 49 and ~0 to be shifted into the first memory locations of shift registers 25 and 26 respectiYely. Since the example presumes that no I
mark has been detected when the first pulse appears at point 38, a zero is present at the data in input of shift register 26 and is shifted into the ~irst memory location of this resister. Sinee a one is present on line 70 as the input to DI input 4g of shift re~ister 25~ a logical one is shifted into the first memory location of shift register 25.
The pulse which appears on line ?6 ls also provided as one lnput to OR gate ~9. Through the action of OR gate 79 the pulse appears at poin~ 80 and is provided alon~ lines 71 and 81 to the clock inputs of fliQ-flops 69 and 82 respectively.
As described above, flip-flops 69 and B2 ~0 have clock inputs whlch are negative edge triggered, Therefore, as will be known to thos~ skilled in the axt, the outputs o flip-flops 69 and 82 are not affected by the rising edge or the logical one state of the pulses appearing on lines 71 and 81 but the flip-flop is triggered on the falling ~dge of the pulses. 5ince both flip-flops 69 and 82 have their J
inputs connected to a logical zero state and their ~
inputs connect~d to a logical one ~tate, the appearance of a falling edge on their clock input~
will cause the flip-flops either to toggle or remain in ~ Q equals zero state. It may therefore be appreciated that, in the example given, flip-flop 82 will remai~ in its Q e~uals zero state, and flip-flop 69 will be ~leared from its Q equals one state to its Q equals ~ero state~ It will further be appreciated ~s~
2~
that the clearing of f1ip-flop 69 occurs after the logical one former~y presene on line 70 has been shifted into the first me~ory location of shift register 25.
As will be apparent from inspection of Fig.
2A, I mark detector 29 and flip-flop 82 provide inputs to DATA IN input of shift register 26 in a fashion which duplicates the operation of E mark detector ~8 and flip-flop 69 with respect to DA~A IN
input 49 of shift register 25. If during the period between the ap~earance of the first motion pulse at point 38 and the second ~otion pulse an I mark is detected by I mark detector 29, then upsn the appearance of the second motion pulse, a loglcal one will be shifted into the first ~emory ~ocation of shift regi~ter ~60 The fallins edge o th~ pulse which appears on line 81 will clear flip-~lop e 2 after the aforementioned logical one has been shifted into the first ~emory location.
Thus it may be seen that when an E ~ark is detected by detector 28, flip~flop 69 will be set to : enter a logical one into the first memory location of shift register 25 upon the next occurrence of a tape motion signal at point 38~ ~imilarly detection oE an I mark by I mark detector 29 will assure that a - logical one is shifted into the ~irst memory location of shift reglster 26 upon the next occurrence of a motion signal.
As will be known to those s~illed in the art, if several motion pulses occur at point 3B, and both E ~ar~ detector 28 and I mar~ detector 2g have failed to detect the presence of the respective signals, zeros will be shifted into the first memory locations of shift registers 25 and 26 upon each occurrence of a ~otion signal and the ones which ~s~

denote the location of previously detected marks will be shifted from memory location N to memory location N -~1 one upon each occurrence of a motion signal.
It may thus be seen that during a rewind S scan operation, the ~ircuitry of FigO 2h will detect the presence of E marks and I marks recorded on the tape and will provide a logical one as the contents of the first memory location of shi~t registers 25 and 26 whenever such a mark is detected and a motion signal occurs at point 38. Upon ea~h occurrence of a motion signal~ the contents of each memory location of shift registers 25 and 26 will be shifted to the next contiguous memory location and thereore the con~ents of memory loczt ions representing the posîtion of an E mark or an I mark will be shi~ted ~o the right.
Consider for a moment that the circuitry of Fiy. 2A is in a state in which a logical one is present in the second ~emory location of shit re~ister ~5 and all other locations o~ shift register 25 are equal to zero. Further assume that a logical one is present in the first memory location of shift register 26 and all other ~emory locations o shift register 2~ are equal to zero. A~sume also that ~s during the period used in this example, no further E
mar~s or I marks are detected.
The logical one ~resent in the second memory location of shlft register ~5 aDpears as a logical one on line E2 which is provided as one input to NOR gate driver D2. The logical one on line E2 causes the output of N0~ gate driver D2 to go to its logical zero state and thus causes current to flow through light-emit~ing diode L2 causing this diode to light. Since light-emit~in~ diode L2 corresponds to the second segment of array 10 shown in Fig. 1~, it ~t35~

may be s~en that the second segment from the left-hand end of array 10 will remain constantly lit indicating the presence of an E mark.
The I mark located ~n the first memory location of shift register 26 is provided along line Il as an inpu~ to AND gate Al. The other input to AND gate Al is provided by blink clock 85 which is an oscillator proYiding pulses at a predetermined requency. Therefore pulses corresponding to the output of blink clocX 85 will a~pear on line Il' and therefore as an input to ~OR gate driver Dl. Since one lnQut to NOR ~ate driYer Dl is continuously pulsed, and the rema;ninq two inputs to NOR gate driver Dl are zero, light-e~itting diode Ll will intermittently conduct current and be cut off~ It may therefore be seen that light-emitting diode Ll ~hich corresponas to the left~handmost segment o array 10 in Fig. lB will blink intermittently indicating the presence of an I mark.
l~pon the next occurrence of the motion signal at point 3S, zeros will be present at DATA ~N
inputs 49 and 50. ~his will cause a zero to shift ~nto the firs'c memory location of both shift registers 25 and 260 The logical one wbich was the ~ontents of the second memory location of shif t re~ister 25 will be shifted to the third memory location of shift register 25 while at the same time the logical one which ~as the content~ of the f ~rst memory location of shift register ~ will be shifted to the second memory locat1on of shift register 26.-It will ~hus ~e a~parent, that a logical one outp~t ~11 now ~e present on line E3 frQm shift register 25 and throuqh the action of NOR yate driver D3 will continuously light lig~t-emitting diode L3 whioh corresponds to the third se~ment from the lef~ of ~L~85~

array 10. The loyical one wh ich is now present in the second memory location o~ sh i ft register 26 will cause pulses corresponding to the pulses emitted by blink clock 85 to appear on the line ~' and through the action of NOR gate driver D2 will intermittently light light-emitting diode L2. Therefore when the aforementioned motion signal appears at point 38, the continuously lighted segment representing lvcation of an E mar~ and the intermittently l;ghted segment representing the location of an I marX each shift one posi~ion to the right in array 10 shown in ~ig. lB.
It will be further appreciated that if an E
mark and an I mar~ both occur in the same segment of ~ape between consecutive ~otion signals, that the E
lS mark will ~override~ the I mark and the segment corresponding to that locatio~ will remain continuously lit due to the characteris'cics of the ~OR gate drivers Dl--DS0.
: Next assume that the rewind scan operation has stop~ed. This assumption should be made without regard to whether the tape has been completely rewound or only partially rewound. Assume that the operator of transcribe stat ion S now begins to move tape 7' in a forward direction ln order to begin ~ranscribing the recorded dictation contained on tape 7'. When the circuitry of Fig. 2A is in thls state~
direction sensor 39 is providing a logical zero on line 40O Thus a logical zero is provided as one input to N~ND gate 60 which maintains a logical one a~L point 610 This logical one is inverted by inverter 62 and maintains a logical zero orl line 65 as one input ~o AND gate S7. ~he presence of a logical zero as one input to AND gate 67 assures that a logical zero is maintained on line 76 and tha~ line 76 remains insen;itive to the presence of motion :, ~L~85~

_ signals appearing at point 38. It ~ay therefore be seen that when a logical zero is present on line 40, line 76 will be ~.a~ntained in it3 logical zero state and no pulses will apoear at the shift inputs 47 and 48 of shift registers 25 and 26. ThereEore, the contents of shift registers 25 and 26 will remain in the state in which they were left when forward motion of the tape first began. It w~ll be appreciated that as the contents of memory locations and shift registers 25 and 26 have been shifted to the ri~ht during th~ rewind scan operation, the contents of these registers will remain constant when the operator of transcribe station S moves tape 7' in a : forward direction. It will further be appreciated thae the contents of shift reyisters ~S and 26 have been entered from the left-hand side of shift registers 25 and 26 which corresponds to entry from the left-hand end of array 10 and thus ~he display appearing in array 10 will be left JUstified to the farthest rewound position of the tape.
The logical zero on line 40 also appears on line 58 as direction in~ut 55 and thus will condition shutter shift register 27 to shift right upon the occurrence of pulses at shift input 56. Recall that point 61 is now at a logical one state. The logical one at point 61 is provided as an input to N~ND yate ~2. N~ID gate 72 will then cause the state of line 75 to be at the lnve~se of the logical state at point 38. Thereore, line 75 will remaln in its logioal one state until the occurrence of a motion signal at : point 38, The occurrence of a positive going pulse as a motion signal at point 38 will cause a negative golng pulse to appear on line 7~ thdt wlll be provided to shift input 56 of shutter shi~t register 27. The rising edge of the pulse appearing on line ~sv~

75 will cause the memory contents o~ shutter shift register 27 to shift to the next contiguous memory location to the rlght. Since the DATA IN RIGHT (DIR) inpue 51 is tied to a logical one state, a logical one will then become the contents of the first memory-location of shutter shift register 27.
Similarly upon the next occurrence of a motion signal at point 38, the logical one that was previously the contents of the ~irs~ memory location of shift register 27 wlll become the contents of the second memory location, and another logical one from DATA IN RIÇ~T input 51 will be shifted into the first ~emory location~ Recall that as long as a ~o~ical zsro appears on line 40, the contents of shift registers 25 and 26 will remain constant. Therefore, ~n the state described both lines Sl and S2 will b~
in their logl~al one states and since these lines appear as inpu'cs to NOR gate drivers Dl and D2 respectively, light-emitting diodes Ll and L2 ~
remain constantly lit~ ~pon the next occurrence of a motion signal at point 38 the first three ~emory locations of shutter shift register ~ will contain logical ones and light-emitting diodes Ll--L3 will O remain constantly lit.
It will therefore be apparent that as tape is moved in a forward direction, ~ band or shutter of continuously lighted segments will appear from the left-hand end of array 10 and proceed toward the right-hand end o array 10. It will also be 3~ appreciated that the presence of a loglcal one ln memory locatlon N of shutter shift register 2? (N
e~ual to,a positive integer less than or equal to sixty~ necessarily impl ~es that the first N
1 ight-emitting dicdes Ll -LN will remain continuously lit without regard to the contents of shift regis~ers 25 and 26.
~ext assume, that from the state described lmmediately above, the operator of transcribe station S again proceeds to rewin~ tape 7'. Under these conditions, the output on line 40 w:Lll be a logical one and this logical one will be provided along line 58 to direction input S5 conditioning shutter shift register 27 to shift in a let-hand direction. Since the contenes of some memory locations of shu~ter shift re~ister 27 are equal to one, ~ero output 57 will be held to a logical zero stateO This lo~ical zero will be provided along line S9 as the other ~nput to ~IAND gate 60. Since a logical zero is provided along line 59, N~ND gate 60 assures that point 61 remain~ in a logical one state without regard to the state o~ line 4d. The logical zero on line 61 again maintains a logical zero on line 65 through the action of inverter 62 and therefore maintains a logical zero on line 76 preventing shifting of the contents of ~emory location~ of shift reqisters 25 and 26.
As motion signals appears at point 38, negative ~oing pulses appear on line 75 as the output O of ~AND gate 72 and upon each rising edge of these pulses, the contents of shutter shift register ~7 shifts left~ Each time the contents of ~hift register 27 shifts left, a zero is entered in memory location 60 of shift reg~ster 27 since the ~ATA INP~T
LEFT (DIL) input 52 is tied to a loglcal zero state.
This state o~ ~vents persists until the tape reaches the point where the last motion pulse occurs a~ point 38 prior to reaching the actual farthese rewound position. ~pon completion of thi~
pulse, tha ~isplay conerol circuitry again assumes a ttate wherein it will execute a rewind rcanning ~

:

5~

operation. When the last logical one shifts out of the first memory location of shutter shift register 27, ZERO output 57 goes from a lo~ical zero to a logical one state.
Assume that the operator of transcribe station 5 continues to rewind ater this point is reached. The transition rom logical zero to logical one whic~ a~pears at ZERO output 57 has two results.
The first result ~s to reestablish the conditions described above wh~rein the circul try will be responsive to perform a rewind scanning operation.
Note that a logical one now appears on line 59 and a logical one also appears on line 40~ This provides two ones as inputs to NA~D gate 60 which provides a lS zero at point 61 and a logical one on line 65. As explained abQve9 this state holds line 75 at its logical one condition thus preventing shifting of the contents of memo~y locations of shutter shift register 27 and enabling AND gate 67 to pass pulses which appear on line 6 6 onto ~ine 76 thereby activating ~hift inputs 47 and ~8 of shit registers 25 and 26.
The second result of the transition f~om zero to one at ZERO output 57 is that this transition appears on line 86 and trig~ers a positive edge triggered one shot multivibrator 87. One shot multivibrator 87 produces a short p~lse on ~ine ~8 which, through the action of OR gate 79, appears at point 80 and thus on lines 71 and 810 ~uring forward movement of the tape~ it is also possible to move the tape in a fas~ forward direction and have the shutter~
advance to the right. As was explained above, the con~ents of shift regi~ters 25 and 26 do not shift under these conditions. ~owever, it is possible for the transcrlptionist to wind the tape in a orward ~4 direction past several recorded E ~arks. Upon rewindin~ the tape again, E mark detector 28 and I
mark detector 29 would encounter recorded E marks and I marks and such encounters would set flip-flop~ 69 and 82. It is therefore necessary to clear flip-flops 69 and 82 once the segment of tape which contains the previous farthest rewind position of the tape is entered so that a spurious indication of an E
mark or an I mark will not be shifted into shift reg~ster 25 or 26 upon the next occurrence of a motion signal at point 38.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the artJ the circuitry of ~ig. 2A will ~nam~iguously and properly record all E mar~s and I marks unles~ the detection of an E mark or an I mar~ occurs simultaneousIy with a motion signal from point 38.
It is to be noted that the transition from zero to one at ZER0 output 57 denotes that the partlcular segment of ~ape containing the farthest rewound position of the tape has been entered~ In the preferred embodiment disclosed herein, the ~egments of tape between motion pulses represen~ approxi~ately thirty seconds of dictated material. However, the provision of a greater number of memory locations in :25 the shutter shift register, will lncrease the resolution and thus it could be dekermined with more accuracy when the farthest rewoun~ position of the tape had been reached. Fro~ the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that shutter shift register 27 not only provides contiguous memory ocations for signals representin~ location o the shutterr but also provides an advance position means for determining when the tape has been wound to i~s previous farthest rewound position.
After the clearing of flip-flops 69 and 82 ~5Çal~7 _ by the pulsed output of one shot multivibrator 87, a rewind scan operation will continue as described bereinabove until the beginning of the tape (end of the rewind) has been reached. At this point, the S f arthest left-hand segment o~ array 10 shown in Fig.
lB (which corresponds to LED Ll of array 10 ' shown in Fig. 2A~ will represent the beginning of dictation on the tape 7' at transcri~e station 5.
From the foregoing it should also be apparent that at any given point during operation of trans~ribe station 5, light-emitting diode Ll will correspond to the se~ment o~ tape containing the arthest rewound position at that time. It will furthermore be apparent that any se~uential combination of orward movement of the tape and reYerse movement of the tape may be performed by the operator of transcribe station 5 and the display of FigO lB will always be left justified, the leftmost end representing the farthest rewound position. ~7hen the tape is being moved within a segment of tape ~hich has been advanced forward of the farthest rewound position, shutter shift register 27 will shift its memory contents left and right and the shutter ~11 appear in array 10 and corresponaingly ~ove left and right. When the farthest rewound position has been reached, the entire contents of shutter shift register 60 will be equal to ~ero, 2~R0 output 57 wlll go to its logical one state~ and shift regis~ers 25 and ~6 will begin to accept newly 3~ detected E marks and I marksO
Turnin~ to F~g~ 2B, light-emi~cting diodes 111, 112, 115 and. 116, correspond to 5egments 11~ 12, 15 and 16 respect~vely c:f the display output shown in Pig. lB. Since tape present sensor 41 provides a logical one when a tape is present in transcribe ~8S~7 station 5, and fast motion sensor 42 provides a logical one to point 45 when it detects that the tape is in a ~ast rewind mode, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the logic gates within block 90 will turn off light-emitting diodes 111 J
112, 115 and 116 whenever a tape is not present in transcribe station S; and that light~e~itting diode 111 will be ill~minated when the transcribe station.
is in an erase mode, LED 112 will be illuminated when the transcribe station ~s in a fast forward mode, LED
1}5 will be illuminated when tape is b~ing reversed, and LED 116 will be illuminated when the transcribe station is in a listen or forward play ~oae.

The Dictation Display of the Present Invention Figs~ 3A and 3~ show a preferred embodiment oÇ the circultry controlling the dictation display shown in Fig. lC ~f the present i~vention. To interface with this control circuitry several logical ~0 sensors are provided in dictate station A ~hown in Fig. lA. This is indicated by the block 4' on Fig.
3A. These sensors include reeord latch 120 which provides a logical one output when the dictate station is in a record ~ode, direction sensor 39 which is identical to direction sensor 39 sho~n in Fig. 2A9 motion 5ensor and 5caler 30' which is ~dentical to block 30 shown in ~ig. 2A except that it is scaled to provide approximately ten motion signals per minute of tape rather than two as does block 30 ln Fig. ~A. Logical sensors also include telephone ~nterface sensor 121 which provides a log~cal one~
when the source ~ signals co~ing into the dictate station ls a con~entional t~le~hone lnterfa~e, eject sensor 122 which provides a logical one pulse when an eject command is received by the dictate stationO and E mark generator 125. E mark generator 125 as shown in Fig. 3A provides a logical one pulse whenever t~e E ~ark generator ls activated to record a signal denot;ng an E mark on the tape. The signal path f.or the actual E mark signal is not shown and it is to be understood that E mark generator 125 as shown in ~ig.
3A only shows an output providing a pulse indicating that an E m~rk is belng recorded. E mar~ detector 28' is identical to E mark detector 28 as shown in ~ig. 2A except that E mark detector 28' will also dete~t E marks when tape is belng run at a normal playbacX speed. The addition of a ilter ls~ parallel with apparatus such as E mark detector 28 in order to implement this function will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
The Total Length Counter .
Total length display indicator 20 ~ndicates 'che total distance between the beginning of the t2pe in a cassette at d~ctate station 4 and the present loca'cion of the tape wi'ch respect to the record head.
~his assumes the cassette was completely rewound when placed in the dictate station. ~7hen an ~nrewound cassette is placed in dictate station ~, the "~ero"
of the total length counter corresponds to the point to which the tape was wound when placed in the dictate station~ Total length display 20 is dri.ven by up~down counter/display decoder 13û through 1 ines 126, It will be understood by those of ordlnary 3a ~k~ll in th~ ~rt, that while three lines are shown as 126, one for each segmen~ o~ display 20, each of the~ line~ 126 may comprise a plurality of individual conductors for the control of each segment or lines carryin~ appropriate multiplexed signals.
Up~down counter/display decoder 130 is a 3~
_. combination up/dowrl counter and seven segment display decoder (hereina~er ~counter 130"~. As will be known by those of ordinary skill in the art ~ up/down counter/display decoders such as counter 130, are available on a single large scale integrated circuit.
An example of such an I.SI circuit ;s the current MOSTER rlR 50398 or 50399. Co~nter 130 includes an ~P/NOT DOWN input 131 and clock input 129. As is known to those of ordinary skill in the art, such a counter will count up when input 129 is pulsed while lnput 131 remains in its logical one state and will count down when input 129 is pulsed when input 131 remains in its logical zero state. This counter also includes a CLEAR input which is connected to 11ne 132. A positive going pulse on line 132 will set the counter to zero.
Upon the ejection of a tape from dictaSe station 4, eject sensor 122 ~rovides a logical one pulse to point 137 which is provlded along line 132 to the clear input of counter 130. Thus it ~ay be seen that upon each ejection of a cassette from dictate station 4 counter 130 is cleared and total length display ~0 will read all zeros.
Since counter 130 is provided to indicate ^ 25 the present location of the tape relative to the beginning of the tape, its count is independent o~
whether ~ictate station 4 is in a record mode, a listen ~ode, or a fast wind mode. It will therefore be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art ~hat the inpu~s controlling counter 130 will only be motion signals provided by motion ~ensor and scaler 30' and direction signals provided by direction ~ensor 3~
Direction sensor 39 is the same as direction sensor 39 shown in Fig. 2A and described s~

above. It provides its output to point 138. The logical state at point 138 is inverted by inver~er 139, the output of which appears at point 140n As the tape proceeds to be wound in a forward direction either by a fast forward opera~ion, a listen operation or a record operation, motion sensor 30' begins providing pulses which are referre~3 to as motion signals herein to point 141~ Point 141 is connected by line 142 to clock input 129. Therefore when tape is moving forward UPjDOWN input 131 is held to a logical one and counter 130 counts up when pulses appear at CLOCR input 129. When tape is moving in a reverse direction input 131 is at a logical zero and counter 130 counts down when input lS 129 is pulsed~ As counter 130 counts, it~ ~utputs are provided along lines 126 to ~otal length display 20 .
Letter length display 21 which will also be referred to as present se~ent display is con~rolled by up/down counter display decoder 145 ~hereinafter "counter 145~). Counter lq5 is of the same type as counter 130 and normally responds to its i~puts in the manner that counter 130 responds since the ~P~NOT
DOWN input of counter 145 is connected by line 147 to point 140 and the clo~k input of counter 145 ~s connected by line 157 to clocX input 129. Present segment display 21 is driv~n by lines 146 fro~
counter 145.
The CLEAB input of counter 145 i~ connected to line 149 which is the output o OR ~ate 15~. One input to OR gate 150 is provided from poînt 151 which will be at the same logic level as point 137.
There~ore whenever eject sensor 12~ provides a pulse to poin~ 137 indicating that a tape ha~ been ejected 3S from dictate station 4, this pulse is also p~ovidQd 5V~

to point 151 and throu~h the action of OR gate 150 appears at point 149 thus clearing counter 1~5.
The other inputs to OR gate 150 are lines 152 and 186~ Line 152 is the output of E m~rk generator l~S. As explained above~ the output of E
mark generator 125 is a pulse whenever an E mark is being recorded on tape 7. Therefore whenev~r dictator 6 provides a function control which records an E mark on tape 7, a pulse appears on line 152 whlch passes through OR gate 150 to llne 149 an~
clears counter 145. It ~ay therefore be seen that counter 145 will be cleared thus sett~ng presen~
length display seg~ent 21 to zero upon the occurrence of an eje~tion of a cassette fro~ dictate station 4 or the recording of an E mar~ by dictator 6.
Therefore, whenever an E mark is recorded indicating the end of the present segmPnt of dictation, presen~
segment display 21 clears to ~ero and i~ conditioned to begin counting the length o~ the next segment of dictation.
Counter 145 has a COUNT INHIBIT input connected to line 156~ When a logical one appears on line 156 , co~nter 145 will not respond to pulses on line 157, Inverter 155 causes line 156 to c~rry the logical i~nerse of line 160. It may therefore be seen that when a logical one appears on line lSOg counter 145 will count in exactly the same manner as counter 139D Therefore it i the logic state o lin~
16 0 wh i ch may ~ nb i bi t cou n ter 14 5 f rc>m cou n t i ng during times when counter 130 continues to count.
Line 160 is connected to a 2ERO output 16~
of upfdown counter 165~. ~lpfdown counter 165 is oE a type similar to a TTL74190 counter which is wel 1 known to those o ordinary skill ln the artO This counter includes a LOAD input 162 which will load the '7 ~1 contents of parallel inputs 166 into co~nter 16S when a logical ~ero condition appears at LOAD input 162.
~he counter also has a CLOCK (CLK3 input 167 and an UP/DO~ inp~t 168. Counters of this type will count up when a logical one appears at UP/DOWN input 168 and CLOC~ input 167 is pulsed. These counters will count down when a logical zero appears at input 168 and CLOC~ input 167 is pulsed. Note that parallel inputs 16Ç are connected to ~round which is a logical zero condition and therefore the appearance of a loglcal zero at LOAD input 162 will be the equivalent of a clear function to counter 165.
ZERO output 161 provides a logical one output on line 1~0 when the count o~ co~nter 16S is zero. It will be obvious to those o ordinary skill in the art that such an input ~ay be derived ~y use of a UOR gate having the same number o inputs as counter 165 has bi'csD
Counter 165 as shown in Fig~ 3A is the basic element which is responsive to a condition of rewinding tape 7 out of the present dictation segment. It is also responsive to rPen~ry into the present segment and can be maae selectiYely responsive to make counter ~45 count through :25 previously dictated segments by the use of switch 169 .
Switch 169 is a single pole double throw switch including a contact 170 which may be connected to a logical 2ero condition at point 171 as shown or 3G to point 172 which will connect contact 170 to the output of AND gate 175. Contact 1?0 is connected by ~ine 176 to one input o NOR gate 1770 ~o make counter 145 responsive only to movement w~ thin the present dictation segment, assume that contact 170 is in the position ~hown in ~ig. 3 s~

wherein it contacts point 171 and thus provides a logical zero on line 176. As will be known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the maintenance of a logical zero on line 176 will cause ~OR gate 177 to prov~de the inverse of the logic state appear ng on line 178 to load input 162~ Note that line 178 is connected to point 137~ Under these conditions, the log`ical zero which normally appears at point 137 is provided to line 178, will be inverted by NOR gate 177 and a logical one will be maintained at LOAD
lnput 162~
When dictator 6 e~ects ~ape 7 from dlctate station 4, ejection detector 122 provides a positive pulse to point 137 which is again provided along line 178 and inverted b~ ~70~ gate 177. This provides a : negative going pulse at LOAD ~nput lS2 which loads ; all zeros into counter 165 thus clearing the count~r.
It may therefore be seen that when swltch 16~ is in ~he state depicted in Fig. ~A, only a pulse from e~ection detector ~22 will asynchronously clear counter 165.
Under these sa~e conditions, assume that dictator 6 ha5 completed a first dictation segment, provided an E marX on tape 7 which provides a pulse from E ~ark generator 125 clearing counter 145 and proceeds to dictate a ~econd dicta~ion segment which will be referred to as the present dictation segment., As the dictator proceeds into the present dictation segment, counter 145 counts Ul?- Since E marlc detector 28' has yet to detect an E ~arX the count o~
counter 165 has rema1ned zero throughout this op~ration-. It is to be understood that E mark detector 28 will not provide an output pulse when an E mark is being recorded on the tape but only in response to ~he detect ion of E ~arlcs prev iously 5(~63'7 ~3 _ recorded on the tape~
Next assume that dictator 6 decides to rewind the tape out o~ the present dictation segment and into the previous or first dictation segment.
S Upon activation of rewind, counters 130 and 145 begin counting down. When the E mark which denotes thc end of the first segment of dictation and the beginning of the present segment of dictation is detected by E
mark detector 23 a pulse i5 provided a~ point 179 and ~hereby provided to clocX input 167 of counter 165.
Since direction sensor 39 is providing a logical one at point 138 this lo~ical one is provided to point 180 and thus counter 165 increments its count to one.
When ~ounter 165 counts to one, a logical ~5 zero appears at ZER0 output 161 and is provided along line lbO to INVERTER 155 ~ausing a logical one to appear on line 156 and thus counter 14~ ~eases counting. It should also be apparent that counter 145 was cleared to zero when the E mark denotln~ ~he end of the irst segment of dictation was recvrded ~nd therefore counter 145 will ~e at its zero coun~
when this E mark is again encountered on rewindO It will therefore be apparent that as long as counter 165 contains a non-zero count, counter 145 will remain in its zero count state since it is ~nhibited by the presence of the logical one on line ~56~
Dictator 6 may then move ~he tape in any desired fashion within the first dictation se~ment without afecting the ~ount of ~ither counter 145 or couneer 165. When the dictator advances the tape past the E mark denoting the end o~ the first segment and the beginning of the present and second segment, E mark detector again pFovides a lo~ical one pulse at point 179. Since the tape is movin~ in a forward direction, direction sensor 39 will provide a lo~ical ~L8~

_ zero at po;nt 180 which in turn is provided to ~P~DO~ input 168 of counter 165 and causes counter 165 to decrement its count back to zero when a pulse appears at C~OCR input 167. ~his reestablishes the logical one at ZERO output 161 and a logical zero on line 156 and counter 145 then proceeds to count upward.
I the dictator had recorded several previous dictation segments prior to rewinding the 10 tape out of the present dictation ~egment, counter 165 will count the number of ~ marks encountered during rewind to a previous segment. As soon as the f irst E mark is counted, counter 145 is inhibited from counting and will remain at its zero coun~.
Upon advancing the tape back toward the present dictation seg~ent, counter 165 ~ill be decre~en~ed upon each E ~ark detected by detector ~8 and ~hen the E marX which denotes the end of the ne~t to last dictation segmPnt and the beginn~ng of the present 20 dictation segment is encountered, the logical one appearing at zero output 161 will enable counter 145 to begin counting. It may therefore be s~en that when a dictator rewind~ the tape out of the present dictation segment, counter 145 and thereby present segment display 21 will remain at a zero count until the present segment of dictation ~s reentered by winding the tape forward.
Counter 145 and thus present segment display 21 may be made selectively responsive to begin counting at the beginning of any previo~sly recorded dictation segment~ Thi~ accomplished by placing switch 169 in a state wherein contact 170 is connected to po~nt 17~. In this configuration, counters 165 and 145 w~ll respond as previously described during rewind past the E marks denoting the ~185~

_ end of previous dictation seg.~ents. Note that during rewind a loglcal one is provided at point 138 which provides a logical zero at point 140. Point 140 is connected to point 181 by line 182. Point 181 is S also connected to line 185 which is one input to AND
gate 175. Therefore, when direction sensor 39 detects that the ta~e is being rewo~nd, a zero appears on line 185 maintaining a logical zero at point 172 thro~gh the ac~ion of AND ga~e 175~
When the dictator stops in a previously recorded dictation segment and bP~ins to advance the tape in a forward direction, point 140 and line 185 go to a logical one state. Upon the next encoun~er of a recorded E mark, a pulse appears at point 1~9 and is provided as the other input to ~ND ~ate 175~
Therefore, a pulse will appear at point 172 whioh, in the configuration described, will provide a negative going pulse at load input 162 through the actiGn of NOR gate 177. As previously described, this will load all zeros into counter 165 which causes a logical one to appear at zero output 161 thereby enabling counter 145 to proceed to count opward.
Note that the ~ositi~e pulse provided by AND gate 17S
ls also proYided along line 186 as another input to OR gate 150. The pulse appearing on line 186 will therefore ap~ear on line 149 clearing counter 145 to its zero count. Upon the first enco~nter of an ~
~ark going in the for~ard direction this operation will be redundant since oounter 1~5 will already be at its zero count. Rowever, when dietator 6 advanoes the tape in a forward direction through another ~
mark, it is necessary to clear counter 145 in order to indicate that another previously recorded dic~ation segment has been entered.
.t will therefore be appreciated that when .

_ swi~ch 169 is in a configuration where contact 170 con~acts point 172, counter 145 will remain at lts zero count 25 the tape is rewo~nd through previous dictation segments. It will urther be appreciated that upon advancing the taDe (either in a fast forward or a listen mode) counter 145 will be reset to zero at the beginning of each dictation segment and will perform as an up~do~n counter during tape movement within that segment. Thus it may be seen that in the second mode described herein, counter 145 will respond to detectlon of an E ~ar~ when tape is moved in a forward direction so as to maXe the dictation segment which be~ins with said E marX be ereated as the present dictation segment.
As will be appreciated ~y those skilled in the art, counter 165 provides a means for ~etecting ~he end of the last dictation segment prior to the present dicta~ion segment and further provides a mean~ for detecting reencounter of this particular end mark durinq forward advance~ent of the tape. It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that counter 1~5 may be made respons~ve to motion signals provided by motion sensor 30' rather than the detection of recorded E marks and will still perform an equivalent function.

Control of End Zone Se~nt End zone segment 22 is provided to alert dictator 6 that a predetermined amount o~ ta2e remains for the recording of dictation. ~nd zone segment 22 also alerts dictator 6 when the end of-tape has been reached. The circuitry controlling segment 22 is shown in ~i~. 3B. ~ig, 3B shows a connection o positive logic controlling end zone segment ~2. Therefore when a logical one appears on line 198, segment 22 will be lighted. In the prefer~ed embodiment of the present lnvention, three minutes of recording time is the selec~.ed amount o remaining tape which will activate end zone segment 22. Note that the total length counter 130 has connected to its outputs 126 twenty-seven detector 187 Fig. 3Ao This detector provides a logical one on line 188 whenever the count o~ counter 130 is equal to or greater than a count ~hich corresponds to a total length count of twenty-seven minutes.
I~plementation of such a detector by the use of conventional gates and the o~tputs of counter 130 will be apparent to those sXilled in the art. The output of ~27" detector 187 is provided along line 188 as one input to NAND gate 189. The circuitry controlling end zone segment 22 is shown in block 191, The other input to NAND gate 189 is from blink clock 85~ ~hich ls substantially similar to blinX
clocX 85 shown in Fig. 2A and described hereinabove.
Also included in block 191 is end of tape detector 19~ which proYides a logical one out~ut when the end of recording tape 7 is detected~ For example, a retrig~erable one shot may be repeatedly triggered by motion of the suoply spindle and its output gated tG 25 provide a logical one when the dictate station is in a mode of operation for causing tape movement and the one shot is not triggered~ ~nd of tape detector 192 ls conventional in nature and per se fvrms no part of the present invention. Tape present indicator 41' is substantially similar to and provides the same outpu~
as tape present detector 41 shown in Fig. 2B.
When counter 130 is at a count which represent~s le5s than ~7 ~inutes of tape r the æero provided along line 188 causes ~AND aate 189 to provide a logical one on line 193 as one input to ~35~

NAND gate 197. A logical one provided by tape present detector 41' is provided on line 194 as another input to NAND gate 197. End of tape detector 192 will provide a lo~ical zero output since the end of tape has not been reached. This logic~al zero is inverted by inverter 195 which provides a logical one on line 196 as the third input to NAND gate 197.
Therefore, so long as counter 130 is in a state indicating less than twenty-se~en ~inutes of tape having been used, all three inputs to NAND gate 197 will be one and therefore a logical ~ero will be maintained on line 198 keeping end zone segment 22 unllt~
If the tape 1~ removed from dictate station ~, tape present detector 41' will provide a logical ~ero along line 194 forcin~ line 198 to remain in its logical one state thl~s constantly ~lluminating end zone segment 22.
When counter 130 reaches a state indicating that twenty-seven or more minutes of tape have been used, a loyical one appears on line 188. ~his logical one will cause NAND gate 189 to invert the output of blink clock 85' thus providing pulses on line 1930 During the negative portion of each pulse appearin~ on line 193, a logical one will appear on line 198. It may thus be seen that when line 188 is in its logical one ~tate, the pulses comprising the out~ut of blink clock 85' will be lnverted by NAND
gate 189 and again inverted by NAND gate 197 so that the output appearing on line 198 will be identical to the output of ~link clock 85'. This will cause end zone segment 22 to be lighted intermitten~ly and thus to flash whenever tape ? is in the zone containing the last three minutes of tape available or recordin~ dictation. The machine will persist ln this state until tape 7 is rewound past a poi~t where more than three minutes of tape are remaining or if forward advancernent of the tape continues until end o tape is reached. If the tape is rewound past the s point where more than three minutes vf tape remain, a logical zero is again established at output 187 thus reestablishing three ones as the inputs to ~AND gate 197 and extinguish;ng end zone segment 22.
If the tape is advanced to end of tape, end o tape detector 192 provides a logi~al one output which is inverted by inverter 195 to a logical zero on line 196. The logical zero on line 196 maintains a logical one on line 198 thus maintaining end zone segment ~2 in a constantly illuminated state.
~t may therefore be seen that end zone segment 22 will be extinguished when more than a predetermined amount of tape remains ~or the recording of dictation in tape 7 ~three minutes in the preferred embodiment). End zone ~egmen~ 22 ~
be lighted intermittently when an amount of tape equal to or less than a predetermined a~ount remains to be recorded; and end ~one se~ment 22 w~ll remain constantly illuminated when end of tape is reached or when no tape is present in dictate station 4.
Function Se~ments The circu~try controlling function segments 1~', 15', 16', and 18 are sho~n in block l90 on Fig.
3~. It will be apparent to those skilled l n the art that the circuitry in block l90 will illuminate the proper function segment when the dictate staeion is in a mode corresponding to that particular function.
The logic controlling the function segments is also shown as positive logic and a logical one input to segment will light that segment. Note that record 5~7 so segment 17 is lighted whenever record latch 120 is providing a logical one on line 200 which is in turn provided to point 201. When the source of recorded signals is telephone interface 121, a logical one is provided along line 203 and ~hus when recording of dictation from telephone interface 121 is in progress both inputs to AND gate 204 will be ones causing telephone segment 18 to be illuminated.
Fast forward segment 12 ' and reverse lQ segment 15' both reguires a logical one output from -fast motion sensor 42 to be provided to point 205 in order to become illuminated. Fast forward segment 12 will be illuminated when line 208 provides another logical one as the other input to AND gate 207.
Since line 208 is connected to point 181 t this condition will prevail when direction sensor 39 detects that tape is being moved in a orward direction. Thus when the t3~e is mov~d in a forward direction line 208 will become a logical one ana when ~0 it is moved fast forward point 205 will go to a logical one thus providing a one as the output of AND
gate 207.
Point 205 from fast motion sensor 42 is one input to A~D gate 206 and the other input is from line 209 which is connected to point 180. Thus it may be seen that when the tape is moving in a reverse direction (which is always a fast wind mode) reverse seg~ent 15' will be illuminated. NOR ~ate ~10 controls listen segment 16~ In order for NOR gate 210 to provide a logical one output all three inputs thereto must be zero. One input to NOR gate 210 is from point 201 which is in a logical zero when record latch 12Q indicates that no recording is taking place. A second input to ~OR gat~ 210 is provided on line 209 which provides a logical zero when the tape 350~

is movi~g in a forward direction. The remaining input to ~OR gate 210 is from line 211 which provides a logical ~ero when fast motion sensor 42 fails to detect fast movement of the tape. Thus it may be seen that listen segment 16' will be îlluminated when the tape is ~oving in a forward direction, reeord latch 120 is not set, and the tape ls not in a ~ast wind mode.
It is to be understood that cireui try ( not shown) is provided to blank the function seqments of the display when the dictate station is in a stop mode .
The fore~oing description of a preferred embodiment has been exemplary and for illustrative purposes. Other embodiments of the present invention are possible and considering the disclosure of the lnvention herein, suc~ embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the ~rtO Therefore the scope of the present invention is to be llmitad only by the claims appended hereto.

Claims (2)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a dictation recording system including a dictate station, said dictate station including means for generating an end signal and means for recording the end signal on a record medium to delimit the end of a segment of dictation, motion signal means for providing a motion signal in response to an increment of said record medium moving past a predetermined reference point, a transport for selectively moving said record medium in a forward direction and a reverse direction, and an end mark detector for detecting a previously-recorded end signal and providing a detected end signal, an improved display apparatus for said dictation station for maintaining a visual representation of the location of said reference point within the present one of a plurality of segments of dictation on said record medium, comprising:
direction detecting means for providing a forward signal when said record medium is moving in said forward direction and a reverse signal when said record medium is moving in said reverse direction;
up/down counting means responsive to said motion signal, said forward signal, and said reverse signal, said counting means being incremented upon each concurrence of said motion signal and said forward signal and decremented upon each concurrence of said motion signal, and said reverse signal;
display means connected to said counting means for displaying the count maintained by said counting means as said visual representation of the location of said reference point within the present dictation segment; and control means responsive to said detected end signal and said reverse signal for rendering said counting means unresponsive to increment and decrement upon the exit from said present one of a plurality of segments of dictation when moving said record medium in said reverse direction;
said inhibit means being further responsive to said detected end signal and said forward signal for rendering said counting means responsive to increment and decrement upon the reentry of said present one of said plurality of segments of dictation when moving said record medium in said forward direction;
whereby said display means is rendered inoperative to display the location of said reference point upon the exit in the reverse direction from the present segment of dictation and until the return in the forward direction to the present segment.

2. The improved display apparatus of Claim 1, further comprising clearing means associated with said counting means for setting said counting means to zero in response to each concurrence of said detected end signal and said forward signal.