Operation mode display apparatus

Claim 1

An operation mode display apparatus for a multi-mode tape recorder, comprising: first and second light-emitting display elements capable of being operated to respective light producing and non-light producing states independently of each other; a display state specifying means in light communication with said first and second display elements for visually indicating the display states of said first and second display elements corresponding to respective operation modes of the tape recorder; a signal generating means for generating an on-off signal at a predetermined frequency; a first gate means coupled to said signal generating means for passing said on-off signal to energize at least one of said first and second display elements with said on-off signal when the tape recorder is in a pause mode; and display control means responsive to the tape recorder being in a recording mode for causing said first display element to be in the "on" or light emitting state and said second display element to be in the "off" or non-light emitting state; said display control means being further responsive to the tape recorder being in an operation mode other than the recording mode for causing said first and second display elements to both be in the "off" state; being responsive to the tape recorder being in the pause mode at the time of recording for causing said first display element to be in the "on" state and said second display element to be in a flashing state; and being responsive to the tape recorder being in the pause mode corresponding to another mode other than the recording mode for causing said first display element to be in the "off" state and said second display element to be in a flashing state, thereby displaying at least three operation modes of the tape recorder by different corresponding combinations of the display states of said first and second display elements.

Claim 5

The apparatus of any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein said first and second light-emitting display elements emit light of respective different colors.

Claim 7

The apparatus of any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, further comprising: a source of voltage for said tape recorder; a source of a predetermined voltage; a comparator means for comparing said predetermined voltage to said source of voltage for the tape recorder; and a second gate means coupled between said display state specifying means and said light-emitting display elements, and being further coupled to said comparator means, said second gate means being opened and closed according to the comparison result of said comparator means so as to cause said first light-emitting display element to be in its non-light producing state when said source voltage becomes lower than said predetermined voltage.

Claim 11

The apparatus of any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein the tape recorder has a cue signal recording mode, and further comprising: a further signal generating means for producing a further on-off signal at a predetermined frequency; and an alternate display means for causing said first and second light-emitting display elements to alternately be in a light-producing and a non-light producing state according to the frequency of said further on-off signal at the time of recording a cue signal for searching a starting point of recorded contents on a tape, said first and second display elements being alternately on-off operated when said cue signal is being recorded.

Claim 17

The apparatus of any one of claims 12, 13 or 14, wherein the tape recorder has a cue signal recording mode, and further comprising: a further signal generating means for producing a further on-off signal at a predetermined frequency; and an alternate display means for causing said first and second light-emitting diodes to alternately be in a light producing and a non-light producing state according to the frequency of said further on-off signal at the time of recording a cue signal for searching a starting point of recorded contents on a tape, said first and second light-emitting diodes being alternately on-off operated when said cue signal is being recorded.