Signal selection arrangement

Claim 1

A signal recorder or reproducer apparatus, comprising: a plurality of input terminals, each receiving a corresponding input signal from a corresponding signal source; a frequency detector comprising a phase-lock loop circuit coupled to said input terminals for producing a detector output signal in accordance with an output signal of said phase-lock-loop circuit such that the presence of said detector output signal indicates that a frequency of a given input signal of the input signals is within a predetermined range of frequencies, said detector including means for detecting that said phase-lock-loop circuit is in a non phase-locked condition: means for establishing a priority among the input signals received at said input terminals, said priority being determined by a priority schedule in accordance with a selection procedure; means coupled to said input terminals and to said priority establishing means and responsive to said detector output signal for selecting from said input terminals that input terminal which receives said input signal having both said frequency that is within said predetermined range of frequencies as determined by said detector output signal and said priority as determined by said priority obtained from said priority schedule in accordance with said selection procedure; and signal recording or reproducing means coupled to the selected input terminal for recording or reproducing the input signal that is received at said selected input terminal.