Compact disk playback/recording system with means to discriminate if a tape end is reached during or between sound programs

Claim 1

A compact disk playback/recording system having a compact disk playback apparatus for playing back a plurality of sound programs from a compact disk and a cassette recording apparatus for recording the plurality of sound programs played back by said compact disk playback apparatus onto a cassette tape, characterized in that said compact disk playback apparatus comprises: compact disk playback command means for generating a compact disk playback command under the control of the user; compact disk playback means for playing back the plurality of sound programs from the compact disk in response to the compact disk playback command from said compact disk playback command means; pulse detection means for detecting a stop in rotation of reels of said cassette recording apparatus by the absence of pulses generated when the reels are rotating; sound detection means for detecting the presence of sound for a predetermined time period, corresponding to a passing of a tape leader of the end of the cassette tape, after receipt of an output signal from said pulse detection means; search means for searching for the beginning of the present sound program, in response to an output signal from said sound detection means; and temporary stop means for temporarily stopping said compact disk playback means in response to an output signal from said search means, said output signal being generated if the sound detection means detects the absence of playback sound for a predetermined time period; and said cassette recording apparatus comprises: pulse generation means for counting the number of rotations of the reels, generating pulses corresponding to the counted number and outputting the generated pulses to said pulse detection means; and reverse means for reversing the cassette tape from its one side to its other side in response to the output signal from said pulse detection means; said cassette tape being reversed from its one side to its other side when a recording position reaches the tape leader of the end of the cassette tape during playback of one of the plurality of sound programs from the compact disk, in which case said one sound program is recorded from the beginning thereof on the other side of the cassette tape after the lapse of a predetermined time period from the reverse of the cassette tape, or if the cassette tape is reversed from its one side to its other side when a recording position reaches the tape leader of the end of the cassette tape during absence of sound detected by said sound detection means for a predetermined period, said search means controls said temporary stop means to force the compact disk playback means to remain at the head of the subsequent sound program.