Multi-mode led indicators for recording devices

• US 20020009205A1
• Filed: 09/26/2001
• Published: 01/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Mercs, James, Derderian, Ara
• Granted Patent: US 7,436,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/119
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 1/00 Two-channel systems H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for indicating the status of a track in a multi-track recorder is described. An indicator light capable of outputting different colored lights is used to indicate the status of a track in the multi-track recorder. The color and the blinking sequence of the indicator light indicates the status of the track.

Claims

1. A multi-track recording system, comprising a plurality of indicator lights, each indicator light in said plurality of indicator lights corresponding to a track of the multi-track recording system, each indicator light configured to output a first color and a second color wherein the first color is associated with the output of an input of the corresponding track and the second color is associated with the output of recorded material.

2. The multi-track recording system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of indicator lights is capable of outputting a third color, said third color indicating that a corresponding track is slipped from other tracks in the multi-track recording system.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein an alternating blinking sequence between two colors indicates the monitoring of the input of the multi-track recording system.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the alternating blinking sequence alternates between the first color and the second color.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each indicator light in said plurality of indicator lights further comprises:

a first light emitting diode in a transparent housing, said first light emitting diode configured to emit the first color; and

a second light emitting diode in the transparent housing, said second light configured to emit the second color in close proximity to said first light emitting diode such that when said first light emitting diode and said second light emitting diode are simultaneously switched on the transparent housing outputs a third color.

6. A method of indicating a track mode of each track in a multi-track recording system comprising the steps of:

determining the mode of each of the tracks in the multi-track recording system; and

providing at least one indicator light; and

adjusting a color output of the indicator light to correspond to a mode of a corresponding track.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the mode of each track includes whether an output signal to a plurality of level meters is derived from a recorded signal on a track of a plurality of recorded tracks or whether the output signal is derived from an external source.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the output of the indicator light varies in color according to the mode of the corresponding track.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the indicator light alternates color in a blinking sequence according to the mode of the corresponding track.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the mode determining the color output of the indicator light includes information from a transport mode and a non-transport mode.

11. A multi-track recording system comprising:

a mixer;

a multi-track recorder coupled to the mixer, the multi-track recorder including a display which further comprises;

several series of level meters, each of the series of level meters corresponding to a track in the multi-track recorder; and

a plurality of indicator lights, each indicator light in the plurality of indicator lights configured to indicate a mode of a corresponding track.

12. The multi-track recording system of claim 11 wherein each of said indicator lights further comprising:

a first light emitting diode to output a first color;

a second light emitting diode to output a second color; and

a transparent housing enclosing the first light emitting diode and the second light emitting diode.