Apparatus and method for controlling remotely-operated dictation equipment

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLABLY REPRODUCING VOICE SIGNALS IN THE FORM OF SUCCESSIVE MESSAGES SUCH AS SPOKEN INSTRUCTIONS FOR MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS CONSISTING OF A SEQUENCE OF COORDINATED STEPS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE ELONGATED SOUND RECORD HAVING A SOUND TRACK ON WHICH ARE RECORDED THE SUCCESSIVE MESSAGES, SAID SOUND RECORD ALSO HAVING RECORDED ON THE SAME TRACK WITH SAID MESSAGES A SERIES OF SIGNAL BLOCKS EACH SUPERIMPOSED ON AND COEXTENSIVE WITH A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID MESSAGES, EACH OF SAID SIGNAL BLOCKS CONSISTING OF A CONTINUOUS SIGNAL SERVING TO FILL IN ANY UNRECORDED SEGMENTS IN SAID TRACK RESULTING FROM SPEECH GAPS IN THE CORRESPONDING MESSAGE, EACH MESSAGE WITH ITS SUPERIMPOSED SIGNAL BLOCK BEING SEPARATED FROM THE PRECEDING AND SUCCEEDING MESSAGES WITH THEIR SUPERIMPOSED SIGNAL BLOCKS BY A SILENT UNRECORDED CONTROL ZONE; A SINGLE REPRODUCING HEAD COOPERABLE WITH SAID RECORD TRACK FOR REPRODUCING ALL OF THE SIGNALS ON SAID RECORD TRACK AND FOR DEVELOPING A SINGLE COMPOSITE OUTPUT SIGNAL REPRESENTING THE COMBINATION OF EACH MESSAGE AND ITS SUPERIMPOSED SIGNAL BLOCK, DRIVE MEANS FOR MOVING SAID RECORD FORWARD AND BACKWARD WITH RESPECT TO SAID REPRODUCING HEAD, SAID DRIVE MEANS INCLUDING MEANS TO MOVE SAID RECORD AT NORMAL REPRODUCING SPEED AND ALSO AT A SPEED SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER THEN NORMAL SPEED, CONTROL MEANS OPERABLE TO ACTIVATE SAID DRIVE MEANS TO PERMIT REPRODUCTION OF SAID MESSAGES, AND VOICE-OPERATED RELAY MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID COMPOSITE OUTPUT SIGNAL DEVELOPED BY SAID REPRODUCING HEAD, SAID RELAY MEANS INCLUDING MEANS OPERABLE TO MAINTAIN SAID DRIVE MEANS ACTIVATED AS LONG AS ANY OUTPUT SIGNAL IS BEING DEVELOPED BY SAID REPRODUCING HEAD, SAID RELAY MEANS FURTHER INCLUDING MEANS TO STOP SAID DRIVE MEANS WHEN THE OUTPUT SIGNAL FROM SAID REPRODUCING HEAD STOPS AS THE NEXT ONE OF SAID SILENT UNRECORDED CONTROL ZONES IS REACHED.