Abstract:
A recording system and process minimizes the storage capacity for recording multi-channel data into the memory space normally allocated to a single channel for a predetermined time period without compressing the data. In order to enable the data to be correlated with either real or relative time, the data is recorded along with its channel number and stored sequentially in an electronic memory in predetermined time increments. Additionally, the channel activity is monitored and stored. By recording the channel number with the data and identifying the periods of channel activity, the recorded data can be correlated with the time during which it was recorded. The recording apparatus in accordance with the present invention is particularly well suited for minimizing memory requirements for recording multi-channel sequential data, such as in certain voice communications, as well as simplex and half duplex communications even in situations where there is some overlap in channel activity without the use of data compression.