JP2009134013A - Karaoke device capable of performing karaoke song selection and reservation based on musical composition group in personal medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reserve a Karaoke play from a musical composition group in a user's personal medium. <P>SOLUTION: The Karaoke device includes a Karaoke database, a Karaoke song index database, and an external medium reading means. In the Karaoke device, based on composition attribute information including the song title and artist name of each musical composition incidental to the musical composition group read from the user's personal medium, and Karaoke song attribute information, Karaoke song IDs of identical songs each having a song title and an artist name matched to those in the composition attribute information are extracted and listed on a display means, the Karaoke song ID of a musical composition specified by input by the user is registered to a queue and stored in association with discrimination information showing input Karaoke play or personal medium reproduction. When no discrimination information is associated with the Karaoke song ID at the top of the queue, corresponding Karaoke data is reproduced, and when the discrimination information is associated therewith, the musical composition in the personal media corresponding to the Karaoke song ID is reproduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus capable of making a performance reservation for karaoke music by incorporating a music list registered in an external storage medium owned and carried by a user.

  The number of young people who carry a portable music player on a daily basis and enjoy music is increasing rapidly. Such a portable music player is small and easy to carry, and can store a large number of music piece files in a built-in memory of the main body or a removable memory medium by converting from a CD or the like to a low capacity format such as mp3, or at home. It is popular because it allows you to import music composition files over the Internet using a personal computer or to record TV and radio music programs.

Software that can manage table of contents information of a large number of music pieces recorded in portable music players in this way on a personal computer at home is also widely used. For example, software called iTune disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 is well known. A server on the Internet operated by this software company manages the table of contents information and recording time of music works recorded on CDs traded in the market and music works that can be purchased on the Internet. The contents information etc. of music stored in a portable music player owned by the user can be retrieved from a server via the Internet and stored / managed.
Apple Japan Co., Ltd. “iPod + iTunes”, [online], [Search August 29, 2007], Internet <URL: http://www.apple.com/itunes/>

  The karaoke device registers the song IDs of reserved songs received via a user interface such as a remote control device in a performance processing queue, sequentially extracts the song IDs from the queue, and plays the songs one after another.

  While users can search for and reserve songs they want to sing using the table of contents, it is also one of the pleasures of karaoke, but many users always reserve regular songs. Therefore, it is troublesome to select music while searching each time. In order to eliminate such trouble, a music selection device that can be used at the time of making a personalized music list in advance is also well known (see Japanese Patent No. 3595292).

  This applicant pays attention to the fact that many young music enthusiasts always carry and use portable music players, and imports a list of music pieces stored in the portable music player into the karaoke reservation list. If I could, I thought it would be even more convenient and fun because I could easily sing my favorite song at karaoke. Furthermore, if you can play with the sound equipment of the karaoke store, you can share your own songs and enjoy them, so the place will be exciting. In consideration of such a situation, the present invention was created.

The karaoke apparatus according to the present invention is specified by the following items (1) to (12).
(1) A karaoke apparatus provided with a karaoke database, a karaoke music index database, an external media reading means, a performance means, a reproduction means, a control means, a display means, and a user input means (2) The karaoke database aggregates karaoke data for each song in association with karaoke song IDs. (3) The karaoke song index database aggregates karaoke song attribute information including song names and artist names in association with karaoke song IDs. (4) The external media reading means is detachable from the user's personal media and can read a set of music works stored in the personal media. Each music work has a work attribute including a song title and an artist name. (5) Performance means can play karaoke music according to karaoke data (6) The reproduction means can reproduce the musical piece of personal media. (7) The control means can perform the first to fifth processes. (8) The first process can be performed from the personal media. Reading a song piece set and extracting a karaoke song ID of the same song having the same song name and artist name from the karaoke song index database based on the piece attribute information of the song piece set (9) The second process is the first process (10) Third processing: The karaoke song ID and artist name extracted in step 1 are listed and displayed on the display means, and the user input for specifying the song and the distinction between karaoke performance and personal media playback are accepted. Registers the karaoke song ID of the song identified in the second process in the queue and uses the distinction information received in the second process as the song I (11) The fourth process is to play the corresponding karaoke data according to the karaoke song ID when the personal media playback distinction information is not associated with the first karaoke song ID in the queue. (12) The fifth process is to play back the music piece of the personal media corresponding to the karaoke song ID when the karaoke song ID at the head of the queue is associated with the discrimination information of the personal media playback. Reclaiming means

  According to the karaoke apparatus of the present invention, a music piece list of a portable music player that many young people who like music routinely possess can be directly incorporated into a performance reservation music list of karaoke. Therefore, the operability of karaoke is improved. Even users who like music but rarely sing at karaoke can easily and easily create opportunities for singing at karaoke, so the karaoke user group can be expected to expand. In addition to karaoke performances, you can also use the sound equipment of a karaoke store to play songs recorded on personal portable music players, so that people on the spot can share their enjoyment and excite the venue. I can expect.

=== Basic configuration of karaoke equipment ===
FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of the karaoke apparatus in the present embodiment. The karaoke apparatus of the present embodiment is a part of a well-known online karaoke system. In a karaoke store having a plurality of guest rooms 120, a karaoke performance terminal (hereinafter referred to as performance terminal 10) in the same room and the performance terminal 10 It is comprised with the guest room terminal 20 for operating. A LAN 110 is installed in the karaoke store, and the performance terminal 10 of each guest room communicates with the guest room terminal 20 in the same room via the LAN 110.

  The guest room terminal 20 has the same hardware configuration as a tablet computer using a touch panel as a main user interface, and implements a wireless LAN interface of a predetermined standard. The location information (IP address, etc.) of the performance terminal 10 in the same room to be operated such as performance reservation is stored in the built-in external storage, connected to the LAN 110 via the wireless access point 40, and connected to the performance terminal 10 connect. Further, it functions as a remote control device for operating the performance terminal 10 such as performing music reservations by interacting with the user through the GUI by executing the installed program.

=== Basic Configuration and Normal Performance Function of Performance Terminal 10 ===
The performance terminal 10 is a general-purpose personal computer application device. FIG. 2 illustrates the block configuration. The central control unit 11 controls the peripheral components to control the performance terminal 10. In addition to the main computer program, the hard disk device 12 stores a karaoke database in which karaoke data that is the origin of accompaniment music and lyric images is associated with a karaoke song ID.

  In the external storage of the guest room terminal 20, for karaoke songs that can be played on the performance terminal 10, the table of contents information (karaoke song attribute information) such as song name, artist name, and song genre is collected in association with the karaoke song ID. A karaoke song index database is stored. The guest room terminal 20 searches and presents the table of contents information of the music desired by the user from the karaoke music index database through dialogue with the user via the touch panel. When the user terminal inputs that the karaoke piece finally specified as one song is reserved in the guest room terminal 20, the performance reservation message including the karaoke piece ID of the song is sent to the performance terminal in the room. Forward to 10.

  When the central control unit 11 of the performance terminal 10 receives the karaoke song ID transmitted from the guest room terminal 20 or receives the song ID input to the operation / display panel 13, the central control unit 11 stores the karaoke song ID in the order in which the karaoke song IDs are received. The karaoke song IDs stored in the order of reception are managed as a queue for performance processing. Then, the karaoke song ID is taken out from the queue in the order of registration, and the karaoke data corresponding to the karaoke song ID is taken out. When the karaoke song ID is extracted from the head of the queue, the karaoke song ID received next to the karaoke song ID becomes the head of the queue.

  Under the control of the central control unit 11, the performance processing unit 15 generates a music signal of accompaniment music based on the extracted karaoke data, and mixes and amplifies the singing voice signal input to the microphone and the mixing amplifier 16 from the speaker. Sound output. The video processing unit 17 superimposes the lyrics subtitles that change color in synchronization with the progress of the performance on the background video, and outputs the video to the display 18.

=== List of personal media songs ===
The performance terminal 10 of this embodiment is provided with an external media reading device 19, which is connected to a portable music player or a storage medium (personal media) that records a music piece of a predetermined format such as mp3. Can be read. The user-owned media that can be read by the external media reader 19 includes a table of contents such as a song name, an artist name, and a performance time for each of a plurality of recorded music pieces together with a work ID and music piece data. Information (work attribute information) is included. The work table of contents information is described in a predetermined format such as a text format.

  When the user brings a player to the external media reader 19, the performance terminal 10 reads the music piece data, and the music processing data is reproduced by the performance processing unit 15 under the control of the central control unit 11, and is sent to the speaker. It is possible to output.

  Also, the display 18 displays a list of pieces of work attribute information such as song names, artist names, recording times, and the like of the recorded music works as work contents information. When the guest room terminal 20 communicates with the performance terminal 10, the music piece list can be displayed on the touch panel.

=== Music performance reservation function ===
The karaoke apparatus according to the present embodiment connects a portable music player brought by the user to the external media reader 19 of the performance terminal 10, and from among the music pieces displayed in a list on the touch panel of the display 18 or the guest room terminal 20. It has a function to make reservations for selected karaoke performances.

  FIG. 3 illustrates a processing flow related to the music piece performance reservation function according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the user interface environment related to this processing is configured on the touch panel of the cabin terminal 20. As described above, when a user connects a portable music player possessed by the external media reader 19, a list of music pieces recorded in the memory is displayed on the touch panel of the guest room terminal 20 (s1 to s3). ). At this time, the table of contents information attached to each read piece of music is compared with the table of contents information of karaoke pieces in the karaoke piece index database. Then, the karaoke song ID is extracted for the song whose song name and artist name match (s2), and the karaoke song ID is associated with the song work read by the external media reading device 19. When the user selects and designates a music piece from a list display of music pieces (s3) by a predetermined operation (s4), the guest room terminal 20 generates a reserved message including the karaoke music piece ID of the music piece and generates the performance terminal 10. (S8). The performance terminal 10 registers the karaoke song ID in the performance reservation queue (s9).

  If there are a plurality of karaoke songs that match the song name and artist name in the table of contents information in s2 and their karaoke song IDs are different, the list presented to the user knows that fact, that is, karaoke. The table of contents information may be presented in association with each music ID so that the user can select and specify any karaoke music ID (s4). For example, even if it is the same song, the case where the karaoke song ID given to the live sound recording version in which the live performance is recorded as the accompaniment music and the karaoke song ID of the normal MIDI accompaniment music version are different. In such a case, the user can select favorite karaoke accompaniment music.

  In the case where there is no karaoke song that matches the table of contents information in the karaoke song index database for the song work read by the external media reader 19 in s2, the temporary karaoke song ID is extracted and associated. In addition, the performance terminal 10 and the guest room terminal 20 can identify the fact.

  When a user selects and designates a song from a list of song works read by the external media reader 19, the user selects either to play the song in karaoke or to play the song work data as it is A user interface environment is available (s5). Of course, when the user selects and designates a song that does not exist as a karaoke song in s4 (a karaoke song ID that does not exist in the karaoke song index database), in s5, the user interface can only be selected to reproduce the song work data as it is. It has become.

  Then, when the user selects the reproduction of the music piece data (s5 → s6), the fact is included in the reserved message and transferred to the performance terminal 10 (s6). In this case, the tune information reproduction flag is added to the karaoke song ID and registered in the queue (s7).

The central control unit 11 of the performance terminal 10 takes out the karaoke song IDs registered in order from the queue as in the case of normal performance. If a song piece reproduction flag is added to the extracted karaoke song ID, instead of performing a normal performance process of obtaining karaoke data and transferring it to the performance processing unit 15, the karaoke song index database is referred to and external media reading is performed. The apparatus 19 is accessed, and the music piece data corresponding to the karaoke music ID is taken out and transferred to the performance processing unit 15 for reproduction.
In addition, when specifying the music piece data corresponding to the karaoke music ID, in addition to the method of specifying by extracting the music piece whose song name and artist name match with reference to the piece attribute information, When associating with the karaoke song ID, a method in which a table describing the correspondence between the work ID of each song work and the karaoke song ID is created and specified by referring to this table can be applied.

  Needless to say, when the song piece reproduction flag is not added to the karaoke song ID taken out from the queue, the corresponding karaoke data is taken out and delivered to the performance processing unit 15 for normal performance processing.

=== Other Embodiments ===
From the music piece list read from the external media reader 19, the control unit 11 of the performance terminal 10 randomly or in the new order of recording and the newest order of reproduction history, without the user's selection designation (s4). A configuration may also be adopted in which a predetermined number of songs are selected and registered in the queue of the performance terminal 10.

  The timing of reading the music piece data from the external media reader 19 may be temporarily stored in the RAM or the like at the timing (s7) when the karaoke piece ID with the music piece reproduction flag added to the queue is registered. . The user can remove the portable music player from the external media reader 19 at that time without waiting for the queue order.

  The present invention can also be applied to music piece data recorded by the user himself / herself as music piece data. In that case, it is preferable that the table of contents information can be easily added in a predetermined format. For this purpose, for example, a karaoke company or the like may provide the user with software for adding the work table of contents information.

  The karaoke song index database is stored in the hard disk device 12 of the performance terminal 10. Even in such a case, the karaoke song index database may be attached to the guest room terminal 20, and the karaoke song index database may be updated and synchronized by performing data communication with the performance terminal 10 in a timely manner. Of course, a configuration in which the performance terminal 10 and the guest room terminal 20 are the same hardware is also within the scope of the present invention.

The structure of the karaoke apparatus which concerns on a present Example is illustrated. The hardware configuration of the performance terminal which concerns on a present Example is illustrated. It is a processing flow figure of the music work performance reservation which concerns on a present Example.

Explanation of symbols

10 performance terminal 11 central control unit 20 guest room terminal

Claims (1)

A karaoke apparatus comprising a karaoke database, a karaoke music index database, external media reading means, performance means, playback means, control means, display means, and user input means,
The karaoke database aggregates karaoke data for each song in association with the karaoke song ID,
The karaoke song index database aggregates karaoke song attribute information including song names and artist names in association with karaoke song IDs,
The external media reading means is detachable by the user's personal media, and can read a set of music works stored in the personal media, and the work attribute information including the song title and artist name of each music work Is attached,
The performance means can play karaoke music according to the karaoke data,
The playback means can play music pieces of personal media,
The control means enables the first to fifth processes,
The first process reads a song piece set from personal media, extracts a karaoke song ID of the same song whose song name and artist name match from the karaoke song index database based on the piece attribute information of the song piece set,
In the second process, the song name and artist name of the karaoke song ID extracted in the first process are listed and displayed on the display means, and the user input for specifying the song and the input for distinguishing between the karaoke performance and the personal media playback are input. Accept,
The third process registers the karaoke song ID of the song identified in the second process in the queue, stores the discrimination information received in the second process in association with the song ID,
In the fourth process, when the distinction information for personal media playback is not associated with the karaoke song ID at the head of the queue, the corresponding karaoke data is played by the playing means according to the karaoke song ID.
The fifth process is a karaoke apparatus that causes the playback means to play back the music piece of the personal media corresponding to the karaoke song ID when the karaoke song ID at the head of the queue is associated with the distinction information of personal media playback.

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