JP3423156B2 - Karaoke device and karaoke distribution system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke device and a karaoke distribution system, and more particularly, to music data of karaoke music which is communicated according to a communication request from the karaoke music distribution device and distributed from the karaoke music distribution device. The present invention relates to a karaoke device configured to store a karaoke device and a karaoke distribution system including the karaoke device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of karaoke apparatus, as represented by a communication karaoke apparatus, music data of a plurality of karaoke songs distributed from a host computer via a telephone line is stored in a hard disk or a DVD-RAM. Fast access and rewritable storage media,
A karaoke apparatus configured to reproduce the accompaniment music, lyric image and background image of the karaoke piece from the music data of the karaoke piece selected by the singer is well known.

In a recent karaoke distribution system, when a karaoke piece to be distributed is completed, a host computer as a distribution source automatically accesses each karaoke device at an arbitrary time and distributes the karaoke piece. Is configured. Therefore, in the above-mentioned karaoke distribution system, it is necessary for each karaoke device to maintain a state in which it can receive the music data of the karaoke music distributed from the host computer at any time. Generally, each karaoke device is required at least in order to receive and store the music data of the karaoke song distributed from the host computer, especially when there is no customer who uses the karaoke device at midnight, in consideration of the power cost. Only the power of the device (hereinafter referred to as "music data reception control device") is kept on. That is, the power source of a storage device such as a hard disk or a DVD-RAM that stores music data of a karaoke song that consumes power is in an off state.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned karaoke distribution system, there is a limit in the storage capacity of the music data reception control device of each karaoke device, so that all the distributed music data may not be received. Also, due to the influence of noise in the communication line, etc., the music data could not be properly transmitted from the host computer, but the music data reception control device stores music data that cannot be used for karaoke performance. There is a problem that the storage capacity of the music data reception control device is reduced.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and not only does it consume unnecessary power, but also does not increase the data storage device of an expensive music data reception control device. An object of the present invention is to provide a karaoke device and a karaoke distribution system capable of surely storing only correctly transmitted music data in a main storage device such as a hard disk or a DVD-RAM.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a karaoke device of the present invention according to claim 1 comprises a communication control means, a first storage means, and a control means, and a communication control means. An idling state in which the first storage means is energized,
Alternatively, in the karaoke device capable of switching the main power-on state, the communication control means temporarily stores the music data distributed from the karaoke music distribution device in the first storage means, and after the distribution of the music data ends, It is determined whether or not the stored music data has a defect, and if there is no defect, the main power supply is turned on, and the control means is the music data stored in the first storage means after the main power supply is turned on. Is transferred to the second storage means.

The karaoke apparatus of the present invention according to claim 2 is
The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is confirmed whether or not the music data transferred to the storage means is normal.

The karaoke apparatus of the present invention according to claim 3 is
The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication control means switches the karaoke apparatus to an idling state after the transfer of the music data by the control means is completed.

A karaoke distribution system of the present invention according to claim 4 is the karaoke device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and
The karaoke distribution system includes a karaoke music distribution device that distributes music data to the karaoke device.

[0010]

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke distribution system according to the present invention, and shows a basic configuration when applied to a communication karaoke system. Further, the karaoke device 1 according to the present invention is shown within the outer broken line in the figure.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a host computer, which automatically connects to each karaoke device via a telephone line and delivers the music data of the karaoke piece to the karaoke device 1 and other karaoke devices (not shown). . A CPU unit 7 controls the entire karaoke apparatus 1,
In addition to the microprocessor, it is composed of a ROM 7a for storing a control program, a RAM 7b having a plurality of flag areas necessary for control and temporarily storing data and the like, and controls various input / output devices. Performs memory management and data processing.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an operation unit, which is composed of various keys for setting various states of the karaoke apparatus 1, switches and a remote controller (not shown). Reference numeral 13 denotes a display unit, which is composed of an LCD, an LED, etc. for displaying information necessary for setting various states of the karaoke apparatus 1 to the operator. 5
Is a modem, which exchanges data with the host computer 17 via an analog communication line such as a telephone line, and converts music data transmitted from the host computer 17 into a digital signal. It also outputs the signals required for communication. This music data is data necessary for reproducing a karaoke piece and is composed of control data and performance data. The control data is composed of, for example, information indicating the number of start clocks and the number of end clocks of the chorus of the karaoke piece, and the performance data is performance music data and character information which are MIDI data coded based on the MIDI standard. , Lyric image data indicating the lyrics of a musical piece to be played, including color change information and genre information.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a communication control unit, which controls the communication required for receiving music data with the host computer 17 and the communication required for storing the music data with the CPU unit 7, and receives them. The created music data is temporarily stored in the built-in music data storage section (not shown), and it is confirmed whether or not there is a defect in the music data.
The communication communication control unit 16 and the modem 5 are kept in the power-on state so that they can communicate with the host computer 17 at any time.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a main power supply, which supplies power to all electronic circuits constituting the karaoke apparatus 1 except the communication control section 16 and the modem 5. The power switch (not shown) of the main power source 18 can be switched on / off manually, but the communication control unit 16 switches on / off softly and automatically. Reference numeral 6 denotes a main storage device, which includes a hard disk, a semiconductor memory, a CD-ROM,
CPU composed of a rewritable storage medium such as a DVD-ROM and a DVD-RAM and a read-only storage medium.
Under the control of the section 7, the music data taken in by the modem 5 is stored. In addition, a management information storage unit (not shown) of the main storage device 6 stores information necessary for managing the stored music data as a management table. , The stored date (year, month and day), information indicating the number of music selections since the storage, and the like are stored.

Usually, the music data is stored in a data compressed state so as not to reduce the storage capacity of the main storage device 6 as much as possible. Further, this music data is not only fetched at the request of the user of the karaoke apparatus 1, but also automatically fetched in a time zone in which the karaoke apparatus 1 is rarely used, such as in the early morning or at night. A musical piece information storage unit 15 is generally composed of a rewritable and high-speed accessible storage medium such as a semiconductor memory.
Under the control of the section 7, in addition to the information for specifying the karaoke piece reserved and input from the operation section 12, information indicating whether or not the karaoke piece has been played, and whether or not the karaoke piece has been played within a predetermined number of pieces. And information indicating whether or not the karaoke piece has been played within a predetermined time, and information specifying a karaoke piece that has been put into the unplayable state for the singer to sing later.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a performance data storage unit, which is generally composed of a rewritable and high-speed accessible storage medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory, and the CPU unit 7
Under the control of 1., the music data read from the main storage device 6 is stored in a decompressed state. Reference numeral 2 is an external video reproducing device, which is a widely used VTR, a video CD player, an LD player, or recently MPEG (Mo
Ving Picture Element Grou
p) Player or DVD (Digital VideoD)
isk) A player or the like which, under the control of the CPU section 7, reproduces and outputs a video signal from video data recorded on a recording medium such as a video tape or various discs.

Reference numeral 9 is a superimposing section, which is a CP.
The U unit 7 supplies character information and color change information in the lyrics image data obtained by searching the music data stored in the performance data storage unit 14. Further, the superimposing unit 9 synthesizes the lyrics image based on the lyrics image data indicating the lyrics of the song to be played with the background image signal supplied from the external image reproducing device 2 according to the instruction of the CPU unit 7, It is output to the image display unit 3 described later.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an image display unit, which is a display device capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of images on a plurality of windows such as wide TV and monitor TV which have become widespread recently. The video display unit 3 is composed of a plurality of video display devices 1 to N, and each video display device simultaneously displays a video based on a video signal input from the superimposing unit 9.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a MIDI sound source section, which is a CPU section 7.
The MIDI data in the music data stored in the performance data storage unit 14 is supplied by this, and this MIDI data is output as a performance music signal by the function of the electronic musical instrument. Reference numeral 10 denotes a mixer / amplifier unit, which synthesizes and amplifies a performance music signal output from the MIDI sound source unit 8 and a singing voice signal captured by the microphone 4 and outputs the synthesized signal to the speaker 11. The music and the singer's singing voice are reproduced as audible sounds.

Next, the operations of the karaoke apparatus and the karaoke system according to the present invention, which are configured as described above, will be described separately for the karaoke song data storage operation and the performance operation. However, regarding the storing operation, only the operation directly related to the present invention will be described, and the other operations will be omitted. (1) Storing operation: The karaoke apparatus 1 is in a power-off state (hereinafter, referred to as “idling state”) excluding the communication control unit 16 and the modem 5 in order to suppress power consumption as much as possible.

The host computer 17 first calls the karaoke apparatus 1 by using the telephone line in order to distribute the karaoke piece data such as a new song to each karaoke apparatus. The modem 5 detects the ring signal from the telephone line associated with the call and outputs it to the communication control unit 16. The communication control unit 16
It constantly monitors the modem 5, and the host computer 17
The call from is detected and the telephone line is connected. The host computer 17 and the communication control unit 16 communicate with each other according to a predetermined communication procedure, and when the music data of all the karaoke songs are received from the host computer 17, the communication control unit 16
The music data is temporarily stored in the music data storage unit included in and the communication ends.

Next, the communication control section 16 confirms whether or not the received music data is defective. At this time, if there is a defect in the music data, the received music data is erased to return to the idling state. On the other hand, if there is no defect, the power switch of the main power supply 18 is turned on and the entire karaoke apparatus 1 is started. To do. When the communication control unit 16 notifies the CPU unit 7 that the music data of the karaoke piece has been received,
The CPU unit 7 transfers the music data from the music data storage unit of the communication control unit 16 to the main storage device 6 according to a predetermined procedure. After performing the predetermined music data storage processing, the CPU unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 16 that the storage of the music data has been completed.

Upon receipt of the storage end message from the CPU section 7, the communication control section 16 turns off the power switch of the main power source 18 and returns the karaoke apparatus 1 to the idle state. (2) Performance operation: When the operator selects a music by operating the remote controller included in the operation unit 12 and inputting the music number of the music to be performed while watching the information displayed on the display unit 13, for example. The CPU section 7 temporarily stores the inputted song number data of the played song in the RAM 7b.

Then, the CPU section 7 includes the reservation number data of the karaoke piece to be given to the next reserved piece stored in the RAM 7b, the reservation time data of the karaoke piece and the karaoke piece in the piece number data of the performance piece. Performance completion data indicating whether or not performance has been performed is added to the performance music information storage unit 1
Store in 5. Normally, the CPU section 7 reproduces the performance piece in accordance with the registration order of the piece number data stored in the performance piece information storage section 15. However, in order to simplify the explanation, before the registration of this performance piece, nothing is registered. Suppose it has not been done.

The CPU section 7 constantly searches the performance music information storage section 15 and determines whether or not there is a performance music piece to be reproduced. In this case, only one music piece number data is registered. Therefore, it immediately shifts to the playback operation of the performance music. CP
The U unit 7 searches the music data stored in the main music storage device 6 for the music data corresponding to the music number based on the music number data stored in the performance music information storage unit 15, and outputs the MIDI data required for the performance. Character data, color change information, genre information, etc. in the lyrics data of the music to be played are acquired and stored in the performance data storage unit 14.

The CPU section 7 then sends MIDI data based on the MIDI data loaded into the performance data storage section 14.
By controlling the tone generator section 8, a performance music signal necessary for playing the music is reproduced, and the performance music signal is output to the mixer / amplifier section 10. The mixer / amplifier unit 10 synthesizes the performance signal and the voice signal of the singer input from the microphone 4 and outputs the synthesized signal to the speaker 11, thereby reproducing the performance song and the singing voice as audible sounds.

Further, the CPU section 7 controls the external video reproducing apparatus 2 based on the genre information in the music data, and outputs the background video signal according to the genre of the music to the superimposing section 9. Then, when the CPU unit 7 outputs the character image information to the superimposing unit 9 based on the character information and the color change information in the music data, the superimposing unit 9 causes the background image outputted by the external image reproducing apparatus 2 to be outputted. The lyrics image and the background image are displayed by outputting to the image display unit 3 a combined image signal obtained by combining the signal with the character image signal based on the character image information.

[0029]

As described above, according to the karaoke apparatus and the karaoke distribution system of the present invention, when the communication control section 16 receives music data from the host computer 17, is the music data defective? After confirming whether or not there is any defect, the music data is erased. On the other hand, if there is no defect, the main power supply 18 is turned on to activate the karaoke machine 1, so that unnecessary power consumption is not performed and it is expensive. To ensure that only correctly transmitted music data is added to a hard disk or DVD-RA without adding an extra data storage device
The data can be stored in the main storage device 6 such as M.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Karaoke device 2 External video playback device 3 Video display section 5 modem 6 main memory 7 CPU section 7a ROM 7b RAM 8 MIDI sound source section 9 Superimpose department 10 Mixer / Amplifier 12 Operation part 13 Display 14 Performance data storage 15 Performance song information storage 16 Communication control unit 17 Host computer 18 Main power supply

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Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A communication control means, a first storage means, and a control.
Means for connecting the communication control means and the first storage means to the energized state.
Switch off the idling state or the main power-on state.
In the replaceable karaoke device, the communication control means is distributed from the karaoke music distribution device.
Music data is temporarily stored in the first storage means,
After the data has been distributed, the stored music data is defective.
If there is no defect, the main power is turned on.
To the first storage means after the main power is turned on.
A karaoke device for transferring music data stored in the memory to the second storage means . 2. The control means is transferred to the second storage means.
The karaoke device according to claim 1, which confirms whether or not the music data is normal . 3. The communication control means is a music device by the control means.
After the data transfer is completed, put the karaoke device in the idling state.
The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, which is switched . 4. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1,
And karaoke for delivering music data to the karaoke device
Karaoke distribution system with music distribution device .